In December 1903, Orville Wright made history when he took The Flyer, an aircraft he designed with his brother, Wilbur, for a 12-second spin.

The event marked the world's first successful, powered, piloted flight - and the beginning of an era.

In honor of the 104th anniversary of this “first flight,” high school students in Santa Maria's Home School Program embarked on their own journey of discovery.

Though the 50 students in the home school program usually have their own curriculum, the Wright Brother's project was open to all.

For two weeks, under the direction of their teacher, Deanne Rosing, the students studied aeronautical sciences, and took turns in a simulator designed to mimic the machine the brothers themselves used to prepare for their historic flight.

“Every once in a while, I'll come up with a harebrained idea that will unify all the kids,” Rosing said with a laugh.

And so, the Wright Brothers Project - which began Dec. 10 and ends Friday - was born.

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On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, The Flyer

became “the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard,” according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Web site.

The brothers - alternating as pilots - flew the plane four times.

Orville piloted the first flight, and the airplane flew for 12 seconds and achieved a height of 120 feet. The longest flight of the day, with Wilbur at the controls, lasted 59 seconds, with the plane reaching 852 feet, the Smithsonian reported.

The feat was nothing short of amazing, Rosing said.

“If you think about it, you and I know what an airplane is, what it should look like,” she said. “(The Wright Brothers) had no idea what an airplane looked like. They just believed they could fly.”

Thus, said Rosing, she designed the project with the goal that students would gain a firm grasp on the brothers' ingenuity.

The project required students to watch a documentary of the ground-breaking flight, summarize the three major components of flight the brothers discovered in their experiments at Kitty Hawk, and create a model airplane based on aeronautical principles.

The last assignment was to have a crash-free flight on the simulator.

Several members of the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association first built the simulator in 2003 for the centennial anniversary of the Wright brothers' flight.

They also built a replica of the wind tunnel the brothers created in 1901.

Though the tunnel is kept at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria EAA President John Ready coordinated efforts to bring the wind tunnel to Santa Maria for the duration of the project.

“Both of the artifacts are interactive and they're both useful tools to explain the process the Wright Brothers went through.”

Late last week, Tori Lewis, 15, attempted to experience what the Wright brothers did.

She lay flat on her stomach, her hips snug in the cradle of the flight simulator, her eyes intent on a computer screen in front of her.

Using the computer to guide her, Tori grabbed the “gas pedal,'' which was actually a wooden lever, in her right hand.

In her left hand was a “joystick” that would help the plane “lift” into the air.

As her “plane” ascended in a gentle take-off, Tori's initial reluctance to try the simulator all but disappeared.

“Oh, I'm in the air!” she said excitedly.

Rosing, standing nearby, marveled.

“She's got it,” said Rosing, adding that the girls - who usually use a softer touch - have generally fared better than the boys on the simulator.

As Tori moved her hips to the right, the plane on the screen in front of her tilted, the wing-tip nearly touching the “ocean.”

After a successful landing with no crashes, the teen stopped to reflect on the experience.

“It was really cool,” she said. “Actually, you wouldn't think something like (the Wright brothers' plane) could actually get in the air.”

The project, said Tori, gave her admiration for the enterprising pair.

“I definitely have more of an appreciation of how they got (The Flyer) to work,” she said. “I have more of an appreciation for flight.”

Natalie Ragus can be reached at 347-4580 or nragus@santamariatimes.com.

December 18, 2007