It's gotten into his blood.
Born and raised in Manteo, across the sound from this Outer Banks community, Collins, 43, said he has worked at the National Park Service site for 18 years.
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Less than a century old, the site is steeped in history and rich in symbolic importance for aviators and aviation enthusiasts. It's where people, after envying the birds for thousands of years, finally gave themselves wings.
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Dominating the 431-acre site is a high, grass-covered hill where a 60 foot granite monument marks where Dayton brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright flew gliders to perfect their concept of a heavier-than-air flying machine. Nearby are a series of stones marking the path of the world's first powered flights, which the Wrights made on Dec. 17, 1903. A visitors' center contains replicas of the Wrights' 1902 glider and the 1903 Flyer it led to.
Collins speaks quietly in a soft North Carolina accent, but his pride in the Wrights is obvious.
"This is a true American dream, a dream these two men had, and they fulfilled the dream at this site," he says.
Visitors come from around the world, up to 150,000 a month, he says.
Some are just families on vacation. Others have a more serious interest.
"They come to make the bond with the Wright brothers," he says.
But Collins has made his own bond. Over the years, he has felt the desire to take wing himself, but time and money were always barriers.
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Patiently, he's following their path into the sky.
"I just finished ground school,” he confides.