AIAA Wright Flyer - on the move again
By Marilyn Ramsey

On Saturday, the Wright Flyer Team assembled at Northrop Grumman at 8:00 am to begin moving out of that location, as they needed the space. (The Western Museum of Flight also had to vacate).

We had been accepted to proceed to Aerospace Corp. for our new home. However, a last minute "glitch" within the Aerospace company resulted in the space not being available for another two to three months!

"Microcosm, Inc.", in El Segundo, CA, also wanted us to join them. They were expanding, and moving to their new building on Douglas Drive near my building! The owner, Jim Wertz, is a member of AIAA, and he really wanted us to build the flight model of the 1903 in the same building where he builds rockets for Air Force payloads! (Back to the future....)

We gladly accepted his offer. This Saturday, we loaded the rented stake bed truck, as well as Bob Sechrists truck. I think we made four trips/loads to get everything moved. At 5:30 pm Saturday, we realized we would have one last load. So we unloaded the truck at Microcosm, and decided to return to Northrop and load everything up, go home and get a good nights sleep, and return Sunday morning, pick up the loaded truck, and finish up! (We finished loading the truck at 8:30 pm!)

Sunday morning, we headed for Microcosm and unloaded the remainder, which was two of our huge work tables, desks, tables, the big green "sissor-lift" on wheels, one remaining pallette, and lumber which was on the "big green". I picked up Don Dotson's easels and stopped by FAA for some of the displays. We are now set up like we were at NASA with the displays encircling our area. They will be installing a fence around us so our area will be secure, and we will have a phone! The facility is heated and air conditioned also!!

I talked to Jim briefly, and he described how the staircase next to our area would be "glassed in", and the upstairs area have large windows installed, where all their visitors could "look in" on us. He seems to be very enthusiastic and proud that we are there. The last item of business on Sunday was to get some photos with Jim before we left.

The facility is similar to the Yorba Linda building, and has been refurbished, insulated....and CLEAN! We have a corner with 2000 sq. ft. and our own entrance.

It was interesting to arrive and begin unloading, at the same time Jim was moving his company in. I chuckled, as we were at one loading bay and their moving truck was at the other. By the end of the day, I wouldn't have been surprised if (as tired as everyone was) that everyone went over and took things off the wrong truck at the wrong loading bay! Microcosm had at least six BIG trucks of belongings that I saw. (Now those moving guys were tired!)

We have a fantastic new home for our first meeting of the new millennium - on January 8, 2000! January will be a month of "getting organized" for us and settling in to begin the serious job of building the flight model.


Happy Holidays to all!

Marilyn

Copyright © 1996-2001, AIAA Wright Flyer Project, all rights reserved.


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