Image of the Air Force wings with the museum name underneath

Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week
FREE Admission & Parking

Tragedy Strikes

Tragedy struck during a flight on Sept. 17, 1908, when the right propeller on the 1908 Flyer fouled a guy wire, causing the plane to crash to earth. Orville Wright was seriously injured, while Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge, along on the flight as a passenger, was fatally injured, thus becoming the first person to die as the result of an airplane accident.

Click here to return to the Wright Brothers Overview.