Dan Dorr
Airline Pilot

The Wright way to do a first flight

Dan Dorr flew his Falco for the first flight on December 17, 2003, the 100th birthday of the Wright brothers' first flight. Everything was fine, no heavy wing, etc. He flew the plane to 5,500 feet and did approach to stalls. Dan worked as an aeronautical engineer at Edwards AFB and then as an aero engineer and pilot at NASA. He has make six other landings in a Falco, and this was the best landing he ever made in a Falco.

"It flies like a Falco" he reports, and said that "a really weird feeling settles in on you, not while you're first taking off, but then it slowly builds as you realize you're flying an airplane that you built yourself. It's a fantastic feeling."

Dan started building the Falco in 1988 when he was 27 years old and in pilot training at Vance AFB in Oklahoma.

Why is this man smiling?

Oshkosh 2005 Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion

Dan Dorr in formation with Doug Henson

Many thanks to Dick Jones for the air-to-air photography.