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112-541: The Wright Flyer (also known as the Kitty Hawk , Flyer I or the 1903 Flyer ) made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane —on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown by brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright , it marked the beginning of the pioneer era of aviation . The aircraft is a single-place biplane design with anhedral (drooping) wings, front double elevator (a canard ) and rear double rudder. It used

224-404: A combustion chamber , and accelerate the exhaust rearwards to provide thrust. Different jet engine configurations include the turbojet and turbofan , sometimes with the addition of an afterburner . Those with no rotating turbomachinery include the pulsejet and ramjet . These mechanically simple engines produce no thrust when stationary, so the aircraft must be launched to flying speed using

336-433: A lifting gas such as helium , hydrogen or hot air , which is less dense than the surrounding air. When the weight of the lifting gas is added to the weight of the aircraft itself, it is same or less than the mass of the air that the craft displaces. Small hot-air balloons, called sky lanterns , were first invented in ancient China prior to the 3rd century BC and used primarily in cultural celebrations, and were only

448-506: A magneto bought from the Dayton Electric Company. There was no battery on the plane. Several lengths of speaking tube ...were used in the radiator. We blocked-tested the motor before crating it for shipment to Kitty Hawk." The 8.5 foot (2.6 m) long propellers were based on airfoil number 9 from their wind tunnel data, which provided the best "gliding angle" for different angles of attack . The propellers were connected to

560-427: A 1-US-gallon (3.8 L; 0.83 imp gal) fuel tank. A sprocket chain drive , borrowing from bicycle technology, powered the twin propellers , which were also made by hand. In order to avoid the risk of torque effects from affecting the aircraft handling, one drive chain was crossed over so that the propellers rotated in opposite directions. According to Taylor: "They figured on four cylinders and estimated

672-517: A 1-in-20 camber . The fabric for the wing was 100% cotton muslin called "Pride of the West", a type used for women's underwear. It had a warp of 107 threads per inch, a weft of 102, and a total thread count of 209. Since they could not find a suitable automobile engine for the task, they commissioned their employee Charlie Taylor to build a new design from scratch, a lightweight 12-horsepower (9-kilowatt) gasoline engine , weighing 180 pounds (82 kg), with

784-405: A 12 horsepower (9 kilowatts) gasoline engine powering two pusher propellers. Employing " wing warping ", it was relatively unstable and very difficult to fly. The Wright brothers flew it four times in a location now part of the town of Kill Devil Hills , about 4 miles (6 kilometers) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina . The airplane flew 852 ft (260 m) on its fourth and final flight, but

896-502: A Richard hand anemometer , attached to the front center strut, recorded the distance covered in meters. Upon returning to Kitty Hawk in 1903, the Wrights completed assembly of the Flyer while practicing on the 1902 Glider from the previous season. On December 14, 1903, they felt ready for their first attempt at powered flight. With the help of men from the nearby government life-saving station ,

1008-557: A catapult, like the V-1 flying bomb , or a rocket, for example. Other engine types include the motorjet and the dual-cycle Pratt & Whitney J58 . Compared to engines using propellers, jet engines can provide much higher thrust, higher speeds and, above about 40,000 ft (12,000 m), greater efficiency. They are also much more fuel-efficient than rockets . As a consequence nearly all large, high-speed or high-altitude aircraft use jet engines. Some rotorcraft, such as helicopters , have

1120-617: A greater wingspan (94m/260 ft) than any current aircraft and a tail height equal to the tallest (Airbus A380-800 at 24.1m/78 ft) — flew only one short hop in the late 1940s and never flew out of ground effect . The largest civilian airplanes, apart from the above-noted An-225 and An-124, are the Airbus Beluga cargo transport derivative of the Airbus A300 jet airliner, the Boeing Dreamlifter cargo transport derivative of

1232-451: A hard-to-control aircraft. The Wrights' pioneering use of "roll control " by twisting the wings to change wingtip angle in relation to the airstream led to the more practical use of ailerons by their imitators, such as Glenn Curtiss and Henri Farman . The Wrights' original concept of simultaneous coordinated roll and yaw control (rear rudder deflection), which they discovered in 1902, perfected in 1903–1905, and patented in 1906, represents

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1344-441: A horizontal line on the fuselage as the reference line (and also as the longitudinal axis). Some authors do not use an arbitrary chord line but use the zero lift axis where, by definition, zero angle of attack corresponds to zero coefficient of lift . Some British authors have used the term angle of incidence instead of angle of attack. However, this can lead to confusion with the term riggers' angle of incidence meaning

1456-430: A lower, flatter curve with a higher critical angle. The critical angle of attack is the angle of attack which produces the maximum lift coefficient. This is also called the " stall angle of attack". Below the critical angle of attack, as the angle of attack decreases, the lift coefficient decreases. Conversely, above the critical angle of attack, as the angle of attack increases, the air begins to flow less smoothly over

1568-670: A marginal case. The forerunner of the fixed-wing aircraft is the kite . Whereas a fixed-wing aircraft relies on its forward speed to create airflow over the wings, a kite is tethered to the ground and relies on the wind blowing over its wings to provide lift. Kites were the first kind of aircraft to fly and were invented in China around 500 BC. Much aerodynamic research was done with kites before test aircraft, wind tunnels , and computer modelling programs became available. The first heavier-than-air craft capable of controlled free-flight were gliders . A glider designed by George Cayley carried out

1680-470: A maximum angle of attack is reached, regardless of pilot input. This is called the 'angle of attack limiter' or 'alpha limiter'. Modern airliners that have fly-by-wire technology avoid the critical angle of attack by means of software in the computer systems that govern the flight control surfaces. In takeoff and landing operations from short runways ( STOL ), such as Naval Aircraft Carrier operations and STOL backcountry flying, aircraft may be equipped with

1792-772: A maximum loaded weight of 550–700 t (1,210,000–1,540,000 lb), it was also the heaviest aircraft built to date. It could cruise at 500 mph (800 km/h; 430 kn). The aircraft was destroyed during the Russo-Ukrainian War . The largest military airplanes are the Ukrainian Antonov An-124 Ruslan (world's second-largest airplane, also used as a civilian transport), and American Lockheed C-5 Galaxy transport, weighing, loaded, over 380 t (840,000 lb). The 8-engine, piston/propeller Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" — an American World War II wooden flying boat transport with

1904-560: A payload of up to 22,050 lb (10,000 kg). The largest aircraft by weight and largest regular fixed-wing aircraft ever built, as of 2016 , was the Antonov An-225 Mriya . That Soviet-built ( Ukrainian SSR ) six-engine transport of the 1980s was 84 m (276 ft) long, with an 88 m (289 ft) wingspan. It holds the world payload record, after transporting 428,834 lb (194,516 kg) of goods, and has flown 100 t (220,000 lb) loads commercially. With

2016-583: A powered "tug" aircraft. For a glider to maintain its forward air speed and lift, it must descend in relation to the air (but not necessarily in relation to the ground). Many gliders can "soar", i.e. , gain height from updrafts such as thermal currents. The first practical, controllable example was designed and built by the British scientist and pioneer George Cayley , whom many recognise as the first aeronautical engineer. Common examples of gliders are sailplanes , hang gliders and paragliders . Balloons drift with

2128-491: A powered rotary wing or rotor , where the rotor disc can be angled slightly forward so that a proportion of its lift is directed forwards. The rotor may, like a propeller, be powered by a variety of methods such as a piston engine or turbine. Experiments have also used jet nozzles at the rotor blade tips . Aircraft are designed according to many factors such as customer and manufacturer demand, safety protocols and physical and economic constraints. For many types of aircraft

2240-418: A propeller rpm of 351, with a thrust of 132 pounds (60 kg), more than enough for their 700-pound (320 kg) flyer. The Wright Flyer was a canard biplane configuration, with a wingspan of 40 feet 4 inches (12.29 m), a camber of 1-20, a wing area of 510 square feet (47 m), and a length of 21 feet 1 inch (6.43 m). The right wing was 4 inches (10 cm) longer because

2352-455: A replica Wright Flyer in Colorado and flew it at Kitty Hawk on the 75th and 80th anniversaries of the first flight there. Construction took a year and cost $ 3,000. As the 100th anniversary on December 17, 2003, approached, the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission along with other organizations opened bids for companies to recreate the original flight. The Wright Experience, led by Ken Hyde, won

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2464-577: A rigid basket or gondola slung below it to carry its payload. Early aircraft, including airships , often employed flexible doped aircraft fabric covering to give a reasonably smooth aeroshell stretched over a rigid frame. Later aircraft employed semi- monocoque techniques, where the skin of the aircraft is stiff enough to share much of the flight loads. In a true monocoque design there is no internal structure left. The key structural parts of an aircraft depend on what type it is. Lighter-than-air types are characterised by one or more gasbags, typically with

2576-647: A successful flight on the anniversary. Hyde's reproduction is displayed at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The Los Angeles Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) built a full-scale replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer between 1979 and 1993 using plans from the original Wright Flyer published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1950. Constructed in advance of

2688-420: A supporting structure of flexible cables or a rigid framework called its hull. Other elements such as engines or a gondola may also be attached to the supporting structure. Heavier-than-air types are characterised by one or more wings and a central fuselage . The fuselage typically also carries a tail or empennage for stability and control, and an undercarriage for takeoff and landing. Engines may be located on

2800-403: A wheeled wooden section. The two tandem ball bearing wheels were made from bicycle hubs. A restraining wire held the plane back, while the engine was running and the propellers turning, until the pilot was ready to be released. The Wright Flyer had three instruments on board. A Veeder engine revolution recorder measured the number of propeller turns. A stopwatch recorded the flight time, and

2912-535: A young man had been a member of Alexander Graham Bell's team Aerial Experiment Association , which included Glenn Curtiss, and later a famous pioneer pilot. During the stay at Halifax, Garber and McCurdy reminisced about the pioneer aviation days and the Wright Brothers. McCurdy also offered Garber any assistance he needed to get the Flyer home. The Wright Flyer was put on display in the Arts and Industries Building of

3024-517: Is a lifting body , which has no wings, though it may have small stabilizing and control surfaces. Wing-in-ground-effect vehicles are generally not considered aircraft. They "fly" efficiently close to the surface of the ground or water, like conventional aircraft during takeoff. An example is the Russian ekranoplan nicknamed the " Caspian Sea Monster ". Man-powered aircraft also rely on ground effect to remain airborne with minimal pilot power, but this

3136-437: Is a powered one. A powered, steerable aerostat is called a dirigible . Sometimes this term is applied only to non-rigid balloons, and sometimes dirigible balloon is regarded as the definition of an airship (which may then be rigid or non-rigid). Non-rigid dirigibles are characterized by a moderately aerodynamic gasbag with stabilizing fins at the back. These soon became known as blimps . During World War II , this shape

3248-1100: Is normally called the powerplant , and includes engine or motor , propeller or rotor , (if any), jet nozzles and thrust reversers (if any), and accessories essential to the functioning of the engine or motor (e.g.: starter , ignition system , intake system , exhaust system , fuel system , lubrication system, engine cooling system , and engine controls ). Powered aircraft are typically powered by internal combustion engines ( piston or turbine ) burning fossil fuels —typically gasoline ( avgas ) or jet fuel . A very few are powered by rocket power , ramjet propulsion, or by electric motors , or by internal combustion engines of other types, or using other fuels. A very few have been powered, for short flights, by human muscle energy (e.g.: Gossamer Condor ). The avionics comprise any electronic aircraft flight control systems and related equipment, including electronic cockpit instrumentation, navigation, radar , monitoring, and communications systems . Angle of Attack In aerodynamics , angle of attack specifies

3360-452: Is only because they are so underpowered—in fact, the airframe is capable of flying higher. Rotorcraft, or rotary-wing aircraft, use a spinning rotor with aerofoil cross-section blades (a rotary wing ) to provide lift. Types include helicopters , autogyros , and various hybrids such as gyrodynes and compound rotorcraft. Helicopters have a rotor turned by an engine-driven shaft. The rotor pushes air downward to create lift. By tilting

3472-456: Is only indirectly related to stall behavior. Some military aircraft are able to achieve controlled flight at very high angles of attack, but at the cost of massive induced drag . This provides the aircraft with great agility. A famous example is Pugachev's Cobra . Although the aircraft experiences high angles of attack throughout the maneuver, the aircraft is not capable of either aerodynamic directional control or maintaining level flight until

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3584-623: Is stored in tanks, usually in the wings but larger aircraft also have additional fuel tanks in the fuselage . Propeller aircraft use one or more propellers (airscrews) to create thrust in a forward direction. The propeller is usually mounted in front of the power source in tractor configuration but can be mounted behind in pusher configuration . Variations of propeller layout include contra-rotating propellers and ducted fans . Many kinds of power plant have been used to drive propellers. Early airships used man power or steam engines . The more practical internal combustion piston engine

3696-465: Is the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird , a U.S. reconnaissance jet fixed-wing aircraft, having reached 3,530 km/h (2,193 mph) on 28 July 1976. Gliders are heavier-than-air aircraft that do not employ propulsion once airborne. Take-off may be by launching forward and downward from a high location, or by pulling into the air on a tow-line, either by a ground-based winch or vehicle, or by

3808-619: The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey ), tiltwing , tail-sitter , and coleopter aircraft have their rotors/ propellers horizontal for vertical flight and vertical for forward flight. The smallest aircraft are toys/recreational items, and nano aircraft . The largest aircraft by dimensions and volume (as of 2016) is the 302 ft (92 m) long British Airlander 10 , a hybrid blimp, with helicopter and fixed-wing features, and reportedly capable of speeds up to 90 mph (140 km/h; 78 kn), and an airborne endurance of two weeks with

3920-682: The Boeing 747 jet airliner/transport (the 747-200B was, at its creation in the 1960s, the heaviest aircraft ever built, with a maximum weight of over 400 t (880,000 lb)), and the double-decker Airbus A380 "super-jumbo" jet airliner (the world's largest passenger airliner). The fastest fixed-wing aircraft and fastest glider, is the Space Shuttle , which re-entered the atmosphere at nearly Mach 25 or 17,500 mph (28,200 km/h) The fastest recorded powered aircraft flight and fastest recorded aircraft flight of an air-breathing powered aircraft

4032-733: The Command module Columbia . This artifact is on display at the visitors center at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In 1986, separate portions of original wood and fabric, as well as a note by Orville Wright, were taken by North Carolina native astronaut Michael Smith aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L , which was destroyed soon after liftoff . The portions of wood and fabric and Wright's note were recovered from

4144-593: The Flyer as an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution, but the Smithsonian declined, saying it would be willing to display other aeronautical artifacts from the brothers. Wilbur died in 1912, and in 1916 Orville brought the Flyer out of storage and prepared it for display at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . He replaced parts of the wing covering, the props, and the engine's crankcase, crankshaft, and flywheel. The crankcase, crankshaft, and flywheel of

4256-476: The Flyer nearly got disposed of by the Wrights. In early 1912 Roy Knabenshue , the Wrights Exhibition team manager, had a conversation with Wilbur and asked Wilbur what they planned to do with the Flyer . Wilbur said they most likely will burn it, as they had the 1904 machine. According to Taylor, Knabenshue talked Wilbur out of disposing of the machine for historical purposes. In 1910 the Wrights offered

4368-540: The Flyer to the United States. The Flyer stayed at the Science Museum until a replica could be built, based on the original. This change of heart by the Smithsonian is also mired in controversy – the Flyer was sold to the Smithsonian under several contractual conditions , one of which reads: Neither the Smithsonian Institution or its successors, nor any museum or other agency, bureau or facilities administered for

4480-543: The Flyer , which she had received in her inheritance from Orville. She expressed her wish to see the aircraft restored. The fabric covering on the aircraft at the time, which came from the 1927 restoration, was discolored and marked with water spots. Metal fasteners holding the wing uprights together had begun to corrode, marking the nearby fabric. Work began in 1985. The restoration was supervised by Senior Curator Robert Mikesh and assisted by Wright Brothers expert Tom Crouch. Museum director Walter J. Boyne decided to perform

4592-628: The Harrier jump jet and Lockheed Martin F-35B take off and land vertically using powered lift and transfer to aerodynamic lift in steady flight. A pure rocket is not usually regarded as an aerodyne because its flight does not depend on interaction with the air at all (and thus can even fly in the vacuum of outer space ); however, many aerodynamic lift vehicles have been powered or assisted by rocket motors. Rocket-powered missiles that obtain aerodynamic lift at very high speed due to airflow over their bodies are

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4704-518: The Kitty Hawk to London for display at the museum. It remained there in "the place of honour", except during World War II when it was moved to an underground storage facility 100 miles (160 km) away, near Corsham . In 1942, the Smithsonian Institution, under a new secretary, Charles Abbot , published a list of 35 Curtiss modifications to the Aerodrome and a retraction of its long-held claims for

4816-654: The Kitty Hawk was made to Livingston L. Satterthwaite, the American Civil Air Attaché at a ceremony attended by representatives of the various flying organizations in the UK and by some British aviation pioneers such as Sir Alliott Verdon-Roe . On November 11, 1948, the Kitty Hawk arrived in North America on board the Mauretania with 1,111 passengers. When the liner docked at Halifax, Nova Scotia , Paul E. Garber of

4928-602: The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The Flyer was based on the Wrights' experience testing gliders at Kitty Hawk between 1900 and 1902. Their last glider, the 1902 Glider , led directly to the design of the Wright Flyer . The Wrights built the aircraft in 1903 using spruce for straight members of the airframe (such as wing spars) and ash wood for curved components (wing ribs). The wings were designed with

5040-679: The Smithsonian's National Air Museum met the aircraft and took command of the proceedings, overseeing its transfer to the US Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Palau , which repatriated the aircraft by way of New York Harbor. The rest of the journey to Washington continued on flatbed truck. While in Halifax Garber met John A. D. McCurdy , at the time the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. McCurdy as

5152-648: The Wright Military Flyer became the world's first military aircraft after successful tests on June 3, 1909. This airplane was purchased by the army but was never used in combat; it was, however, used to train some pilots. It was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1911 and is on display in the Early Flight exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum . A modified version, the Wright Model B ,

5264-770: The dynamic lift of an airfoil , or, in a few cases, direct downward thrust from its engines. Common examples of aircraft include airplanes , helicopters , airships (including blimps ), gliders , paramotors , and hot air balloons . The human activity that surrounds aircraft is called aviation . The science of aviation, including designing and building aircraft, is called aeronautics . Crewed aircraft are flown by an onboard pilot , whereas unmanned aerial vehicles may be remotely controlled or self-controlled by onboard computers . Aircraft may be classified by different criteria, such as lift type, aircraft propulsion (if any), usage and others. Flying model craft and stories of manned flight go back many centuries; however,

5376-534: The 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight, the replica was intended for wind tunnel testing to provide a historically accurate aerodynamic database of the Wright Flyer design. The aircraft went on display at the March Field Air Museum in Riverside, California . Numerous static display-only, nonflying reproductions are on display around the United States and across the world, making this perhaps

5488-506: The 100th anniversary of their first flight. In 1981, discussion began on the need to restore the Wright Flyer from the aging it sustained after many decades on display. During the ceremonies celebrating the 78th anniversary of the first flights, Mrs. Harold S. Miller (Ivonette Wright, Lorin's daughter), one of the Wright brothers' nieces, presented the Museum with the original covering of one wing of

5600-435: The 1930s, large intercontinental flying boats were also sometimes referred to as "ships of the air" or "flying-ships".  — though none had yet been built. The advent of powered balloons, called dirigible balloons, and later of rigid hulls allowing a great increase in size, began to change the way these words were used. Huge powered aerostats, characterized by a rigid outer framework and separate aerodynamic skin surrounding

5712-573: The Smithsonian on December 17, 1948, 45 years to the day after the aircraft's only successful flights. (Orville did not live to see this, as he had died that January.) In 1976, it was moved to the Milestones of Flight Gallery of the new National Air and Space Museum . Since 2003 it has resided in a special exhibit in the museum titled "The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age," in recognition of

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5824-470: The United States of America by the Smithsonian Institution or its successors shall publish or permit to be displayed a statement or label in connection with or in respect of any aircraft model or design of earlier date than the Wright Aeroplane of 1903, claiming in effect that such aircraft was capable of carrying a man under its own power in controlled flight. On October 18, 1948, the official handover of

5936-487: The Wright Brothers for the first powered, controlled flight of an aircraft. Instead, they honored the former Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley , whose 1903 tests of his Aerodrome on the Potomac were not successful. Walcott was a friend of Langley and wanted to see Langley's place in aviation history restored. In 1914, Glenn Curtiss had recently exhausted the appeal process in a patent infringement legal battle with

6048-451: The Wrights moved the Flyer and its launching rail to the incline of a nearby sand dune, Big Kill Devil Hill , intending to make a gravity-assisted takeoff. The brothers tossed a coin to decide who would get the first chance at piloting, and Wilbur won. The airplane left the rail, but Wilbur pulled up too sharply, stalled, and came down after covering 105 ft (32 m) in 3 1 ⁄ 2 seconds, sustaining little damage. Repairs after

6160-412: The Wrights. Curtiss sought to prove Langley's machine, which failed piloted tests nine days before the Wrights' successful flight in 1903, capable of controlled, piloted flight in an attempt to invalidate the Wrights' wide-sweeping patents. The Aerodrome was removed from exhibit at the Smithsonian and prepared for flight at Keuka Lake, New York . Curtiss called the preparations "restoration" claiming that

6272-413: The abortive first flight took three days. When they were ready again on December 17, the wind was averaging more than 20 mph (32 km/h), so the brothers laid the launching rail on level ground, pointed into the wind, near their camp. This time the wind, instead of an inclined launch, provided the necessary airspeed for takeoff. Because Wilbur had already had the first chance, Orville took his turn at

6384-403: The aircraft of speed very quickly due to induced drag, and, in extreme cases, increased frontal area and parasitic drag. Not only do such maneuvers slow the aircraft down, but they cause significant structural stress at high speed. Modern flight control systems tend to limit a fighter's angle of attack to well below its maximum aerodynamic limit. In sailing , the physical principles involved are

6496-470: The aircraft's weight. There are two ways to produce dynamic upthrust — aerodynamic lift by having air flowing past an aerofoil (such dynamic interaction of aerofoils with air is the origin of the term "aerodyne"), or powered lift in the form of reactional lift from downward engine thrust . Aerodynamic lift involving wings is the most common, and can be achieved via two methods. Fixed-wing aircraft ( airplanes and gliders ) achieve airflow past

6608-399: The angle between the chord line of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft and the vector representing the relative motion between the aircraft and the atmosphere. Since a wing can have twist, a chord line of the whole wing may not be definable, so an alternate reference line is simply defined. Often, the chord line of the root of the wing is chosen as the reference line. Another choice is to use

6720-407: The angle between the chord of an airfoil and some fixed datum in the airplane. The lift coefficient of a fixed-wing aircraft varies with angle of attack. Increasing angle of attack is associated with increasing lift coefficient up to the maximum lift coefficient, after which lift coefficient decreases. As the angle of attack of a fixed-wing aircraft increases, separation of the airflow from

6832-574: The angle of attack or Lift Reserve Indicators . These indicators measure the angle of attack (AOA) or the Potential of Wing Lift (POWL, or Lift Reserve) directly and help the pilot fly close to the stalling point with greater precision. STOL operations require the aircraft to be able to operate close to the critical angle of attack during landings and at the best angle of climb during takeoffs. Angle of attack indicators are used by pilots for maximum performance during these maneuvers, since airspeed information

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6944-501: The autogyro moves forward, air blows upward across the rotor, making it spin. This spinning increases the speed of airflow over the rotor, to provide lift. Rotor kites are unpowered autogyros, which are towed to give them forward speed or tethered to a static anchor in high-wind for kited flight. Compound rotorcraft have wings that provide some or all of the lift in forward flight. They are nowadays classified as powered lift types and not as rotorcraft. Tiltrotor aircraft (such as

7056-550: The bid and painstakingly recreated reproductions of the original Wright Flyer , plus many of the prototype gliders and kites and subsequent Wright aircraft. The completed Flyer reproduction was brought to Kitty Hawk and pilot Kevin Kochersberger attempted to recreate the original flight at 10:35 on December 17, 2003, on level ground near the bottom of Kill Devil Hill. Although the aircraft had previously made several successful test flights, poor weather, rain, and weak winds prevented

7168-427: The bore and stroke at four inches. It took me six weeks to make that engine. The completed engine weighed 180 pounds and developed 12 horsepower at 1025 revolutions per minute...The body of the first engine was of cast aluminum, and was bored out on the lathe for independent cylinders. The pistons were cast iron, and these were turned down and grooved for piston rings. The rings were cast iron, too. A one-gallon fuel tank

7280-404: The brothers tested their engine on the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, but before they could tune the engine, the propeller hubs came loose. The drive shafts were sent back to Dayton for repair, and returned on 20 November. A hairline crack was discovered in one of the propeller shafts. Orville returned to Dayton on 30 November to make new spring steel shafts. On December 12, the brothers installed

7392-412: The center of gravity of the aircraft and other factors. However, the aircraft normally stalls at the same critical angle of attack, unless icing conditions prevail. The critical or stalling angle of attack is typically around 15° - 18° for many airfoils. Some aircraft are equipped with a built-in flight computer that automatically prevents the aircraft from increasing the angle of attack any further when

7504-447: The controls. His first flight lasted 12 seconds for a total distance of 120 ft (37 m) – shorter than the wingspan of a Boeing 747 . Taking turns, the Wrights made four brief, low-altitude flights that day. The flight paths were all essentially straight; turns were not attempted. Each flight ended in a bumpy and unintended landing. The last flight, by Wilbur, covered 852 ft (260 m) in 59 seconds, much longer than each of

7616-565: The craft. Abbot went on to list four regrets including the role the Institution played in supporting unsuccessful defendants in patent litigation by the Wrights, misinformation about modifications made to the Aerodrome after Wright Flyer ' s first flight, and public statements attributing the "first aeroplane capable of sustained free flight with a man" to Secretary Langley. The entry in the 1942 Annual Report of Smithsonian Institution begins with

7728-435: The design process is regulated by national airworthiness authorities. The key parts of an aircraft are generally divided into three categories: The approach to structural design varies widely between different types of aircraft. Some, such as paragliders, comprise only flexible materials that act in tension and rely on aerodynamic pressure to hold their shape. A balloon similarly relies on internal gas pressure, but may have

7840-422: The elevator, which the brothers called a "front rudder", "I found the control of the front rudder quite difficult on account of its being balanced too near the center and thus had a tendency to turn itself when started so that the rudder was turned too far on one side and then too far on the other." Thus, these early flights suffered from overcontrol. The Wright Brothers returned home to Dayton for Christmas after

7952-475: The engine by chains from the Indianapolis Chain Company, with a sprocket gear reduction of 23-to-8. Wilbur had calculated that slower turning blades generated greater thrust, and two of them were better than a single blade turning faster. Made from three laminations of spruce , the tips were covered with duck canvas , and the entire propeller painted with aluminum paint. On November 5, 1903,

8064-456: The engine was 30 to 40 pounds (14 to 18 kg) heavier than Orville or Wilbur. Unoccupied, the machine weighed 605 pounds (274 kg). As with the gliders, the pilot flew lying on his stomach on the lower wing with his head toward the front of the craft in an effort to reduce drag. The pilot was left of center while the engine was right of center. He steered by moving a hip cradle in the direction he wished to fly. The cradle pulled wires to warp

8176-477: The first manned ascent — and safe descent — in modern times took place by larger hot-air balloons developed in the 18th century. Each of the two World Wars led to great technical advances. Consequently, the history of aircraft can be divided into five eras: Lighter-than-air aircraft or aerostats use buoyancy to float in the air in much the same way that ships float on the water. They are characterized by one or more large cells or canopies, filled with

8288-422: The first to achieve controlled heavier-than-air flight, but some of the mechanical techniques the Wrights used to accomplish this were not influential for the development of aviation as a whole, although their theoretical achievements were. The Flyer design depended on wing-warping controlled by a hip cradle under the pilot, and a foreplane or "canard" for pitch control, features which would not scale and produced

8400-532: The first true manned, controlled flight in 1853. The first powered and controllable fixed-wing aircraft (the airplane or aeroplane) was invented by Wilbur and Orville Wright . Besides the method of propulsion (if any), fixed-wing aircraft are in general characterized by their wing configuration . The most important wing characteristics are: A variable geometry aircraft can change its wing configuration during flight. A flying wing has no fuselage, though it may have small blisters or pods. The opposite of this

8512-473: The flights of the Kitty Hawk Flyer . While they had abandoned their other gliders, they realized the historical significance of the Flyer . They shipped the heavily damaged craft back to Dayton, where it remained stored in crates behind a Wright Company shed for nine years. The Great Dayton Flood of March 1913 covered the Flyer in mud and water for 11 days. Charlie Taylor relates in a 1948 article that

8624-418: The fuselage or wings. On a fixed-wing aircraft the wings are rigidly attached to the fuselage, while on a rotorcraft the wings are attached to a rotating vertical shaft. Smaller designs sometimes use flexible materials for part or all of the structure, held in place either by a rigid frame or by air pressure. The fixed parts of the structure comprise the airframe . The source of motive power for an aircraft

8736-503: The gas bags, were produced, the Zeppelins being the largest and most famous. There were still no fixed-wing aircraft or non-rigid balloons large enough to be called airships, so "airship" came to be synonymous with these aircraft. Then several accidents, such as the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, led to the demise of these airships. Nowadays a "balloon" is an unpowered aerostat and an "airship"

8848-532: The general theory and understanding of flight mechanics hindered them... Indeed, the most serious gap in their knowledge was probably the basic reason for their unwitting mistake in selecting their canard configuration." According to aviation author Harry Combs, "Wright designs incorporated a 'balanced' forward elevator...the movable surface extending an equal distance on both sides of its hinge or pivot axis, as opposed to an 'in-trail' configuration... which would have enhanced controllability in flight." Orville wrote of

8960-524: The litigation and continued their own development. The legal fight in the U.S. had a crushing effect on the nascent American aircraft industry, and even by the time of America's entry into World War I, in 1917, the U.S. had "only six [American made] airplanes, and fourteen trained pilots". The numbers increased substantially over the subsequent years but during the war, all of the fighter aircraft flown by Americans were designed and built in Europe. The Wright Flyer

9072-407: The low density of air in the upper atmosphere as well as at low speed at low altitude where the margin between level flight AoA and stall AoA is reduced. The high AoA capability of the aircraft provides a buffer for the pilot that makes stalling the airplane (which occurs when critical AoA is exceeded) more difficult. However, military aircraft usually do not obtain such high alpha in combat, as it robs

9184-513: The maneuver ends. The Cobra is an example of supermaneuvering as the aircraft's wings are well beyond the critical angle of attack for most of the maneuver. Additional aerodynamic surfaces known as "high-lift devices" including leading edge wing root extensions allow fighter aircraft much greater flyable 'true' alpha, up to over 45°, compared to about 20° for aircraft without these devices. This can be helpful at high altitudes where even slight maneuvering may require high angles of attack due to

9296-574: The most reproduced single aircraft of the "pioneer" era in history, rivaling the number of copies – some of which are airworthy – of Louis Blériot 's cross-Channel Bleriot XI from 1909. In 1969, portions of the original fabric and wood from the Wright Flyer traveled to the Moon and its surface in Neil Armstrong 's personal preference kit aboard the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle , and then back to Earth in

9408-447: The new shafts on the Wright Flyer and tested it on their 60-foot (18 m) launching rail system that included a wheeled launching dolly . According to Orville: "We had designed our propellers to give 90 pounds (41 kg) thrust at a speed of 330 rev. per minute (about 950 of engine), which we had figured would be the required amount for the machine weighing 630 pounds (290 kg)." In practice tests, they were able to achieve

9520-464: The only addition to the design was pontoons to support testing on the lake but critics including patent attorney Griffith Brewer called them alterations of the original design. Curtiss flew the modified Aerodrome , hopping a few feet off the surface of the lake for 5 seconds at a time. Between 1916 and 1928, the Wright Flyer was prepared and assembled for exhibition under the supervision of Orville by Wright Company mechanic Jim Jacobs several times. It

9632-625: The original engine had been sent to the Aero Club of America in New York for an exhibit in 1906 and were never returned to the Wrights. The replacement crankcase, crankshaft and flywheel came from the experimental engine Charlie Taylor had built in 1904 and used for testing in the bicycle shop. A replica crankcase of the Flyer is on display at the visitor center at the Wright Brothers National Memorial . The Smithsonian Institution , and primarily its then-secretary Charles Walcott , refused to give credit to

9744-546: The restoration in full view of the public. The wooden framework was cleaned, and corrosion on metal parts removed. The covering was the only part of the aircraft replaced. The new covering was more accurate to the original than that of the 1927 restoration. To preserve the original paint on the engine, the restorers coated it in inert wax before putting on a new coat of paint. The effects of the 1985 restoration were intended to last 75 years (to 2060) before another restoration would be required. In 1978, 23-year-old Ken Kellett built

9856-411: The rotor forward, the downward flow is tilted backward, producing thrust for forward flight. Some helicopters have more than one rotor and a few have rotors turned by gas jets at the tips. Some have a tail rotor to counteract the rotation of the main rotor, and to aid directional control. Autogyros have unpowered rotors, with a separate power plant to provide thrust. The rotor is tilted backward. As

9968-436: The second type of aircraft to fly, the first being kites , which were also first invented in ancient China over two thousand years ago (see Han Dynasty ). A balloon was originally any aerostat, while the term airship was used for large, powered aircraft designs — usually fixed-wing. In 1919, Frederick Handley Page was reported as referring to "ships of the air," with smaller passenger types as "Air yachts." In

10080-722: The solution to controlled flight and is used today on virtually every fixed-wing aircraft. The Wright patent included the use of hinged rather than warped surfaces for the forward elevator and rear rudder. Other features that made the Flyer a success were highly efficient wings and propellers, which resulted from the Wrights' exacting wind tunnel tests and made the most of the marginal power delivered by their early homebuilt engines; slow flying speeds (and hence survivable accidents); and an incremental test/development approach. The future of aircraft design lay with rigid wings, ailerons and rear control surfaces. A British patent of 1868 for aileron technology had apparently been completely forgotten by

10192-431: The statement "It is everywhere acknowledged that the Wright brothers were the first to make sustained flights in a heavier-than-air machine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903" and closes with a promise that "Should Dr. Wright decide to deposit the plane ... it would be given the highest place of honor which it is due". The following year, Orville, after exchanging several letters with Abbot, agreed to return

10304-530: The tether or kite line ; they rely on virtual or real wind blowing over and under them to generate lift and drag. Kytoons are balloon-kite hybrids that are shaped and tethered to obtain kiting deflections, and can be lighter-than-air, neutrally buoyant, or heavier-than-air. Powered aircraft have one or more onboard sources of mechanical power, typically aircraft engines although rubber and manpower have also been used. Most aircraft engines are either lightweight reciprocating engines or gas turbines . Engine fuel

10416-402: The three previous flights of 120, 175 and 200 feet (37, 53 and 61 m) in 12, 12, and 15 seconds respectively. The fourth flight's landing broke the front elevator supports, which the Wrights hoped to repair for a possible four-mile (6 km) flight to Kitty Hawk village. Soon after, a heavy gust picked up the Flyer and tumbled it end over end, damaging it beyond any hope of quick repair. It

10528-641: The time the 20th century dawned. After a single statement to the press in January 1904 and a failed public demonstration in May, the Wright Brothers did not publicize their efforts, and other aviators who were working on the problem of flight (notably Alberto Santos-Dumont ) were thought by the press to have preceded them by many years. After their successful demonstration flight in France on August 8, 1908, they were accepted as pioneers and received extensive media coverage. In 1909,

10640-411: The upper surface flow becomes more fully separated and the lift coefficient reduces further. Above this critical angle of attack, the aircraft is said to be in a stall. A fixed-wing aircraft by definition is stalled at or above the critical angle of attack rather than at or below a particular airspeed . The airspeed at which the aircraft stalls varies with the weight of the aircraft, the load factor ,

10752-422: The upper surface of the airfoil and begins to separate from the upper surface. On most airfoil shapes, as the angle of attack increases, the upper surface separation point of the flow moves from the trailing edge towards the leading edge. At the critical angle of attack, upper surface flow is more separated and the airfoil or wing is producing its maximum lift coefficient. As the angle of attack increases further,

10864-480: The upper surface of the wing becomes more pronounced, leading to a reduction in the rate of increase of the lift coefficient. The figure shows a typical curve for a cambered straight wing. Cambered airfoils are curved such that they generate some lift at small negative angles of attack. A symmetrical wing has zero lift at 0 degrees angle of attack. The lift curve is also influenced by the wing shape, including its airfoil section and wing planform . A swept wing has

10976-460: The wind, though normally the pilot can control the altitude, either by heating the air or by releasing ballast, giving some directional control (since the wind direction changes with altitude). A wing-shaped hybrid balloon can glide directionally when rising or falling; but a spherically shaped balloon does not have such directional control. Kites are aircraft that are tethered to the ground or other object (fixed or mobile) that maintains tension in

11088-431: The wing. A flexible wing is a wing made of fabric or thin sheet material, often stretched over a rigid frame, similar to the flight membranes on many flying and gliding animals . A kite is tethered to the ground and relies on the speed of the wind over its wings, which may be flexible or rigid, fixed, or rotary. With powered lift, the aircraft directs its engine thrust vertically downward. V/STOL aircraft, such as

11200-405: The wings , and simultaneously turn the rudder , for coordinated flight. The pilot operated the elevator lever with his left hand, while holding a strut with his right. The Wright Flyer ' s "runway" was a 60-foot (18 m) track of 2x4s , which the brothers nicknamed the "Junction Railroad". The Wright Flyer skids rested on a launching dolly, consisting of a 6-foot (1.8 m) plank, with

11312-402: The wings by having the entire aircraft moving forward through the air, while rotorcraft ( helicopters and autogyros ) do so by having mobile, elongated wings spinning rapidly around a mast in an assembly known as the rotor . As aerofoils, there must be air flowing over the wing to create pressure difference between above and below, thus generating upward lift over the entire wetted area of

11424-534: The wreck of the Shuttle and are on display at the North Carolina Museum of History . A small piece of the Wright Flyer ' s wing fabric is attached to a cable underneath the solar panel of the helicopter Ingenuity , which became the first vehicle to perform a controlled atmospheric flight on Mars on April 19, 2021. Before moving on for further exploration and testing, Ingenuity ' s first base on Mars

11536-872: Was briefly exhibited at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1916, the New York Aero Shows in 1917 and 1919, a Society of Automotive Engineers meeting in Dayton, Ohio in 1918, and the National Air Races in Dayton in 1924. In 1925, Orville attempted to pressure the Smithsonian by warning that he would send the Flyer to the Science Museum in London if the Institution refused to recognize his and Wilbur's accomplishment. The threat did not achieve its intended effect, and on January 28, 1928, Orville shipped

11648-448: Was conceived as a control-canard, as the Wrights were more concerned with control than stability. It was found to be unstable and barely controllable. During flight tests near Dayton the Wrights added ballast to the nose of the aircraft to move the center of gravity forward and reduce pitch instability. The Wright Brothers did not understand the basics of pitch stability of the canard configuration. F.E.C. Culick stated, "The backward state of

11760-469: Was damaged on landing, and wrecked minutes later when powerful gusts blew it over. The aircraft never flew again but was shipped home and subsequently restored by Orville. The aircraft was initially displayed in a place of honor at the London Science Museum until 1948 when the resolution of an acrimonious priority dispute finally allowed it to be displayed in the Smithsonian. It is now exhibited in

11872-402: Was named Wright Brothers Field . General characteristics Performance The Wright Brothers and their airplane have been commemorated on a U.S. Quarter and on several U. S. Postage stamps. Heavier-than-air An aircraft ( pl. : aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air . It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or

11984-504: Was never flown again. In 1904, the Wrights continued refining their designs and piloting techniques in order to obtain fully controlled flight. Major progress toward this goal was achieved with a new machine called the Wright Flyer II in 1904 and even more decisively in 1905 with the third, Wright Flyer III , in which Wilbur made a 39-minute, 24-mile (39 km) nonstop circling flight on October 5. The Flyer series of aircraft were

12096-657: Was of the NASA X-43 A Pegasus , a scramjet -powered, hypersonic , lifting body experimental research aircraft, at Mach 9.68 or 6,755 mph (10,870 km/h) on 16 November 2004. Prior to the X-43A, the fastest recorded powered airplane flight, and still the record for the fastest manned powered airplane, was the North American X-15 , rocket-powered airplane at Mach 6.7 or 7,274 km/h (4,520 mph) on 3 October 1967. The fastest manned, air-breathing powered airplane

12208-471: Was produced in larger numbers by the Wright brothers and was used by the army "for training pilots and conducting aerial experiments" including tests of "a bombsight and bomb-dropping device". The issue of patent control was correctly seen as critical by the Wrights, and they acquired a wide American patent, intended to give them ownership of basic aerodynamic control. This was fought in both American and European courts. European designers were little affected by

12320-429: Was suspended from a wing strut, and the gasoline fed by gravity down a tube to the engine. The fuel valve was an ordinary gaslight petcock . There was no carburetor as we know it today. The fuel was fed into a shallow chamber in the manifold. No spark plug. The spark was made by opening and closing of two contact points inside the combustion chamber. Dry batteries were used for starting the engine and then we switched onto

12432-490: Was used for virtually all fixed-wing aircraft until World War II and is still used in many smaller aircraft. Some types use turbine engines to drive a propeller in the form of a turboprop or propfan . Human-powered flight has been achieved, but has not become a practical means of transport. Unmanned aircraft and models have also used power sources such as electric motors and rubber bands. Jet aircraft use airbreathing jet engines , which take in air, burn fuel with it in

12544-439: Was widely adopted for tethered balloons ; in windy weather, this both reduces the strain on the tether and stabilizes the balloon. The nickname blimp was adopted along with the shape. In modern times, any small dirigible or airship is called a blimp, though a blimp may be unpowered as well as powered. Heavier-than-air aircraft or aerodynes are denser than air and thus must find some way to obtain enough lift that can overcome

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