The Wright Brothers As Design Engineers

The first successful flight of an engine powered aircraft took place at Kitty Hawk, NC almost one hundred years ago, on December 17, 1903. This flight was a result of the pioneering work of the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur. Although they barely completed high school, these brothers from Dayton, OH, have demonstrated that they can truly be considered design engineers. They proceeded through a rational engineering design process by a) studying the existing literature on flight, b) designing, building and testing of kites and tethered gliders, c) building their own wind-tunnel and testing various airfoils, d) flying their self-designed glider for many hours to get flight experience and finally, over a period of less than one year, e) they designed and built an engine, propellers and a successful aircraft, the Wright Flyer. Here, their design process procedures will be reviewed as an example for our students.