Builders Said They 'Just Ran Out Of Time'

They just ran out of time. A group building a replica of the Benoist XIV Flying Boat for a re-enactment of the first scheduled "airline" flight on January 1st was not able to get the airplane ready for the flight Wednesday morning, so a Hoffman X-4 mullet skiff was scheduled to make the flight instead.

The project was spearheaded by Kermit Weeks, the owner of the Fantasy of Flight attraction between Orlando and Tampa, FL. On January 1, 1914, a Benoist XIV carried the first passenger on a regularly scheduled flight between St. Petersburg and Tampa, a flight which took about 30 minutes. It is said to be the beginning of the modern airline, but the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line lasted only about five months, carrying one passenger at a time at a fare of five dollars each way.

Weeks had funded and built the replica Benoist himself with the help of volunteers. He had even commissioned an exact replica of the engine built from scratch for the effort.

But in the end, the FAA did not give the group authorization to test-fly the airplane before the planned New Year's Day event. In a news release, Flight 2014 Inc., the non-profit organizing the event, said the agency had given approval to power up the engine and conduct water-taxi tests, but they were "unable to get it airborne despite making several adjustments to the plane."

The Tampa Bay Times reports that Weeks still planned to take the replica Benoist ... by truck ... to the event in St. Petersburg where the replacement airplane will fly the route. He still plans to have the airplane flying sometime in 2014.

(Image provided by Kermit Weeks)

FMI: www.airlinecentennial.org/