A Revolution of Aircraft - Wright Brothers

By definition, an aeroplane is an aircraft with a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets. While it is widely known as transportation that we know it today, it is important to know that aeroplanes have been developed and improved throughout centuries, and some people devoted themselves and put a great deal of effort. The Wright Brothers, Wilbur and Orville, have well-known to be the inventors of the aeroplane with a propulsion system in aviation history. They changed the era of piloted-flight when they successfully finished a flight with their machine that took off by its power which generated by a gasoline combustion engine, flew at even speeds, and landed without severe damage. Even before them, there were many attempts to conquer the sky. Although these earlier efforts, at modern times, are considered as contraptions including kites, hot air balloons, airships, gliders and other types of aircraft, we cannot deny that the contraptions made some progress. However, there was significant change when the Wright brothers decided to tackle the problem of human-crewed flight. They changed the history of the world by improving the control method of direction so that this success brought a significant impact on this world.

The Wright brothers were one of a pioneer who built aircraft which lead the brothers to make the first practical aeroplane. Based on what they made in 1902, the brothers decided to build a larger, powered version. The various data from their experiments with the wind tunnel, they could plan to design a retractable tail wing to balance the machine, and they connected the tail wing with wing-warping wires to regulate flight direction. Finally, The flyer made a successful flight in 1903 with an internal combustion engine (gasoline engine). What differentiates the Wright brothers’ aeroplane and the others are that The flyer could be controlled three motions by a pilot; aircraft principle axis (yaw, pitch and roll) which at the moment, are controlled by aileron, elevator and rudder, respectively. The flight was a significant achievement in the aviation field.

However, since there were only five people, it was an argumentative flight at that time as failures were prevalent and repeated in the aviation field, newspapers inaccurately reported the next day of the flight. French press did not believe the Wright brothers’ success and wrote a critic about them. Most people at that time would not believe that they had succeeded in engine-powered flight and being able to control the direction of the plane.

Although people’s criticism and inaccurate reports from press were made, the consistent and increasing effort was put in their project in order to enhance and to solve the pitch problem from the previous flight. Therefore once more, the brothers succeeded in 1904. However, there was an unsolved problem - stability. To solve the problem, they had built a new aeroplane and flew in 1905.

Through the aeroplane, people could be able to see the potential of aircraft. The Wright brothers overcame complex technical and theoretical issues and contributed for centuries. They were credited for the first practical aeroplane and became a telegraphic body of the current form of aircraft.

After Kitty Hawk, it has been filled with many accomplishments in the aviation field, but most of the aircraft foundation came in the first 20 years. These machines were able to travel further to other countries through airline companies, make circle motion, carry mails, conduct military missions - drop bombs in battles and so on. During this period, a new possibility was shown, and it had brought the new generation convenient life. In 1903, the aeroplane was an only metal machine; however, it became crucial and essential machine very rapidly to fulfil its need which was about war and peace, over land and water.

The Wright brothers’ researches allowed them to obtain data through a wind tunnel to test lift and contributed to building a compact combustion engine for aeroplanes. They designed a controller of three-axis – roll, pitch and yaw, and this became crucial and fundamental control axis of the modern aeroplane.

The Wright brothers stimulated the inventors who aimed the same goal as them and led us to be able to benefit from it. The aviation field has rapidly been developing since the Wright brothers. Many fields use aircraft; military purpose, logistics, commercial and so on. The aeroplane has allowed us to exchange our culture and broaden our knowledge beyond the universe. It shortened our time spent on travelling which brought us to the era of globalisation. The large economic sector was built due to advanced aviation technology. It helps the world bond and makes us pursue the same goal – space. As we are possible to be aware of what is exist outer universe, it can be expected that people will be able to see all of the space in time.

Conclusion

In conclusion, despite people’s critics on their flight experiment, the Wright brothers did not abandon their project and managed to be one of the greatest inventors in history. The small changes and development had existed through hundreds of years in the aviation field, but the brothers’ work became a stepping stone of paradigm shift. The Wright brothers achievement should not be underestimated or neglected since there are many benefits from all aspects. As Orville and Wilbur Wright did, there will be another paradigm shift at some point that changes people’s understanding, but we should understand and make sustained effort to identify that is genuine can be proved and unquestionable through evidence.

Reference

• David, M. (2015). Science in society. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
• Glen research centre, (2015). Bernoulli and Newton. [online] Available at: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/bernnew.html [Accessed 20 February 2019]
• Jakab, P. (1990). Visions of a Flying Machine: The Wright Brothers and the Process of Invention. Ilinois: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press
• Kruggel, J. (2002). Air Travel: Its impact on the way we live and the way we see ourselves. [online] Available at: < https://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Social/impact/SH3.htm> [Accessed 24 February 2019]
• NASA, (2012). The Wright Brothers' Story. [online] Available at: https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/k-4/features/F_Wright_Brothers_Story.html [Accessed 22 February 2019]
• New world encyclopedia, (2015). Wright brothers. [online] Available at: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Wright_brothers [Accessed 22 February 2019]