December 13, 2002 - 50 Flags to Kitty Hawk, a national aviation celebration created by EAA and the National Park Service to help commemorate the 100th anniversary of powered flight, will include Chapel Hill-based pilot Charles Stites to represent the state of North Carolina by flying its official state flag to the Wright Brothers National Memorial on December 17, 2002.

Charles Stites is the first of 50 EAA members to be chosen-one from each state-for the 50 Flags to Kitty Hawk program, in which flags from all of the United States are flown to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, prior to December 17, 2003. Upon arrival, EAA-member pilots will take part in official flag presentation ceremonies, and their state flag will be raised and flown at the Wright Brothers National Memorial site on that respective day.

Stites was chosen this week to allow him to participate as a North Carolina resident in Dec. 17's 99th anniversary commemoration of the Wrights' first flight at Kitty Hawk. 

"Being chosen to participate in 50 Flags to Kitty Hawk and represent our state as part of this yearlong program is a distinct honor," Stites said. Stites will make the first 50 Flags flight to Kitty Hawk in his 1949 Ryan Navion A. He has been an EAA member since 1989 and is also a member of the Vintage Aircraft Association, a division of EAA.

The 50 Flags to Kitty Hawk program is a part of EAA's Countdown to Kitty Hawk national initiative, presented by Ford Motor Company, and supported by Microsoft Flight Simulator and Eclipse Aviation. Other elements of Countdown to Kitty Hawk include the construction of an exact flying reproduction of the 1903 Wright Flyer, and a six-stop national tour of EAA's Countdown to Kitty Hawk exhibit, which includes the Flyer and numerous interactive aviation displays. The tour will culminate in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, when as part of the Centennial of Flight Celebration, EAA's Wright Flyer will fly again at 10:35 a.m. on December 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.