Back to:

Automation Portals

Honeywell Sensing & Control News

Honeywell Wireless Telemetry System Helps Reproduce Wright Flyer

Measures how efficiently engine was able to turn propellers

COLUMBUS, Ohio, February 17, 2004 - A century after Ohio brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright first flew their Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Ohioans again played a major role in the history of flight. The Sensotec Test and Measurement business of Honeywell [NYSE:HON] Sensing and Control provided instrumentation that helped test the reproduction plane built by The Wright Experience of Warrenton, Virginia, for the Experimental Aircraft Association.

Other teams have simply constructed a plane similar to the Wright Flyer. But the Wright Experience flight engineers examined the original plane (now in the Smithsonian Institution) and used notes left behind by the Wright Brothers, computer simulations, and air-tunnel testing to build the world's most accurate reproduction.

Honeywell provided an essential piece of the highly reliable test and measurement instrumentation that helped the team succeed. The firm's wireless telemetry system enabled the flight engineers to measure how efficiently the plane's engine was able to turn its propellers. The Wrights' propeller design enabled them to get the maximum possible power from their small engine and was the key factor that made their plane fly in 1903. Modern engineers have found the Wrights' design to be very nearly as efficient as that now used in modern aircraft.

Honeywell engineer Andy Bell, a long-time aviation buff, traveled to Warrenton, where the plane was built, to work with the flight engineers. Bell consulted on the design for the harness that held the Honeywell equipment on the plane during its wind-tunnel tests and first two test flights.

Although weather prevented the reproduction model from becoming airborne at the December 17, 2003, Centennial Celebration attended by President Bush, the little 605-pound plane did actually fly on the earlier test flights. The flight team praised the quality of the Honeywell instruments, and Bell described Honeywells participation in the history-making project as "an exciting way to celebrate 100 years of flight."

For more information about the Wright Flyer, visit www.wrightexperience.com.

Honeywell International is a diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; turbochargers; automotive products; specialty chemicals; fibers; and electronic and advanced materials. Based in Morris Township, N. J., Honeywell is one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is also a component of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Its shares are traded on the New York, London, Chicago and Pacific Stock Exchanges. For additional information, please visit www.honeywell.com.

Honeywell Sensing and Control is part of Honeywells Automation and Control Solutions group, a global leader in providing product and service solutions that improve efficiency and profitability, support regulatory compliance, and maintain safe, comfortable environments in homes, buildings and industry. For more information about Sensing and Control, access www.honeywell.com/sensing.

Automation.com Real-time Information for the Automation Professional May. 24, 2012

Cart

Automation.com

NOTICE: Your use of Automation.com constitutes your agreement to the Legal Notices, Policies, Terms, and Conditions governing its use. You should review these terms before proceeding.Copyright © 2000-2010 Automation.com - automation.com, automationtechies.com, automationtechies, automationtechie, and Member-Match are all trade and service marks of Automation Resources, Inc. All Rights Reserved.