OSHKOSH, Wis., July 24 (Reuters) - Four candidates were chosen to recreate the Wright Brothers first powered flight during a 100th anniversary celebration next year, organizers said on Wednesday.
The Experimental Aircraft Association, which is holding its annual air show in Oshkosh this week, and Ford Motor Co. said the flight will take place near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on Dec. 17, 2003, in a replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer flown by brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright.
After a year of training, organizers will choose two of the four finalists to fly the plane. The pilots will be announced at the 2003 Experimental Aircraft Association annual air show.
The four candidates named were Ken Hyde, Warrenton, Virginia, a retired American Airlines pilot and founder of a company that is reproducing the Wright plane; Terry Queijo, Trappe, Maryland, co-pilot of the first all-female flight crew for American Airlines; Chris Johnson, Manassas, Virginia, a major in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and also American pilot; and Kevin Kochersberger, Honeoye Falls, New York, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology.