Were the Wright brothers the first to sustain controlled powered flight?

Running Head : WERE THE WRIGHT BROTHERS THE FIRST TO SUSTAIN CONTROLLED POWERED FLIGHT

Were the Wright brothers the first to sustain controlled powered flight (Your Name (Your School

Introduction

It was on a December morning in 1903 when two brothers from Dayton , Ohio flipped a coin and made their first attempt to fly . They expected that this toss of a coin would enter into history books as one of the most important winter events . This day would mark the first event in which a heavier than air vehicles would make it up

the air and land back safely On December 14 Wilbur Wright was in position between the twin propellers , bicycle chain and a 12 horsepower gasoline engine . While still tethered to the ground , on a wooden rail , the engine for the biplane spun the counter rotating propellers . When it was released , it slid on the air as the other brother tried to stabilize the wings . This was a marginal success as the crate moved about a 100 meters into the air before it finally crashed on the ground cutting short the flight Although it lasted for only three and a half seconds on the air , this was the beginning of aero-plane revolution . The two brothers were happy with their progress as they had opened a new chapter in aviation . One of the most important factors that they noted after the flight was that there was ample power and control of the craft as they communicated back to their father . Compared to the attempts that had been made before this was the first attempted controlled flight (Plamara , 2003

Attempts that had been made before

The history of flying can be traced to the 19th century efforts by a number of scientists to make a successful flight . The earliest flying efforts were recorded fro Aulus Gellius who was a Greek philosopher claimed to have designed and built an artificial flying device which was self-propelled . It is claimed to have been a bird shaped model propelled by jet steam and flown for 200 meters . There were other efforts from Ikalius and Dedilius who had apparently flown to the air using there arms as the control unit for their flights

Before the Wright brothers made their debut , there were other trials which had apparently failed . In 1779 , a 26 year old boy George Cayley had sketched what could have been considered as a familiar airplane configuration . It was a cambered wing with dihedral , vertical tail , and a horizontal tail . He had chosen an airfoil based on aerodynamically characteristics which he and his predecessor had tested with the use of a whirling arm apparatus . Cayley can therefore be attributed to have invented a dihedral which could be used in maintaining equilibrium in the roll . To his sketch , the vertical tail was meant to provide stability and could be compared to feathers on an arrow and would be used to steer serving like boat rudder . Although was half right on his counts , he failed to...