The Wright brothers were born in a perfect time, because many inventors and engineers …show more content…
The Wrights went to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, once a year for about twelve weeks to test theories and to fly gliders. They have completed more than 700 test flights testing their models. Each time they went there, they increased the complexity and size of the gliders; getting closer to the final product. They rented land and built a permanent camp. They followed to footsteps of the past pioneers in regards of the shape of the plane. The brothers realized they cannot stay in the air as long as they wanted. Orville and Wilbur soon realized the only aeronautical data available was not reliable. Since there was no other data they could use, they had to start fresh. A wind tunnel was created by the Wrights to test their new theories. The brothers built over 200 shapes and tested them, the new shape of the plane was long and narrow. The wind tunnel helped them with the control of the plane as well. They created a system of ropes and pulleys to control a rudder, an elevator, and the wings in order to be able to control their direction and altitude. “The Wright brothers built a biplane with a wingspan of six feet… when tested by Wilbur, it worked as …show more content…
They recorded useable data, created a flight instructing business, and a plane for the United States Army. According to an article in Time magazine, “The Wright brothers… sparked a revolution as far-reaching as the industrial and digital revolutions” (Gates). They found aeronautical data was not always the most accurate, so they created their own wind tunnel to find how the shape of the plane impacts the airflow, and how to keep the plane in the air. The data they collected from the wind tunnel helped them immensely. They were first to discover that a long, narrow wing-shaped body gave them what they needed to stay elevated. With the wind tunnel, they also found it would be hard to control direction and altitude. The same magazine article states; “the brothers amassed more data on wing design than anyone before them, compiling tables of computations that are still valid today” (Gates). Without knowing, they stumbled upon the three axes that a plane sits on; these three axes go through the center of gravity on the plane near the wings. “Roll” is the axis that goes from the nose to the tail of the plane; this allows the plane to rotate as if it is on a skewer. “Yaw” is the axis going from the top to the bottom of the plane. This axis allows the plane to drift side-to-side like a truck on an icy road. “Pitch” is the axis that goes through the wings of the plane horizontally. This lets the plane’s