1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,720 I'm here at the Regalo kite festival here in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:10,000 People from all over the world come here to fly their kites on the same sand dunes that the Wright brothers used to fly the 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:14,880 Very first airplane now. Did you know that the Chinese were the first people to fly kites? 4 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:19,160 Almost 3,000 years ago the Chinese built kites out of silk and bamboo 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:22,680 For years the kite has been thought of as a trivial toy 6 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:26,100 But history tells us that the kite is so much more than a toy 7 00:00:26,460 --> 00:00:34,340 Throughout history kites have been used by civil engineers to construct bridges and perhaps most famously by Ben Franklin to study electricity 8 00:00:34,860 --> 00:00:42,300 Why even NASA has studied kites matter of fact this kite festival is named for a famous NASA researcher and his work with the 9 00:00:42,300 --> 00:00:43,580 flexible wing 10 00:00:43,580 --> 00:00:47,860 Mr. Francis Regalo known as the father of hang gliding created the paraglider 11 00:00:47,940 --> 00:00:52,500 That was one of the possible design solutions for returning a space capsule back to earth 12 00:00:53,380 --> 00:00:59,180 Mr. Regalo is here today for this kite festival. He has given me some background on how a flexible wing works 13 00:00:59,740 --> 00:01:02,780 Want to know more visit the NASA Connect website 14 00:01:04,580 --> 00:01:10,620 And they know van if you'd like to fly we can go out there and go hang gliding. Oh, wow, that'd be great 15 00:01:11,340 --> 00:01:15,780 Yeah, right now right now. All right. Let's go 16 00:01:16,060 --> 00:01:21,380 We'll be back in just a few moments to catch up with van, but right now we're here at windy, Manteo, North Carolina 17 00:01:21,380 --> 00:01:27,740 Actually, we're at the Deer County Airport where Air Venture 98 is just about ready to get underway Air Venture 98 18 00:01:27,740 --> 00:01:32,700 Now that's an air race for experimental aircraft, but not too far from here is Kitty Hawk 19 00:01:32,700 --> 00:01:36,380 Which is the site of the first historic powered air flight in 1903 20 00:01:37,380 --> 00:01:43,220 The Wright brothers changed the world forever when Orville Wright went up into the air for the first successful heavier-than-air flight 21 00:01:43,700 --> 00:01:49,900 This machine was just one step in a broad experimental program that began with a glider kite that they built in 1899 22 00:01:50,500 --> 00:01:52,660 Not only did they build the first successful plane 23 00:01:52,660 --> 00:01:57,380 But they built the first wind tunnel and they had to find out for themselves the dynamics of lift 24 00:01:58,260 --> 00:01:59,620 drag 25 00:01:59,620 --> 00:02:02,100 weight and thrust on a shape 26 00:02:03,460 --> 00:02:08,900 Ever since the Wright brothers successfully tested their flying machine off the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk 27 00:02:08,900 --> 00:02:15,900 We've seen a multitude of designers, builders, and inventors trying to take their machines to some place faster, farther, and higher 28 00:02:15,900 --> 00:02:19,500 Well, that's what Air Venture 98 is all about. It honors those people 29 00:02:19,500 --> 00:02:26,900 They will set off right here from historic, North Carolina and set sail across the skies to Oshkosh, Wisconsin 30 00:02:26,900 --> 00:02:32,900 Where they're set to kick off the largest experimental aircraft air show in North America, Oshkosh 31 00:02:32,900 --> 00:02:43,900 Aviation enthusiasts annually gather in Oshkosh to witness first-hand new design concepts and technologies that could open up new vistas to the field of aeronautical engineering and to personal and commercial aircraft venues 32 00:02:45,900 --> 00:02:50,900 Air Venture brings out many different personalities and many different extraordinary looking aircraft 33 00:02:50,900 --> 00:02:56,900 Joining me right now is a very special personality, Hoot Gibson, who is a former astronaut, was a commander of the U.S. Air Force 34 00:02:56,900 --> 00:03:06,900 Joining me right now is a very special personality, Hoot Gibson, who is a former astronaut, was a commander on four missions, and has flown over 60 different airplanes 35 00:03:06,900 --> 00:03:09,900 And behind me you can see the airplane he's going to be racing in 36 00:03:09,900 --> 00:03:12,900 How about giving us a little lowdown on this big plane? 37 00:03:12,900 --> 00:03:18,900 Well, Shelley, this airplane is a Hawker Sea Fury built by the British right after World War II 38 00:03:18,900 --> 00:03:22,900 So right in the late 40s and early 50s is when these airplanes started flying 39 00:03:22,900 --> 00:03:24,900 It's a really interesting bird 40 00:03:24,900 --> 00:03:26,900 It's a very big, heavy, powerful machine 41 00:03:26,900 --> 00:03:29,900 It weighs about 9,000 pounds 42 00:03:29,900 --> 00:03:32,900 It has a 3,000 horsepower engine in it 43 00:03:32,900 --> 00:03:36,900 And as you can see, it's got about a 14-foot diameter propeller 44 00:03:36,900 --> 00:03:39,900 As you can see, the wings fold, of course 45 00:03:39,900 --> 00:03:42,900 It used to be a carrier fighter, was what the British used it for 46 00:03:42,900 --> 00:03:48,900 And you always want to minimize the size of the airplane when it's time to stow it away on the carrier 47 00:03:48,900 --> 00:03:51,900 So you fold the wings and it takes up a lot less space 48 00:03:51,900 --> 00:03:54,900 The wings actually cost you a little bit of weight 49 00:03:54,900 --> 00:03:58,900 Because you've got to put in some mechanism to make the wings fold and to lock the wings 50 00:03:58,900 --> 00:04:01,900 Because, of course, you want to lock them when they're down 51 00:04:01,900 --> 00:04:03,900 You don't want them folding up by themselves, obviously 52 00:04:03,900 --> 00:04:05,900 Yeah, well, I have a final question for you 53 00:04:05,900 --> 00:04:08,900 This is what I call a tortoise and hare question 54 00:04:08,900 --> 00:04:13,900 Your plane certainly is bigger than any other airplane that's going to be in this air race 55 00:04:13,900 --> 00:04:19,900 So, given that, which plane do you think is going to be your closest competitor in this race? 56 00:04:19,900 --> 00:04:22,900 I'm not even sure, Shelley, that we're going to win this race 57 00:04:22,900 --> 00:04:26,900 We do have the biggest, most powerful, heaviest airplane out here 58 00:04:26,900 --> 00:04:29,900 But it doesn't have any kind of guarantee that we're going to win 59 00:04:29,900 --> 00:04:35,900 The other airplane that I think is real fast and may be a real problem for us is the Lancer 4 60 00:04:35,900 --> 00:04:39,900 With the Chevrolet V8 engine in it, with the five-bladed propeller 61 00:04:39,900 --> 00:04:41,900 I think he's going to be very fast 62 00:04:41,900 --> 00:04:43,900 And he's going to fly a lot higher 63 00:04:43,900 --> 00:04:47,900 He can be up in the 25,000 to 30,000-foot range 64 00:04:48,900 --> 00:04:49,900 We're going to be quite a bit lower 65 00:04:49,900 --> 00:04:52,900 We're going to be down around 20,000 feet, somewhere around there 66 00:04:52,900 --> 00:04:56,900 So he's going to be some real competition, I think, on this length of a race 67 00:04:56,900 --> 00:04:59,900 So there's a lot of variables in here that are going to enter into this race 68 00:04:59,900 --> 00:05:00,900 There really are 69 00:05:00,900 --> 00:05:03,900 So stay tuned. We'll see who comes out ahead