Wright Flyer made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on 17 December 1903.
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Wright Flyer made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on 17 December 1903.
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Wright Flyer steered by moving a hip cradle in the direction he wished to fly.
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The Wright Flyer design depended on wing-warping controlled by a hip cradle under the pilot, and a foreplane or "canard" for pitch control, features which would not scale and produced a hard-to-control aircraft.
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The Wright Flyer patent included the use of hinged rather than warped surfaces for the forward elevator and rear rudder.
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Wright Flyer was conceived as a control-canard, as the Wrights were more concerned with control than stability.
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The Wright Flyer Brothers did not understand the basics of pitch stability of the canard configuration.
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Wright Flyer replaced parts of the wing covering, the props, and the engine's crankcase, crankshaft, and flywheel.
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Between 1916 and 1928, the Wright Flyer was prepared and assembled for exhibition under the supervision of Orville by Wright Company mechanic Jim Jacobs several times.
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The Wright Flyer stayed at the Science Museum until a replica could be built, based on the original.
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The completed Wright Flyer reproduction was brought to Kitty Hawk and pilot Kevin Kochersberger attempted to recreate the original flight at 10:35 on 17 December 2003, on level ground near the bottom of Kill Devil Hill.
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AIAA's Wright Flyer reproduction undergoing testing in a NASA wind tunnel.
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In 1986, separate portions of original wood and fabric, as well as a note by Orville Wright Flyer, were taken by North Carolina native astronaut Michael Smith aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L, which was destroyed soon after liftoff.
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The portions of wood and fabric and Wright Flyer's note were recovered from the wreck of the Shuttle and are on display at the North Carolina Museum of History.
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