Pilot the Wright Brothers' Flyer

  • By Rick Groleau
  • Posted 11.11.03
  • NOVA

On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright became the first aviators to make a controlled and sustained flight in a power-driven, heavier-than-air craft. In this interactive, explore the components of the Wright brothers' first airplane to learn how the Wrights' design provided lift and propulsion and enabled a pilot to make continual adjustments in response to changes in wind speed and direction.

Launch Interactive Printable Version

Explore the Wright brothers' first plane and discover how they steered it.

This feature originally appeared on the site for the NOVA program Wright Brother's Flying Machine.

Related Links

  • Lift and Drag

    What are lift and drag? And how do they work?

  • The Unlikely Inventors

    The Smithsonian's Tom Crouch explains why the Wright brothers succeeded where so many others failed.

  • Antique Aviation

    Hear three pilots describe what it's like to fly pioneer aircraft.

  • Fantastic Flying Machines

    Have a look at the wildly different aircraft that pioneering aviator Louis Blériot dreamed up in the early 20t...

Close

You need the Flash Player plug-in to view this content.