home > newsroom > press releases > 2.17.06

FEBRUARY 17 2006

For more information:

Todd Scott - Himmelrich, Inc.
410-528-5400
todd@himmelrich.com

Wright Brothers: Birth of Aviation Takes Flight
New exhibit open at the Maryland Science Center

Through April 30, visitors to the Maryland Science Center can recreate humans' historic first flights in a new, temporary exhibit, Wright Brothers: Birth of Aviation.

The Birth of Aviation features hands-on activities and high tech simulations that detail Orville and Wilbur Wright's experiments with flight from childhood toys in the 1870's to the creation of what they considered to be a "practical flying machine" in 1905.

Five state-of-the-art simulators let visitors experience the first powered flight. Each simulator represents a different Wright airplane and reveals the changing advances in early airplane technology. "Pilots" in Birth of Aviation lie down on in a cradle, and use basic controls to fly the simulations of 1890's. The more advanced models of 1904 and 1905 require visitors to exhibit complex hand-eye and hip coordination to control the pitching and rolling of the aircraft.

Full size models of Wright gliders, with wingspans up to 40 feet, are suspended from the ceiling throughout the exhibit. These gliders are more than just models; each of them has been flown many times as part of what the exhibit designers call the "archeology of flight" to determine exactly how the Wrights' ideas evolved with the design of each plane.

Throughout Birth of Aviation, Maryland Science Center visitors can experience other Wright creations by printing a copy of newspaper on a Wright printing press, and examining several kinds of bicycles manufactured by the brothers.

Exhibit visitors can also fly a rubber-band toy similar to the one that inspired the young Wrights to first dream of building a machine capable of flight. Other hands-on activities include the inner-tube box experiment that revealed the secret of flight to the young inventors, and a Bernouli blower which demonstrates aerodynamics while "blowing " a ball through a hoop.

Wright Brothers: Birth of Aviation will run through April 30, 2006 in the Legg Mason Gallery of the Maryland Science Center.

The Maryland Science Center is located at 601 Light Street at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. For information and tickets, visit www.marylandsciencecenter.org or call the 24-Hour Information Line at 410-685-5225, TDD: 410-962-0223.