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History of Aviation with the Wright Brothers

Facts

• The history of aviation starts with the Wright Brothers. They started their business of bicycles in 1892.

• Working on bicycles led them to learn about the flight. So they started making airplanes using the technology of bicycles.

• The Wright brothers started their aeronautical research in 1899. They conducted plenty of experiments.

• They invented their first machine in 1900 to carry a pilot and for testing, they chose the ground of Kitty Hawk, NC. That area was appropriate for flying.

• By flying their first machine as a kite they gathered information to improve the design of the machines. But their next experiment failed.

• The Wright Brothers tested small model wings to fake the flight condition in a wind tunnel they made.

• Using the device brothers gathered information to design wings and guilders. And they base the designing of their next guilder on this information.

• In 1901 they tested the guilders and discovered the wing warping which was an unequal drag on two wings. So they found a solution to this problem in the form of rudder to the glider design in1902.

• In 1903 the Wright’s flyer took off by using its own power while Orville was playing a role of pilot.

• The flight covered a distance of 37 meters in 12 seconds. Wilbur and Orville took 3 flights that day. The fourth flight was the longest one and it was being controlled by Wilbur. It traveled 260 meters in 59 seconds.

• So the Wright 1903 Flyer became the first powered, sustained, heavy and controllable flight with a pilot abroad.

• The Wright brother continued their experiments near home at Huffman Prairie at Dayton, Ohio.

• Their progress was quite slow over there due to the strong and steady winds but the Wright brothers kept on working and achieved their first circular flight on September 20, 1904.

• The flight duration was 1 minute 36 seconds and covered a distance of 1244 meters.

• The problem of stability was still there.

• They made a modification in 104 but it did not solve the problem.

• The Wright 1905 Flyer was the first practical airplane in the world.

• They repeatedly banked, circled turned the machine during more than 40 flights at Huffman Prairie that was flown in figure eights.

• The flight exceeds half an hour on two occasions.

• The Wright Brothers were brilliant and self-trained engineers. They solved the complex technical problems that were the obstacles for a mechanical flight for centuries.

• The major problems Wright Brothers faced was, a) a set of lifting wings a and surfaces. b) a procedure of controlling the aircraft and balancing it. c) a means of thrust or propulsion.

• The experiments done by the Wright brothers earlier were focused on these problems. However, the final designs were not considered.

• The Wright identified that in order to build a working airplane each of the areas should be addressed successfully.

• According to Wrights, the issues of propulsions and aerodynamics were comparatively easy to solve.

• They first focused on the problems of balancing and controlling.

• The earlier experimenters thought that the air currents were unpredictable for human reflexes because of their fast speed.

• So to maintain control aircraft should be stable for the pilot.

• The 1905 Wright Flyer was the first practical airplane in the world.

• The Wrights contacted the War Department of United States, the governments of France, Russia, Germany and England after the flying season of 1905 to offer them their flying machine. (Brunson )

Definition

• The subject of the paper is History of Aviation the Wright brothers and issues they faced during the invention of flying machine.

• There are number of key terms that are needed to be defined.

• Aeronautical: A study or practice of building an aircraft.

• Wright Brothers: The two brothers Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright who build first flying aircraft.

• Wind Tunnel: A tool that was used in aeronautic research to analyze the effects of air moving. It is a tubular passage.

• Wing warping: A system for the control of aircraft, patented by the Wright Brothers.

• Circular Flight: A path of the flight in circular form.

• Kitty Hawk NC: A site at North Caroline where Wright brothers had two successful flights.

• Human reflexes: A movement controlled by the conscious thoughts of humans.

• Aerodynamics: The study of the properties of moving air.

Cause/Effect

• The reason behind the lifted surfaces and wings were the lack of control and air pressure which became the reasons for the failure of Wright brothers’ experiment.

• The reasons behind the lack of control and balance were an absence of rudder and fast speed of moving air which led to the lack of balance and pilot unable to control the aircraft.

• The reasons behind unequal drag on two wings were a lack of rudder to guilder design and no linkage between warping system and rudder which made aircraft uncontrollable.

• The lack of control and balance could crash the aircraft.

• Moreover, the problem of aerodynamics was due to, the unpredictable air currents for human reflexes and the speed of air.

• The modification made by the Wright brothers in 1904 did not solve the problem of stability of air crafts.

Values

• The problems that were faced by the Wright brothers while building the aircrafts were bad because if they would not have solved those problems we would not be able to travel in these airplanes today.

• The faults in the initial invention were dangerous. The faults include the problems of balance and controlling otherwise the plane would crash and put the lives of the passengers travelling in it in danger.

• The problem of aerodynamics and propulsions was easy to solve. But the problem of balance and controlling was difficult and more dangerous.

• The problem of lifting of wings and surfaces was also bad.

• The Wright brothers worked on these issues one by one through experiments and eventually eradicate all these faults.

• As a result they build the Wright 1905, the first practical airplane of the world.

Policy Proposals

• These problems were very important to solve immediately in order to fly the first air craft successful and safely.

• To solve the problem of balance in the flight the wind tunnel experiment was conducted according to which wings of the guilders were designed and also the powered aircrafts.

• In order to maintain the control over the aircraft wing wrapping was discovered.

• To maintain the control over the aircraft a direct linkage between rudder and wrapping system was developed.

• The problems of stability in the Wright 1904 flyer still existed but the modifications made by the Wright did not solve the problem.

• The Wright brother’s policy was repeated experiments that solve all the issue related to the flight one by one. (Centennial of Flight)

References

Brunson , A. (2002, Jul 19). HISTORY CHANNEL FILMS WRIGHT FLYER PROJECT. The Herald Journal .

Centennial of Flight. (n.d.). The Wright Way:The Process of Invention. NASA.