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Transcript
November 7, 2003

911 CALL: 9-1-1, what is your emergency?

CALLER: ...a little lawnmower engine airplane. We heard it, it cracked and it backfired and then you could hear it going down.

NARRATOR: That "lawnmower-engine airplane" was really a reproduction of one built by the Wright brothers.

KEN HYDE (Pilot): I had a pretty bad bump on my head, and I was bleeding, and I was pretty sure my right arm was broken.

NARRATOR: As shown on PBS's NOVA, the Wrights were so secretive about design and construction that replica builder Ken Hyde and his team had to rediscover most of the details from scratch.

Like the Wright brothers, they had to learn how to design a wing much like the original—they tested what they learned in large kites just like the Wright brothers.

RICK YOUNG (Aviation Enthusiast): You're flying it, baby.

NARRATOR: They used modern equipment to measure an actual Wright brothers propeller, restored an engine built by the brothers, and when they were sure they had learned all the secrets they could, Hyde and his team crafted the airplane. But this was the unhappy ending of an early test that wasn't even supposed to involve flying the plane! The plane got away!

KEN HYDE (Pilot): It climbed out well, and I was tickled pink. I thought: This is going to be okay.

NARRATOR: Plans are to repair the plane and hopefully learn a few more of the Wrights' secrets before trying again. I'm Brad Kloza.