Editorial: We can all have the ‘Wright’ stuff

Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2003 | 8:59 a.m.

The four flights that took place 100 years ago today in Kitty Hawk, N.C., stand alongside the greatest of man's achievements. The harnessing of fire, the building of ocean-faring ships, the invention of the printing press, the development of the plow, the discovery of electricity, the perfection of vaccines, and the progression of instant communication from telegraph, telephone and the Internet all were world-changing events. But who can name a scientific development or mechanical invention that surpasses that of man powering himself into the air and controlling his flight?

Which is what happened on the morning of Dec. 17, 1903, on a hillside in Kitty Hawk, N.C. A plane engineered and built by Orville and Wilbur Wright took off under its own power, with Orville at the controls. All previous attempts at controlled and powered flight had failed, with the world viewing them as the muse of eccentric dreamers laughably destined by nature for failure. On that morning, however, Orville actually piloted a machine that flew -- for 12 seconds and 120 feet. To prove to themselves and the world that the achievement was no dream, the brothers undertook three more flights -- two by Wilbur and another by Orville -- with each one longer than the other. Wilbur took the last turn at the controls and went 859 feet in a flight lasting 59 seconds.

It didn't take more than a few days for the significance of these four flights to dawn on governments and businesses around the world. Within a few years, the Wright brothers found themselves in stiff competition, as others soon built upon the engineering principles demonstrated at Kitty Hawk to start their own airplane companies. Almost overnight, the world had changed dramatically and forever.

While it's impossible to diminish in any way the contribution of the Wright brothers, it's important to remember that flight did not begin with them. In 1899, when they decided to add a new dimension -- flight research -- to their modest bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, it was the feats of glider pilots and glider engineers that provided their inspiration. In particular, the brothers were encouraged by the writings and accomplishments of Otto Lilienthal, a German engineer whose wing designs led to manned gliders that were well advanced over earlier models. And Lilienthal had been inspired by generations of flight fanciers who had come before him.

Nearly every invention or innovation is inspired by the work, concept or dream of someone else. In the case of the Wright brothers, others before them envisioned wings under the control of the wind; they improved on that by envisioning the wind under the control of wings. They built a wind tunnel and used their largely self-taught skills in math and physics to solve the riddle of powered and controlled flight -- flight that would remain stable despite gusts of wind and flight where a stationary pilot could use the wings and an engine to control speed and make turns. They didn't invent the wings or the engine -- their contribution came in building, ingeniously, on the work of earlier inventors.

One reason for honoring anniversaries of historical events is to refresh our memories about such values as inspiration and initiative, creativity and tenacity. The values figuring prominently in world-changing developments are the same values we can all bring to our own day-to-day lives. The Wright brothers had every chance of failing during the years they worked out their flight theories. Fortunately for the world, their inspired creativity was matched by their tenacity.

On this important anniversary, we honor the Wright brothers as much for their values as for their discovery. Their belief that they could add immeasurably to the principles of flight resulted in monumental, positive changes to every generation since. We should all be inspired by the chain of human contributions that enable such inventions. It's inspiring to know that we all have the capacity to write something, revise something, make something or conceptualize something -- which someday might either change the world around us or be the inspiration for change. The spirit of the Wright brothers can be alive within all of us.