Learning to Fly: The Wright Brothers Adventure pdf - ER - NASA

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You hear from your Dayton friends that Orville and Wilbur have still not given up on perfecting flight. It is now7 years since their kite experiments of 1899. After all the crashes, how easy it would have been for the brothersto quit long ago. You see a few items in the Cincinnati papers about their flights, but none of the New York orChicago papers pick up these stories. The world still doesn’t know much about their great achievements. Youdecide to visit again, and when you reach Huffman Prairie in October, you see that some major changes haveoccurred.Flyer III sits on the rail ready to launch. The wings lookthe same, but the craft is a full 10 feet longer than theearlier model. The front elevator has been moved forward,and the rear rudders have been moved furtherto the rear. You watch as the weight drops in the launchderrick, the launch cradle carrying the flyer shootsdown the track, and the flyer climbs into the air. Then,stunned, you watch as Orville circles the field againand again, does figure eights, and finally lands after 20full minutes in the air! In addition, the flight lookssmooth and totally controlled—no more jerky up-anddownmotions as in 1903 and 1904.“Wait until the Society hears about this!” you thinkexcitedly. “It’s just incredible. How can it be that theworld still doesn’t know about this? Is it that peopledon’t understand it, or don’t believe it?”Wilbur explains calmly that they have achieved moreprecise control in flight by separating the controls forthe rudder and wing-warping. Moving the front elevatorand rear rudders away from the center of the planealso improves up-and-down control.This 1905 airplane can be flown until the fuel tank isempty, staying in the air for more than half an hour at atime. It can fly for nearly 25 miles around Huffman’sfarm, executing turns and figure eights 50 feet abovethe ground. After 7 years of work, the brothers finallyhave a practical working airplane.1905 Wright aircraft in flight.As you leave, you thank Orville and Wilbur for letting you be a small part of their experiments, and you congratulatethem, they’ve made the dream of powered flight come true. You feel privileged. After all that you’ve seen,you know that the world is on the verge of a big change.Learning to Fly: The Wright Brothers’ Adventure EG–2002–12–007–GRC37
Activity 22—Design a Mission PatchA “mission patch,” like the ones shown here, is designed for every NASA spaceflight. Choose one of the yearsfrom 1900 through 1905 and design a patch for the Wright Brothers’ mission that year (you can find moremission patches under the “History” link at the top of the page at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov).Activity 23—Be an InventorIf you have read all the sections in this book about the Wright Brothers’ quest for flight, you know that theyfollowed a very logical process to solve a number of problems. Not everything they tried worked the first time,and they had to go back and redesign things several times to get them to work. In the end, their ideas wereexcellent; they are still used today to control a plane in three dimensions. They discovered how propellerswork in the air and they constructed and used a wind tunnel to give accurate results. They were remarkableinventors.Suppose you were an inventor and were also interested in transportation like Orville and Wilbur Wright. Writea short paragraph or two about what you would like to invent. How would your invention improve transportation?What problems do you think you would have to solve to be successful? How would you get people tolearn about your invention? On another piece of paper, draw a diagram or sketch of your idea.Learning to Fly: The Wright Brothers’ Adventure38EG–2002–12–007–GRC
Page 2 and 3: Learning to Fly: The Wright Brother
Page 4 and 5: AcknowledgmentsWriters and Contribu
Page 6 and 7: NCTM National MathematicsStandardsA
Page 8 and 9: vii
Page 10 and 11: Lilienthal was a great influence on
Page 12 and 13: The Wright Brothers were raised in
Page 16 and 17: Activity 1—Early AviationBefore y
Page 18 and 19: Having been appointed by the Societ
Page 20 and 21: Having visited the Wrights in Dayto
Page 22 and 23: Activity 5—Questions on the 1900
Page 24 and 25: You are involved with various activ
Page 26 and 27: Activity 9—Questions on the 1901
Page 28 and 29: Modern Wind TunnelsInlet diffuser o
Page 30 and 31: Activity 12—Operate the Wrights
Page 32 and 33: When the Society hears of the Wrigh
Page 34 and 35: Activity 15—Prices Then and NowTh
Page 36 and 37: He returns on December 11 and every
Page 38 and 39: Activity 18—Center of GravityIn c
Page 40 and 41: Questions1. Whose stick was the clo
Page 42 and 43: Activity 20—How To Launch the Fly
Page 48 and 49: Designed byRoger Storm, NASA Glenn
Page 50 and 51: 4. Make 12 spars by cutting toothpi
Page 52 and 53: 10. Turn the glider over again and
Page 54 and 55: While trying to solve these new pro
Page 56 and 57: 2. Using the templates as a guide,
Page 58 and 59: 7. To make a skid, join two toothpi
Page 64 and 65: 4. Place glue on the flat edge of t
Page 66 and 67: 10. Glue the skids on either side o
Page 68 and 69: 16. Turn the glider right side up a
Page 72 and 73: 4. Using the templates as a guide,
Page 74 and 75: 8. For spars for the elevator, cut
Page 76 and 77: 14. Cut two toothpicks to a 1.2-inc
Page 78 and 79: 20. Glue the V-shaped braces to the
Page 80 and 81: 26. (Optional) You can make the fig
Page 82 and 83: Kite: A tethered glider that is lif
Page 84 and 85: Activity 3 answers1. From your trip
Page 86 and 87: Activity 9 answersThe report of the
Page 88 and 89: Activity 12 answersPart D.Students
Page 90 and 91: Activity 17 answersIf you were eith
Page 92 and 93: Math challenge1. Your car can easil
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DescriptionStudents are to assume t
Page 96 and 97:
Background informationThe students
Page 98 and 99:
Activity 9: Questions on the 1901 G
Page 100 and 101:
Background informationOrville and W
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Background informationWith each gli
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They also made the propellers turn
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ProceduresThe students draw the rop
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Learning to Fly: The Wright Brother
Page 110 and 111:
1901GliderBottom wingFront edge cur
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1902GliderRight wing (cut out two)L
Page 114 and 115:
1903FlyerPropeller (cut out two)Pro
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Learning To Fly: The Wright Brother
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