Will it Fly?

In the early 1900s in a remote rural settlement in New Zealand’s South Island, reclusive farmer Richard Pearse built an aircraft in his shed. By some eye-witness accounts, his successful test flights came weeks before the Wright brothers' in 1903, North Carolina - the first official powered airplane flight. This documentary follows retired engineer Ivan Mudrovchich's attempt, 109 years later, to rebuild and fly Pearse's plane. 73-year-old retired Mudrovchich spent eight years of research and intensive labour to try and prove Pearse's craft could have flown. Becoming a "forensic engineer", he pieces the mystery together using old engine remains and Pearse's written description. 

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