WIX Archives
From AV Web...
Posted by Mike Henniger on Thu Apr 03, 2003 07:30:55 AM
In reply top Sun-n-Fun.. any news? Pics? n/t posted by Alan Brooks on Wed Apr 02, 2003 05:27:50 PM
Unstable, Unresponsive and Underpowered...
If you ever wondered how the original Wright Flyer flew, those three words describe it. And now, from Microsoft, comes a simulator that models the Flyer?s unique flight dynamics. You can fly one at Sun 'n Fun this week, complete with a wooden stick and the hip cradle the Wrights developed for roll control. As part of a traveling exhibition celebrating the Centennial of Flight, Microsoft has three of these sims set up in a vast tent near the FAA building and we think they're worth a look and a try. Later this year, Microsoft will release Flight Simulator 2004, which will include the Flyer and several other vintage aircraft. (But it?s just not the same without the stick and cradle.) While you're at this exhibition, be sure to take in Park Ranger Darrell Collins' talks on the Wrights. He does a terrific job with the subject.
Amazing Resurrection...
Sun 'n Fun was graced with a truly historic aircraft in the form of an original 1910-design Bleriot XI produced by Enoch Thulin's Aeroplanfabrik in 1914. In 1986, the aircraft was found intact in a barn in Sweden, by Mikael Carlson, who restored it -- including hand-carving his own mahogany propeller. He returned it to authentic, airworthy condition using nearly 95% of the original materials ... and not just to say he could. Carlson has logged more than 30 hours in the 70-knot aircraft and added another fraction Wednesday in front of a large air show crowd, warping the wings to coax each turn. The flight could have lasted longer, but the original aircraft flew behind a rotary Gnome Omega 50- engine and Carlson's version is accurate enough to leave him coated in oil after a brief hop. Still, Carlson is anything but timid -- he flew the aircraft across the English Channel in July 25, 1999, recreating Louis Bleriot's 1909 flight that gave the Bleroit XI a permanent place in history and likely the pilot?s fill of oil at the same time.