The Wright Flyer Makes the First Powered Aeroplane Flight

• The Wright Flyer made the first sustained flight by a manned, powered, controlled heavier-than-air aircraft on 17 December 1903.^[1]
• Orville took the controls because Wilbur had used the first attempt three days earlier; his flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet.^[1]
• The brothers flew four times, taking turns; the second and third runs covered 175 and 200 feet, and Wilbur’s fourth flight took 59 seconds to cover 852 feet.^[1]
• The wind averaged more than 20 mph, so the launching rail was laid on level ground near camp instead of on the slope of Big Kill Devil Hill.^[1]
• The aircraft was damaged on landing and wrecked minutes later when gusts blew it over; it never flew again and is now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum.^[1]

Notable features

• The Flyer was a single-seat canard biplane with a double elevator in front and a double rudder behind; the pilot lay prone on the lower wing and steered with a hip cradle that warped the wings and turned the rudder together.^[1]
• It had a wingspan of 40 ft 4 in (12.29 m), a wing area of 510 sq ft (47 m²) and a length of 21 ft 1 in (6.43 m), and weighed 605 lb (274 kg) empty.^[1]
• The airframe was spruce for straight members such as the spars and ash for the curved ribs, covered in cotton muslin.^[1]
• Their employee Charlie Taylor built the 12 hp (9 kW) gasoline engine, weighing 180 lb (82 kg); bicycle-style sprocket chains drove two 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) pusher propellers, for a top speed of about 30 mph (48 km/h).^[1]