March 14, 2003 Feature Story
Utah
State Wright Flyer Takes to the Skies
 The
Utah State University Wright Flyer literally "took-off"
this week after a year of hard work. Its maiden voyage into
the skies occurred at the historic Wendover Airport on the Salt
Flats of Utah's west desert to the cheers and camera flashes
of media and Utah State personnel.
A group of Utah State students and faculty, representing various
areas in the College of Engineering, built the 1905 replica
of the Wright brothers' plane to honor the 100th anniversary
of powered flight.
And fly it did, staying airborne for some 23 seconds and traveling
a distance more than 800 feet.
On hand to witness the event were The History Channel; KSL,
KTVX, and KUTV television news crews; and reporters from the
Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, the Herald Journal, the Tooele
Transcript and the Wendover News.
 Dave
Widauf and Charles Larsen, two industrial technology and education
professors from Utah State, thought it would be both an interesting
challenge and a fun endeavor to build a replica of the Wright
brothers' aircraft.
"We thought, why not celebrate the 100-year anniversary
of powered flight by building a modern replica of the Wright
Flyer and involve our students," said Widauf.
Ph.D student Nick Alley, Ogden, who headed up the design team
of 10 mechanical engineering seniors, was all smiles. He said
the thousands of design hours put into this project have paid
off as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In the process of applying
knowledge in a unique way, he said, he has also come to better
understand and appreciate the genius and tenacity of his heroes,
the Wright brothers.
Gaylen Jensen, a junior in Aviation Maintenance from Highland,
Utah, echoed those words. He was joined by fellow students James
Call, Logan; Scott Wilson, Idaho; and Jill Stout, Tooele. Instead
of the beaches of California, they chose the desert of Wendover
to spend their entire spring break to see their work take flight.
 Jensen's
passion for aviation and knowledge about the Wright brothers
made him a font of information ranging from the function of
rudders, wings and lift to the distance of the Wright brothers'
first flight equaling the wing span of a 747.
Jensen said this opportunity has not only allowed him to participate
in re-creating the genius of the Wright brothers, but to also
share in their creativity by taking what they started to a new,
higher level.
The Utah State Wright Flyer group plans to hold a celebration
in April in Logan to show off the capabilities of the aircraft.
The group then plans to tour the state of Utah to educate the
public about the replica and the art of flying.
 The
grande finale of all the tours will be in July in Dayton, Ohio,
where the group will be the first to fly at Huffman Prairie
Flying Field since the Wright Brothers flew there 100 years
ago. Former Senator Jake Garn, who was on hand in Wendover,
will be co-flying the aircraft in Ohio with pilot and Utah State
alum Wayne Larson.
Utah State University College of Engineering students teamed
with the Space Dynamics Laboratory and the U.S. Air Force to
build the plane. The full-scale flyer is a futuristic replica
of the original Wright brothers' aircraft. Utah State students
designed and built the flyer using space-age materials as the
Wright Brothers may have done if they were designing their plane
today.
The latest Kevlar and graphite materials, used in space shuttles
and next-generation rockets and military aircrafts, replaced
the muslin and spruce used in the original flyer. The advanced
composites and other state-of-the-art materials are disguised
to look like the materials used by the Wrights, so the plane
looks like a duplicate of the original.
Construction of the full-scale replica is completed thanks
to significant contributions of composite materials from Hexcel
Corporation, Metal Matrix Composites and Patterned Fiber Composites,
Inc., all Utah-based companies. Other in-kind donors include
BMW, Rohacell Inc., Harley Davidson, Catto Props and Horizon
Hobbies.
Contact: Maren Cartwright, (435) 797-1355
utah
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