Search To reach new heights, aviation depends on young
LEONARD RUTLANDSpecial to the Record
Editor's note: The 100th anniversary of motorized flight is considered by most to be Dec. 17. To celebrate this landmark event, The St. Augustine Record, together with the support of the St. Augustine-St. Johns County Airport Authority, commemorates the history of aviation with a special seven-week feature, "Flight Years in St. Augustine." The feature looks at the history of aviation in the Oldest City. The series is part of The Record's Newspaper-in-Education program. The airport authority is delivering more than 10,000 newspapers each Friday to elementary, middle and high schools in St. Johns County to be used as a teaching tool. This is the concluding part in the series.
The future of American aviation is in the hands of the young, and 11-year-old Orange Park resident Kyle Longron is ready to take this responsibility.
Kyle's interest in aviation, and the progress he has made in his own studies of wing design, caught the attention of local Young Eagles promoter Bill Gardner.
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Gardner met Kyle at a Young Eagles flight rally in November, and was so impressed by Kyle's interest in airplane engineering that he decided to take Kyle with him to Kitty Hawk, N.C., for the Dec. 17 commemoration of the Wright Brothers flight.
His interest in planes goes back to kindergarten and a book he had checked out from the school library.
Two years ago, at age nine, Kyle was visiting his grandparents, who took him to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., where he became interested in the science of wing design.
The intricate details of proper wing design gave Kyle the idea to begin a science project for his sixth grade class at W.E. Cherry school, in Orange Park.
Gardner said Kyle's project involved "principles of flight, and how aerodynamics affect different wing shapes."
Kyle decided to test his model airfoils in a wind tunnel.
After some Internet searching, Kyle came across instructions for a wind tunnel designed by the Wright Brothers.
Kyle built the tunnel and completed his project, which has been chosen as an entry in Clay County's fair.
Gardner said Kyle's mother told him, "Bill, the reason why we are letting him go with this wing design thing . . . [is because] something is clicking in him. He's really interested for the first time in his life."
On Monday, Gardner and Kyle visited the monument built to commemorate the Wright Brothers' achievements, where Gardner said "there must have been 1,000 or 2,000 people."
They saw a B-52 bomber, a B-1 bomber, and two of Kyle's favorite planes, a F-14 Tomcat and a Stealth Fighter.
They also witnessed a fly-by refueling, and a test ignition of the Wright Flyer's engine.
Kyle said the Flyer is "an exact replica, every stitch, everything."
The plane was funded by Harry Coombs, the former CEO of Lear Jet, and built by Ken Hyde of The Wright Experience.
On Wednesday, the "near perfect" replica of the original 1903 Wright Flyer was flown by two pilots.
President Bush attended the festivities.
When asked what he thought of the future of aviation and space technology, Kyle guessed that within 30 years we'd "be going to Mars and to Pluto even . . . I'll be there."
For Gardner, the learning experience is a shared one.
Gardner believes that adults can learn from young people just as much as the young can learn from them.
Adults have a habit of talking to kids, and not with them, Gardner said.
"I don't think enough adults really talk with children, encourage them and ask for their help,'" said Gardner. "They're capable of everything."
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