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On December 17, we’ll mark the anniversary of one of the greatest achievements mankind has ever produced. That day, 122 years ago, was made famous by a pair of brothers from Dayton, Ohio, who ventured down to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to once again attempt to get their “heavier-than-air flying machine” airborne. After a few crashes earlier that same week, they succeeded three days later. The world took little notice of the achievement, but the brothers knew they had accomplished something significant. A few years later, after several exhibition flights, Wilbur Wright circled Manhattan and Staten Island on September 29, 1909, and nearly a million people witnessed air travel for the very first time.
In Delaware, we have an aviation history of our own and an industry today that is both significant and thriving, anchored by organizations and institutions such as ALOFT AeroArchitects, Summit Aviation, Avelo Airlines, Delaware Technical Community College’s airframe and mechanical maintenance program, Delaware State University’s piloting and aviation management programs, the DelDOT Office of Aeronautics, Dover Air Force Base and the adjacent Air Mobility Command Museum, ILC Dover, the Bellanca Airfield Museum in the City of New Castle, and airports in Georgetown, New Castle, and beyond.
The miracle of flight has given me the opportunity to visit almost 90 countries around the world, and my gratitude could not be higher. Holiday travel will find some of us experiencing delays at the airport or long lines. But in the end, you are safely seated in a chair some 30,000 feet above the ground, going places and getting there in periods of time mankind could not even imagine a century ago.
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