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Randy Holloway at Microsoft

Blogging from the field.
Re-Enactment of Wright Bros. Flight Fails

Although I'm sure this is much more complicated than it seems to a casual observer, this story strikes me as pathetic and sad.  Let's hope they get it up soon.

Posted: Thursday, December 18, 2003 1:28 AM by RandyHolloway

Comments

Dennis said:

I saw a Discovery Channel show on this. They did get a nice flight a couple weeks ago, but the plane's very sensitive to weather conditions, and the weather wasn't good yesterday...not enough wind, for one thing. Flying the thing whenever the weather's good is a lot easier than picking a specific date in advance and hoping for the best.

The test pilot for the X-15 is on the project, and said this was the most unstable plane he ever flew.

It's really an amazing project...the Wright brothers crashed the plane on their fourth flight that first day, rebuilt it with modifications, and until this project the original design never flew again. These guys built the thing from scratch, with the same hand tools the Wrights used, even where they needed tolerances of 5/1000 of an inch. And there were no blueprints, they made 3-d models from old photos and notes, and tested in a wind tunnel.
# December 18, 2003 8:03 AM

NICK said:

i love this book
# February 2, 2004 2:24 PM

takeshi said:

i dont no how the wrights did it
# April 20, 2004 7:48 AM
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