"Flying" any aircraft built before 1910 and not designed by Wilbur &
Orivlle is tentative at best. Even their 1911 model B had some
qualities that would render it unrecoverable in certain situations.
Ditto the Bleriot and other European designs. Flying would by far be
the biggest stumbling block to the machine's commercial success. There
are FAA concerns, insurance, and the designer's family to consider, as
well as the original plane's lack of performance. Its best flight was
reported to be about 300 ft.

In regards to my 1902 glider, yes I do charge an appearance fee for
airshows, and unfortunately its a lot. I don't make much money, just
enough to cover what I loose by taking-off work from my day job on
Friday and Monday. The rest goes to insurance, fuel for the truck, and
maintenance on the glider. Mostly, it goes to insurance.

So far, the glider has made one public flight. It was unscheduled, and
lasted for 11 seconds before I was able to regain control of the
machine. It was scheduled to make public flights in Oct. 2002 at
Jockey's Ridge, but a series of construction delays, financial
concerns, and illnesses prevented us from making that deadline. I've
now moved to Colorado. Barring the descovery of a suitable local flying
site, the glider will remain grounded. Its going to be a while before
we get back to Kitty Hawk. No, I do not fly the glider at airshows.
This is beyond the capability of the glider. However, I do present a
20-minute show every 1/2 hour until noon on show days. And during the
show, I do demonstrate the flight control system that this machine
pioneered.

I posted the original thread on this newsgroup to determine if there
was enough interest to warrent a full marketing survey before starting
serious work on the Epps project. I'm rather surprised at the responses
I received. I had hoped that a few of the regulars from the group would
respond with well thought-out answers - either pro or con.

Harry Frey