The Brothers had been messing with the idea of powered flight since they were children. It all started when their father, Milton Wright, brought them home a rubber band toy helicopter. This was said to be the spark of their interest in flight. Another influence of the Wright Brothers was Otto Lilienthal, a German engineer who studied aviation. He constructed over 2,000 glider flights within his life. Unfortunately, and maybe fortunately, he died testing one of his gliders in 1894. However, it made Wilbur and Orville start to focus more on human flight. The first thing the Brothers had to do was find a decent testing ground for their experiments. In 1896, they chose Kitty Hawk because not only did it have enough space for their glider, but it also had wind to help lift the wings off of the ground. Before creating the aeroplane, they tested their gliders and made over 700 successful "glides". After feeling confident with the glider, they started to work on powered flight. However, nobody could make them an engine powerful enough and light enough for the aeroplane so they had to make their …show more content…
Wilbur Wright conducted three more flights that day, the longest lasting about one minute with a distance of around 800 feet! By then, the front rudder of the airplane was badly damaged, making them pack up and go back to camp. Exploration of aviation has been seriously studied since the 15th century. Starting with Leonardo da Vinci, who designed the first flying machines and parachute. None of which actually worked. After him, people like Otto Lilienthal, Gustave Whitehead, Samuel Langley, and Wilbur and Orville Wright started studying aviation. The first successful 'heavier than air ' vehicle was created by the Wright Brothers on December 17th, 1903. But, before being able to do this, they had to study what was already known about flight, collaborate with people, and explore different ways of building the machine. Their exploration were really inspired by two events from around 1896. The first was the death of Otto Lilienthal, a man who studied aviation through gliders, who died while testing a glider. The second influence was from Samuel Langley, who successfully launched unmanned powered