Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Historic flight re-enactment ends up in huge pile of chicken manure

A veteran pilot from Victoria, Australia, had a close shave at the weekend, while re-enacting a historic flight. Ben Buckley, of Gippsland, was the pilot of a plane re-enacting the first powered, controlled flight, in an Australian-designed and built plane by John Duigan in 1910. The event was held in the central Victorian town of Ballarat.

The plane had a number of power and control problems, but did manage to get off the ground. However, Mr Buckley says when it came down, it veered off the runway and crashed into a 20 tonne pile of chicken manure.

"The council had shifted it to the edge of the runway and the aeroplane finished up in that," he said. "Well there was a bit of give in it. I'm still a bit stiff and sore though, I can tell you."

Mr Buckley says the team members were disappointed but they are determined to try again. "Duigan even crashed his first one. I've seen a picture of an effort he did there," he said. "There's conflicting stories and there'll be conflicting stories about this."

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