Was the Wright Brothers' first flight really "controlled and sustained"?

The reason why the Wright Brothers are credited with performing the first successful airplane flight on 17 December 1903 is that supposedly these flights were “controlled” and “sustained”, I.E. the pilot exercised some control over the aircraft and it managed to stay in the air for some time, not just make a short hop. However, there are those who would challenge the Wrights’ claim for various reasons. Some of these have already been discussed in earlier threads; I would like to ask about two points that I have come across.

The first one is: I believe I read that on that first day, no attempt was made to turn. If so, how exactly can it be said that the flight was controlled?

The second one is: Supporters of Alberto Santos-Dumont as the first true pilot of an airplane have criticized the Wrights for taking off from a rail instead of (e.g.) an undercarriage fixed to the plane. Is there any scientific justification for this criticism? Does the rail in any rational way undermine the notion that the Wrights took off under their own power? (Some have also claimed they used a catapult; however, they did not do so on that first day; they did at later demonstration flights as a security feature, as I understand to reduce the chance of takeoff failure).

It was in the air long enough for it to be clear that it was doing so by the lift that the wing was creating due to the forward motion that the machine was creating via an onboard motor, and not just gliding. It wasn’t much more than a glider with a motor, but that’s what the goal was - to create a vehicle that could propel itself through the air and have lift generated by that movement sufficient to keep it airborn. The fact that they didn’t go very far or sustain it for very long, or try any tricks with it, doesn’t mean that they weren’t controlling the flight. Given that it was the first time anyone had ever done this, they were probably very scared about losing all the work put into the craft if they went higher off the ground and the motor suddenly stopped working. Ever since the beginning, the main issue is safety.

As for “controlled” - it was apparently very unstable, so it was hard enough to just get it to go straight for any length of time, and the brothers had practiced with similarly-shaped gliders to learn how to control it.

Any time a plane takes off and lands in one piece is a « controlled flight ». :smiley:

Well, the First Flight is a little problematic.

But then a little later- On September 20, 1904, Wilbur flew the first complete circle in history by a manned heavier-than-air powered machine, covering 4,080 feet (1,244 m) in about a minute and a half.[74] Their two best flights were November 9 by Wilbur and December 1 by Orville, each exceeding five minutes and covering nearly three miles in almost four circles.[75] By the end of the year the brothers had accumulated about 50 minutes in the air in 105 flights over the rather soggy 85 acres (34 ha) pasture,1905These modifications greatly improved stability and control, enabling a series of six dramatic “long flights” ranging from 17 to 38 minutes and 11–24 miles (39 km) around the three-quarter mile course over Huffman Prairie between September 26 and October 5. Wilbur made the last and longest flight, 24.5 miles (39.4 km) in 38 minutes and 3 seconds, ending with a safe landing when the fuel ran out. The flight was seen by a number of people, including several invited friends, their father Milton, and neighboring farmers. [77]

Now let us compare Santos-Dumont- Santos-Dumont finally succeeded in flying a heavier-than-air aircraft on 23 October 1906, piloting the 14-bis before a large crowd of witnesses at the grounds of Paris’ Château de Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne for a distance of 60 metres (197 ft) at a height of about five meters (16 ft)

Then later-

Facing much skepticism in the French aeronautical community and outright scorn by some newspapers that called him a “bluffeur” , Wilbur began official public demonstrations on August 8, 1908, at the Hunaudières horse racing track near the town of Le Mans, France. His first flight lasted only 1 minute 45 seconds, but his ability to effortlessly make banking turns and fly a circle amazed and stunned onlookers, including several pioneer French aviators, among them Louis Blériot. In the following days, Wilbur made a series of technically challenging flights, including figure-eights, demonstrating his skills as a pilot and the capability of his flying machine, which far surpassed those of all other pioneering aircraft and pilots of the day.[89][45](pp368–369)

The French public was thrilled by Wilbur’s feats and flocked to the field by the thousands, and the Wright brothers instantly became world-famous. Former doubters issued apologies and effusive praise. L’Aérophile editor Georges Besançon wrote that the flights “have completely dissipated all doubts. Not one of the former detractors of the Wrights dare question, today, the previous experiments of the men who were truly the first to fly …”[90] Leading French aviation promoter Ernest Archdeacon wrote, “For a long time, the Wright brothers have been accused in Europe of bluff … They are today hallowed in France, and I feel an intense pleasure … to make amends.”[91]

So was the “first flight” really controlled? It does not really matter as by 1905 the Wrights were flying in circles and for 24 miles.

The Wrights developed (and patented) “wing warping”, i.e. the pilot used a joystick that when pushed side to side would warp the shape of the edge of the wings to change the lift, allowing one wing to lift more than the other to bank and to stabilize the flight. Lillenthal’s craft were basically hang gliders and relied on the pilot shifting his weight to steer, but the Wright planes were too heavy with the motor for that to be effective. They later went on to sue anyone who built and sold aircraft in the USA until WWI caused the government to intervene. Specifically, Curtiss developed ailerons to allow more substantial wings to be manipulated to the same effect but lost several court battles. This is why later developments and more advanced aircraft were built in Europe. When WWI rolled around, the Europeans had complete aircraft with full bodies while most American planes (i.e. the Jenny) were more like flying rails with wings.

I once saw a movie shot from a Wright flyer being demonstrated in Europe (1908?) and the lecturer noted “the horizon moves up and down in the movie, because the Wright flyer with tail in front was dynamically unstable and the pilot had to constantly adjust the attitude to try to stay level.”

So to answer the OP, the craft did fly. Obviously, they did several straight flights to get familiar with the caft before attempting to actually turn or otherwise change the flight, but the craft as originally designed had full controls that did not rely on pilot weight shifting (even if not dynamically stable).

Note too the original craft did not have a dihedral angle between the wings, another modification that would have helped stability.

The rail did not make a difference.

For an airplane to successfully take off, it must first achieve minimum flying speed . This is the air speed where:

  • The air flows over the wings fast enough to develop sufficient lift to support the weight of the airplane, including its pilot, passengers, cargo, and fuel.
  • The air flows over the control surfaces fast enough to make them effective and allow the pilot to balance and navigate the airplane as it flies.

For the Wright brothers in 1904, minimum flying speed was 27 to 28 miles per hour (45 kph). This was the speed needed to get the Wright Flyer II into the air and keep it there. Unfortunately, this was not an easy speed to attain at Huffman Prairie. While they were at Kitty Hawk in 1903, the Wright brothers had performed an experiment that revealed what sort of speed they could achieve during a take-off with the 135-pound thrust of the propellers alone. From a standing start at the beginning of their launch rail, the Flyer gained a forward speed of 6 miles per hour (9.6 kph) after traveling 80 feet (24 meters). Higher speed would require a longer a longer [sic] take-off roll. That, of course, required a longer launch rail – and 80 feet was all they had. The brothers compensated by waiting for a high wind. On 17 December 1903, the wind speed plus the speed they gained rolling along the launch rail was enough to get them flying.

You need to have control in order to keep it pointing where you want it, even if that is just straight ahead. It is fair that keeping straight probably doesn’t require as much control authority as turning, but it is still controlled.

Not in my opinion. A rail is no different in concept to having a paved runway.

Consider this hypothetical: the first flight takes off, with the pilot intending to fly straight, and instead the plane turns sideways, in a direction the pilot didn’t want and couldn’t stop. That would be an uncontrolled flight.

The plan was to take off, fly straight, and land. That’s what they did. That’s a controlled flight, I would say.

Yeah, but how fast was he going down the Mulsanne Straight?

But would it be different than a treadmill?

I think the OP isn’t considering that even flying straight requires active control to remain stable. It wasn’t a falling rock contest.

This is the key. While it is possible to build a craft that is fairly stable, as anyone who has played with paper or balsa airplanes knows, They will tend to wander and tilt, maybe stall or spin, and eventually reach the point where RUD (Rapid Unplanned Disassembly) is likely.

One of the Wrights’ most important developments was controls that did not rely on pilots shifting their weight.

The main point - rail or not - I would think is the fact they took off from level ground and became airborne, unlike perhaps Langley’s attempt to launch from an elevated platform, or Lilienthal hang-gliding off a hill. It seems to me that flying by converting height into airborne is sort of a questionable achievement. (In Langley’s case, not much of an achievement - it seems the Wrights at least understood they needed to be going a certain speed before trying to get airborne.)

The thing

I don’t think the Wright Flyer was strong enough to carry the Thing.

How high was the first flight? Did they get out of ground effect?

They got off the ground, maintained control, and landed safely. That counts in my book. Give them credit for courage, that could very well have ended in a crash and perhaps fatal.

How much ground effect is there with a stiff breeze? As I understand it ground effect is due to air trapped between the wing and ground. Once the wing is 20% of wingspan above the ground, the drag reduction is about 30% below open flight. I can’t find anything with a quick look about what the effect is for a biplane, but I assume the top wing doesn’t get much benefit at all.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 would easily be able to fly on that craft. (Gotta love the small edit box where stuff is hidden below - I figured out now how to expand it.)

And before Santos-Dumont took off, the Wright Brothers performed over a hundred flights. So, the first flight could be problematic, but it does not matter.

I’m curious where you’re going with this question. I thought the ground effect mostly referred to increased lift. How is this relevant? That without ground effect the Wright Flyer might not have flown?

I’ll answer that question, because I’m the one who asked the question about ground effect.

Exapno Mapcase quoted some text regarding minimum flying speed and the airflow over the wings. This prompted me to wonder whether the flight had taken place entirely within ground effect.

I agree, but to be somewhat contrary and argumentative, how is this different than a cannonball?

nobody’s riding a cannonball, in a craft that has inherent instability, brought under control by the pilot.