March 3, 2021
by Michel Bilodeau
In 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright were struggling to fly the world’s first airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. At the same time another man, Samuel Pierpont Langley, was also trying to build an airplane — with the assistance of an entire staff. His assumption was that if he put a big enough engine on the airplane, he could get anything off the ground. He focused all his effort on that one project: creating a super-powerful engine for the plane.
The Wright Brothers’ approach, however, was to build a glider that would glide from a hilltop with no engine at all. They focused their energy on (finesse), balance and steering — power was almost an afterthought. Only after it worked with no power would they try to put an engine on it. (more…)
