Edgar Tello Delivers Puerto Rican Flag To Wright Brothers Memorial

KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. - July 25, 2003 -Edgar Tello, an EAA member pilot from Ponce, Puerto Rico officially represented the Puerto Rican flag in EAA's "50 Flags to Kitty Hawk" program Friday, July 25, when he landed at the Wright Brothers National Memorial and presented the flag to National Park Service officials.

Tello was one of 50 EAA-member pilots chosen - one from each state - to participate in the "50 Flags to Kitty Hawk" program, a year-long effort that is part of EAA's "Countdown to Kitty Hawk" initiative, presented by Ford Motor Company, celebrating the achievements of the Wright brothers and the 100th anniversary of powered flight in 2003.

Tello was the 15th EAA-member pilot to complete the journey to Kitty Hawk Following the presentation, the Puerto Rican flag was raised at the Wright Brothers National Memorial site, where it flew for the entire day.

"It has been an immense honor to fly our islands flag to such an historic place as Kitty Hawk," Tello said. He hails from Ponce, where he is a professional pilot, has more than 11,000 hours in the air, and has been an EAA member since 2000. His 1,200-mile flight took two days to complete in a Republic Seebee.

EAA's "Countdown to Kitty Hawk" program, which is also supported by Microsoft Flight Simulator and Eclipse Aviation, includes construction of an exact flying reproduction of the 1903 Wright flyer, and a six-stop national tour of EAA's "Countdown to Kitty Hawk" pavilion exhibit, which features the Flyer, historic artifacts and Wright brothers correspondence from the Library of Congress, and numerous interactive aviation displays.

The tour will culminate at Kill Devil Hills, N.C., when as part of the Centennial of Flight Celebration, EAA's Wright Flyer will fly again at 10:35 a.m. on Dec. 17, 2003 - precisely 100 years to the minute from when the Wrights made history.

For more information on EAA's "Countdown to Kitty Hawk" program, visit www.countdowntokittyhawk.com.