2011 party to mark Wright's flight on Outer Banks

OUTER BANKS, N.C.

The Wright brothers didn't finish setting records in 1903.

And modern-day aviation enthusiasts have not finished celebrating those achievements.

In the same spirit as the 2003 first-flight centennial event, but on a smaller scale, another party is being thrown in honor of Orville Wright in October 2011.

Dubbed "Soaring 100," the event will mark the 100th anniversary of Wright's record 9-minute, 45-second soaring flight in 1911, which Wright and an associate achieved on the same strip of land as the famous first powered flight of 1903. The record stood for 10 years, and the experiment was Wright's last on the Outer Banks.

The 1911 flight is also considered the birth of modern soaring.

"There are groups all over the world that are excited about this," said Lisa Loy, spokeswoman for the group planning the event.

Though the attention given the 1911 flight pales in comparison with the Wrights' 1903 achievement, it is still a hugely significant part of aviation history, Loy said.

After the Wright brothers' 1903 success, many others tried powered flight, she said.

"There were plenty of accidents. People didn't really know what they were doing," Loy said. "I think that really bothered the Wright brothers."

So, on Oct. 24, 1911, Orville Wright and friend Alec Ogilvie returned to Kitty Hawk. The goal was to soar without the use of a motor and to improve the stability of the glider. Loy called it a "safety quest."

Wright and Ogilvie engineered a longer tail and hung a sandbag off the front of the aircraft to offset the extra weight, Loy said. The image is memorialized in a surviving photograph from the day.

Unlike the 1903 flight, this event was well-attended by reporters and the public.

Organized by the First Flight Foundation and a coalition of soaring groups, Soaring 100 will be held Oct. 21-24 at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills and Jockey's Ridge State Park in Nags Head.

At Jockey's Ridge, three teams of aviation enthusiasts will try to launch replicas of the 1911 glider. The teams hail from Kansas, Ohio and Virginia.

There are no blueprints of the 1911 glider, so each team is designing its own aircraft based on photos and research, Loy said.

Also planned are a demonstration of sailplanes and a symposium of aviation experts.

The First Flight Foundation - previously known as the First Flight Centennial Foundation - was behind planning for a six-day event in 2003 that marked the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first powered flight. More than 34,000 people attended the event's last day on Dec. 17, including President George W. Bush.

The foundation scaled back its operations after the centennial but still raises money for improvements to the national memorial site. The planning of Soaring 100 fits within the group's purview, Loy said.

"It's a celebration," she said, "but it's also an educational opportunity."

Erin James, (252) 441-1711, erin.james@pilotonline.com