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Wright Flyer pilot doing better, but still hospitalized

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By Jeremy P. Kelley, Staff Writer Updated 1:18 PM Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The pilot injured Thursday, Oct. 1 in the crash of a Wright Flyer III replica has been upgraded from critical to fair condition, Miami Valley Hospital officials said Wednesday morning.

Mark Dusenberry, 48, of Dover, is no longer in intensive care, but hospital spokeswoman Nancy Thickel would not release any details of his injuries or recovery.

Dusenberry crashed during a practice flight in preparation for a re-enactment of Wilbur and Orville Wright’s historic demonstration of practical flight at Huffman Prairie. He has flown the Wright Flyer III replica for six years and had another crash in 2007 at Huffman Prairie, but was not injured on that occasion.

Last Thursday, Dusenberry had completed one practice flight and was on a second when the replica plane crashed nose first, falling straight down from a height of about 15 feet, according to witnesses.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2278 or jkelley@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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Fate is The Hunter

Easyduz it
11:02 PM, 10/10/2009

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Maybe instead of a helmet, a pair of Depends would be better for when you **** yourself realizing your going to crash.

But seriously, I hope the guy ends up alright. Doing what he does takes having the guts to chase a dream and having really big Cajones.

mmmmkay
4:38 PM, 10/7/2009

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You would have thought that he would have learned the first time! HA

DUH
3:23 PM, 10/7/2009

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A helmet wouldn't have helped - his injuries weren't to his head.

fearless
3:13 PM, 10/7/2009

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next time hopefully he'll have on some protective gear, like a helmet.

j
2:42 PM, 10/7/2009

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