Historyof

Flight

• For our course, we will define flight as meeting the following characteristics:

–The act, manner, or power of flying or moving through space above the ground and/or water

–Act must be controlled–Flying device must be intended to

return to the ground safely and be able to be used repeatedly

First “known” flights• Icarus– Ancient Greek mythology– Icarus and his father

Daedalus were imprisoned on the island of Crete

– Minotaur guarded cell

• Daedalus was an talented craftsman– Build 2 sets of wings for he

and Icarus to escape the prison by flying

– Wings made of wood frame with wax and feathers

• What did Daedalus warn Icarus of before they took off?

“Do not fly too close to the sun

or too close to the sea.”

“Do not fly too close to the sun or

too close to the sea.”

• Too close to the sea……the feathers would get wet and become too heavy to work

• Too close to the sun……wax melted and the feathers fell off

Icarus fell into the sea below and drowned

• The oldest recorded flying objects were….– …..kites!

– Originated in Ancient China– The earliest recorded flying kite

was in 200 B.C.E.

First Successful Human Flight (maybe)

• 559 C.E.• Chinese Prince Yuan Huangtou– Imprisoned for using a puppet to impersonate the

Emperor

– Escapes by tying himself to a kite and flying out of prison

– (there are no records of this- so we are not sure if the story is 100% true)