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History of flight
From prehistoric times
Humans have watched the flight of birds and longed to imitate them
But no one understood the mechanism of flight
Thousands of years and countless lives were lost in attempts to fly like
birds
Sir George Cayley was one of the men who believed the study of
kites unlocked the secrets of winged flight
He was the first to identify the four aerodynamic forces of flight ; weight,
lift, thrust and drag and their relationship
He is the father of Aerial Navigation
Sometimes called father of aviation
He discovered the principles on which the modern science of aeronautics is
founded
He built what is recognized as the first successful flying model and tested
the first full size man carrying airplane.
Before him, researchers thought that the propulsion system should
generate both lift and forward motion at the same time, as birds were able
to do so they constructed their flying machines with flapping wing
(Ornithopters)
Otto Lilienthal,
He was known as the Glider king.
Proved human flight in aircraft heavier than air was practical
His glider stalled falling from about 50ft he broke his neck
and died the next day
with kites,
with their homemade wind tunnel,
and different engines to power their biplane,
by the afternoon of December 17 th , the Wright brothers had flown
a total of 98 seconds on four flights.
Lighter-than-air aircraft
Can rise and remain suspended by using contained gas weighing less than the
air that is displaced by the gas
Airship- lighter than air aircraft that can be steered
Balloon- it is not engine driven and sustains flight through the use of gas
buoyancy or an airborne heater
Powered parachute
It is powered by a flexible or semi-rigid wing connected to a fuselage so
that the wing is not in position for flight until the aircraft is in motion
The fuselage of a powered parachute
Contains the aircraft engine
A seat for each occupant which is attached to the aircrafts landing gear
Rocket
An aircraft propelled by ejected expanding gases generated in the
engine from self-contained propellants and not dependent on the intake
of outside substances