The Dominican Institute of Civil Aviation, Idac, congratulated all Dominican pilots on the date consecrated in their honor, as a fair tribute to engineer Zoilo Hermógenes García Peña, considered a pioneer of civil aviation in the country for having built and flown the first airplane in the Dominican Republic, in 1911.
The director of Idac, Héctor Porcella, declared that the Dominican aeronautical sector owes a debt of gratitude to García Peña, for which he proposes to consult the country’s aviators and others interested parties to agree on the dignified treatment they deserve.
He recalled that the National Aviator Pilot Day was instituted by decree No.300-05, selecting the date of December 21 for the birth of García Peña, who was born in the city of La Vega, where he also undertook the feat of building and fly the Polyplane.
Zoilo’s plane had several planes that allowed it to stay in the air, without falling to the ground even if the engine failed.
The device was flown by the inventor himself in his hometown and then taken to the United States, where it was exhibited at the New York Air Show and then in Nassao and Long Island.
Zoilo, who had studied engineering at the Du Nord Industrial Institute in Paris, graduated as a pilot in the United States after patenting his Polyplane design in that country.