The verb tense error in the paragraph is: flies
That said, the first truly accepted take-off and flight powered by nothing other than the pilot himself, occurred almost fifty years later in November 1961, when Derek Piggott flew the SUMPAC (Southampton University’s Man Powered AirCraft) a then world-record distance of 650-yards (594m).
The verb "flies" should be in past-tense because throughout the paragraph all the verbs are in past tense, indicating that an event has already occurred. Therefore, it should be replaced with the word "flew."
- Flew is the past-tense of flies.