an important anniversary
One hundred years ago today, mankind first took to the skies in a controlled flight at the Kill Devil Dunes, just south of Kitty-Hawk in a flimsy looking craft desigened and built by the Wright Brothers of Dayton, OH. There is much to be celebrated here. Flight has allowed us, as the human race, to expand our horizons and traverse the wide distances that seperate us on this planet. It has allowed us to come closer as a people and learn more about each other than could have been dreamed possible without the technology of flight.
What's most incredible, to me, about this day is that even though it is one-hundred years later, our airplanes of today are not much different than that first plane that flew a short 40 yards in 12 seconds. The aerodynamics are the same, more or less, with the use of wings desinged to move air underneath thereby keeping the plane aloft. The idea of a verticle stabilizer fin too is still in use, though in today's planes it is more often located in the rear of the plane.
Overall, really, planes of today are modifcations of the Wright Flyer and little else. Yeah, they are smoother and sleeker, faster and capable of much greater distances, and much, much more comfortable, but the design is the same. That by itself is something to be awed at...the brilliance and genius of two guys from the Midwest that, in a time of horse-drawn buggies and oil-lit lamps anywhere but in the cities, they were able to design a system that is still in use during an age of super-computers, space-flight, and fast food.
We should all hope to leave such a legacy.
What's most incredible, to me, about this day is that even though it is one-hundred years later, our airplanes of today are not much different than that first plane that flew a short 40 yards in 12 seconds. The aerodynamics are the same, more or less, with the use of wings desinged to move air underneath thereby keeping the plane aloft. The idea of a verticle stabilizer fin too is still in use, though in today's planes it is more often located in the rear of the plane.
Overall, really, planes of today are modifcations of the Wright Flyer and little else. Yeah, they are smoother and sleeker, faster and capable of much greater distances, and much, much more comfortable, but the design is the same. That by itself is something to be awed at...the brilliance and genius of two guys from the Midwest that, in a time of horse-drawn buggies and oil-lit lamps anywhere but in the cities, they were able to design a system that is still in use during an age of super-computers, space-flight, and fast food.
We should all hope to leave such a legacy.
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