Pilot Mark Dusenberry was unhurt but his handbuilt replica of the 1905 Wright Brothers Flyer III aricraft was damaged in a crash landing during a demonstration flight at Huffman Prairie, in Ohio, on Friday. The aircraft was airborne for only about 30 seconds when it started to porpoise, then banked, and a wingtip hit the ground, the Associated Press reported. Dusenberry spent seven years building the airplane and said repairs will take about two more years. Hundreds of spectators were at the field for the demo flight, which marked the 102nd anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first public flights of the original airplane at the same site. The 1905 model is widely regarded as their first practical airplane. Among the spectators was Amanda Wright Lane, great grandniece of the Wright brothers, who told the AP that while the plane came to the ground “very unceremoniously,” the flight itself brought tears of happiness to her eyes.
She said her uncles had crashed many times during flight tests, and Dusenberry’s crash made her even more impressed with what they had accomplished.
