This experience, however, will combine both the old and the new. Although we're re-enacting an historical flight, we'll conduct the program as if this were a typical test flight at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, an investigation of a flying machine at the very cutting edge of aeronautical engineering. We will divide the activities up into enough jobs to occupy an entire class - ground crew, instrumentation, camera crew, flight medical staff, and so on.

We'll begin by letting the kids help move the aircraft out of the hanger, then show them how to conduct a walk-around and how to use a check list. We'll get them all tugging on a rope to cock the catapult, then let them draw straws for the honor of being the person who releases the weight sends the Flyer on its way. After flying one circuit of the field, we'll review the flight on videotape and the instrument recorder to show what test pilots look for when putting a new aircraft through its paces. The kids will leave with a copy of the tape.