SOARING100 Is Organizing The Three-Day Event

Motorless aviation enthusiasts and historians are teaming up to celebrate the centenary of an historic aviation milestone at the Outer Banks of North Carolina from October 21 through 24. The celebration of Orville Wright’s record 9 minute 45 second soaring flight near Kitty Hawk, NC in 1911 is led by a partnership of aviation sporting and promotional organizations that hope to create an exciting weekend devoted to educating the public about modern craft that soar, remaining aloft solely by using natural air currents, wind and solar energy.

“This is the perfect time and venue for people to experience all the different forms of soaring,” said John Harris, President of the First Flight Foundation, the lead partnering group.” “At the same time we can recognize the power of American ingenuity since this also marks the return of Orville Wright to the Outer Banks not only for aeronautical testing, but also to experience something the Wrights had known about for years, the potential of soaring to allow them to stay aloft for long periods without the complication of an engine.”

“The weekend ... is going to be a big one for all those who want to find out more about history, the Wrights and especially soaring,” said Lola Hilton, the First Flight Foundation’s Executive Director and an Event Chair of SOARING100, the umbrella group leading the event.

Primary venues are the host sites, the Wright Brothers National Memorial and nearby Jockey’s Ridge State Park, according to Jim Short, Event Chairman and originator of the SOARING100 concept. There will be displays of modern and historic hang gliders, paragliders, radio control and free-flight models and full-size sailplanes. “Most importantly,” said Short,“ there will be flying demonstrations of each type of sailplane and glider and people to answer questions about how to participate in each form of soaring”. Full-size sailplanes will fly from the Wright Memorial and hang gliders will be demonstrated from the dunes at nearby Jockey’s Ridge.

Three teams ... from Kansas, Maryland and Virginia ... are building their vision of the Wright 1911 glider, an undertaking made more difficult because no original glider exists, and because the Wrights never made drawings of it. "The different versions will be fascinating to see,” Short said. “There has never been anything like it.”  Weather and pilots permitting, two of the replicas hope to fly from the dune at Jockey’s Ridge and the third replica will be on static display at the Wright Memorial Pavilion, regardless of weather.

“For youth there will be the opportunity to see and touch sailplanes that many may be seeing for the first time,” said Hilton. “There will be story readings for the youngest, and hands-on workshops so others can build hand-launched gliders or kites. There will be hang glider and sailplane simulators and informational films about gliding and soaring.” The SOARING100 organizers plan information centers where visitors can find out where to learn more and how to join in the soaring activity that interests them the most.”

Planners expect history will be a big part of SOARING100. An historical symposium will highlight the development of the earliest aircraft, most of which were gliders. An internationally respected group of panelists, coordinated by Tom Crouch, Senior Curator of Aeronautics at the National Air and Space Museum has agreed to discuss how aircraft were originally developed and how motorless craft became the ancestors of modern soaring planes and models. The symposium will be held Saturday at Jockey’s Ridge State Park and seating is expected to be limited. Following the symposium on Saturday will be the 40th Capt. Ralph S. Barnaby Lecture featuring Wright Brothers National Monument Historian, Darrell Collins. On Saturday afternoon and on Sunday Jockey’s Ridge will host a first-ever hang gliding history symposium. The events are free to the public. National Park entrance fees apply.

A National Landmark of Soaring will be dedicated at Jockey’s Ridge State Park on Friday October 21st, the first day of the event. A formal remembrance of Wright’s record flight will be held at the Wright Brothers National Memorial on the morning of Monday October 24, concluding the event.

“SOARING100 includes the main motorless flying groups in the US, the Soaring Society of America, the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, the National Soaring Museum, Vintage Sailplane Association, and Academy of Model Aeronautics in addition to the event’s lead partner the First Flight Foundation, the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, the First Flight Society and NASA. “All these diverse groups have come together to organize this ‘grass-roots’ aviation event. It’s really exciting”, added Harris.

FMI: www.Soaring100.com