OSHKOSH, Wis.— It’s no easy task piloting the Wright Flyer.

It takes some nuanced touches of the controls — and somebody English — to keep the plane aloft. 

But it’s something Orville and Wilbur Wright did successfully 117 years ago Thursday. The first flight lasted a mere 12 seconds, but changed the world forever.

The Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh uses the landmark flight to spark an interest in aviation and rally support for its outreach programs.

“It’s our annual Day of Flight. It’s a fundraising initiative to support our EAA Aviation Foundation, which is the organization’s charitable arm,” said Hal Bryan, the association’s managing editor. “Any monies we raise from that go directly to support our educational outreach, our safety programs and the museum itself.”

While 2020 has been anything but normal, the EAA has reopened its museum in Oshkosh and is showcasing several new additions, including The Lark of Duluth — an aircraft that was installed Thursday — and a Vietnam-era uh-1 Huey helicopter. 

It’s also working with Microsoft Flight Simulator to offer flight training scholarships to young people.

While the organization saw its annual fly-in and airshow — AirVenture — canceled this year due to the pandemic, it’s starting to make plans for a return in 2021. 

“We’re going to have to have sanitization, we’re working on traffic flow and clusters of people at gates,” Bryan said. “We think it might look a little different, but our commitment is that it’s going to feel just like it always does.”

Back to 1903.

Tori Anschutz, a development specialist with the Experimental Aircraft Association Foundation, said that first flight still captures the imagination of many — including her.

“It shows how far we can go with flight,” she said. “If they did that 117 years ago, just imagine what we can do in another 117 years.”

You can learn more about EAA's Day of Flight through their website, Facebook or by texting FLIGHT to 56512.