Flight People

Sir George Cayley noticed that birds had a tail. Thus, he put a tail and rudder on his 1804 glider. He came up with the concept of dihedral. He came up with the basic configuration of the plane: (i.e. main wing and tail assembly, not unlike that of a bird.) He was the first to build a heavier-than-air craft that carried a person.

The Wrights were the first to create a system to control their plane in 3 dimensions. To roll, they warped their wings. They used a forward elevator to control pitch. They used a rudder to control yaw. They were the first people to systematically study the efficiency of different wings in a wind tunnel. They developed and created their own engine and propellers. Their first motorized flight occurred on December 17th, 1903.