- Who
- Thomas E. Selfridge, Lieutenant Thomas Etholen Selfridge
- What
- first
- Where
- United States (Fort Myer)
- When
Lieutenant Thomas Etholen Selfridge (USA) was an army observer on a plane piloted by Orville Wright (USA) on 17 September 1908 when four minutes into the performance test of the aircraft 'Wright Flyer' at Fort Myer, Virginia, USA, the propeller snapped a rudder control wire, which forced the propeller to break and lead to the plane nose diving into a field. Selfridge died from his internal injuries and fractured skull within three hours of the accident. Wright was hospitalized with a fractured thigh and several broken ribs.
