Fri, Aug 01, 2003
By ANN Correspondent Rob Milford
Once the “fastest man alive” Scott Crossfield
continues to make a contribution to aviation with his involvement
with the Wright Brothers Centennial Celebration.
“The Countdown to Kittyhawk” named two “prime
pilots” on Tuesday, a decision made, in part, by Crossfield,
along with the EAA and sponsors of the program.
“The Wrights left
no legacy of data, or an account of all the difficulties they
had” said Crossfield, sitting along side the pilots and
Wright Flyer builder Ken Hyde, from Warrenton, Virginia.
“I’ve taken 10 flights, none of which ended well,
trying to find the flight envelope for this aircraft…the
problem with wing warping is that it gives you yaw in the opposite
direction you’re trying to turn.”
The aviation legend continues “It’s quite an amazing
aircraft…it’s hard to fly, and unstable.” And he
adds, “I have new respect for the Wright Brothers…they
were true geniuses, they met every problem and solved it. This is
not a case of them being a couple of lucky bicycle makers.”
Ken Hyde chimed in, saying “I’d love to have about 3
and a half hours of dual instruction time… the same as Hap
Arnold got from Orville, and that time represented a total of 28
flights!”
Hyde continued, “Having Scott Crossfield brings a complete
element to this project… with his experience, a really great
engineer and test pilot.” Crossfield summed up the project,
which will wrap up a little more than four months from now
“This has not been a piece of cake, and it won’t be a
cake walk on December 17th, but these pilots, (Terry Queijo and Dr.
Kevin Kochersberger) will be as well trained as we can make
them.”
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