WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18: AVIATION'S FIRST DEATH

Profile America — Tuesday, September 18th.  Newspapers on this date in 1908 reported on aviation's first fatality the day before, and the serious injury of the airplane's co-inventor.  Orville Wright had been demonstrating an aircraft for the Army at Fort Myer, Virginia.  With Orville at the controls, Army Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge went up as a passenger, as a test of possible military use of the airplane by the Army Signal Corps.  Four minutes into the flight, the plane crashed, killing Selfridge and seriously injuring Orville Wright.  In the years since, flying has become routine and very safe.  U.S. airlines carry more than 700 million passengers annually on more than 10 million flights.  In recent years, the number of accidents with fatalities has varied from 1 to 3 a year.  Profile America is in its 16th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sources:  Chase's Calendar of Events 2012, p. 457
               National Aviation Hall of Fame
               Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012, t. 1073, 1078

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau