Wright Flyer Crashes: First Aviation Fatality
Orville Wright was demonstrating the Military Flyer for the U.S. Army at Fort Myer, Virginia, on September 17, 1908, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as his passenger, when a propeller blade cracked and severed a guy wire controlling the rudder. The aircraft nose-dived from 75 feet. Selfridge was killed instantly, his skull fractured by a wooden strut. He became the first person to die in a powered airplane crash. Wright suffered a broken left leg and four broken ribs. The accident forced the Army to require pilots to wear helmets and established crash investigation as a formal practice. Selfridge's death demonstrated that aviation, still in its infancy, would demand both courage and systematic safety protocols.
September 17, 1908
118 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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