The Glider of 1902

The Wright brothers were on their way back to Kitty Hawk at the end of August 1902. Their new glider looked nothing like their previous ones. The wings were ten feet longer and the chord, "a straight line joining the trailing and leading edges of an airfoil section," (Dictionary.com) was two feet shorter. The wings also followed a slight parabolic curve. The elevator, "a hinged horizontal surface on an airplane...used to control the longitudinal inclination..." (Dictonary.com) was placed more in front of the pilot which gave more leverage which meant better control. They also decided to replace the tail that they had discontinued using in 1900. This glider had two rudders placed in the back of the glider.

First they tested this glider out as a kite. Quickly it became evident that their new glider was much more advanced when it was producing the expected lift. "Within a few weeks, they were making glides of over 500 feet," (The Wight Story). Eventually the glider came crashing down, but this never discouraged the Wright brothers. They did some quick repairs and had the glider back up in no time.

They still had a major problem, the plane slipped in turns. The tail didn't help at all; in fact, Wilbur believed the tail was making the problem worse. He believed it was creating more drag which slowed the plane down even more than it usually would in their turns. This made the plane fall out of the sky, spiraling down to the ground.

"Chord." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 24 Apr. 2007. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chord>.

"Elevator." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 24 Apr. 2007. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/elevator>.

The Wight Story. 14 April 2007. Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co. of Dayton, Ohio. <http://wright-brothers.org/History/Wright %20Story/wright%20story.htm>