Kill Devil Hills, NC
May 16, 2003

Martha King, co-chairman and co-owner of the world's leading aviation training video company, King Schools, Inc., will fly the California State Flag to Wright Brothers National Memorial on Tuesday, May 20 as part of the "Fifty Flags to Kitty Hawk" celebration. The "Fifty Flags to Kitty Hawk" program was created by the Experimental Aircraft Association and the National Park Service to commemorate the 100th anniversary of flight.

King is one of 50 EAA members chosen to participate in the "Fifty Flags" program, in which one flag from each state is flown to Wright Brothers National Memorial before December 1, 2003. Upon arrival, each pilot will take part in an official flag presentation ceremony, and the State flag will be raised and flown at the Wright Memorial site.

Martha King and her husband, John, founded King Schools in the early '70's, operating their business out of a third bedroom in their house. Now their company operates from an 18,000 sq. ft. complex in San Diego, CA, and in the last 27 years has delivered more than five million videos with over eight million hours of video instruction. In the last decade, Martha and John have taught nearly half of the new private and instrument pilots in the United States.

When Martha makes her flight to the First Flight Airstrip between 10 and 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, she will be accompanied by her husband in their Falcon 10 jet. Together, the Kings hold every category and class of pilot and flight instructor ratings, and in addition to they have piloted blimps, hot air balloons, gyrocopters, gliders, and seaplanes.

In addition, Martha King was appointed by President Clinton to the First Flight Centennial Flight Advisory Board to help promote celebrations of the 100th anniversary of flight.

Contact:

Erin Porter
Centennial Planning Office
Tel: 252 441 6291, ext. 224
ErinPorterNPS@aol.com