The Aviator's Heart

the early history of flight is full of interesting people. Otto Lilienthal[1], &quot;the Glider King&quot;, built his own mountain complete with a workshop in the top, to practice on. Octave Chanute[2], the grandfather of flight, was a mentor to the wright brothers and many other earlier aviators. He set up the International Conference on Aerial Navigation[3] at the World&#x27;s Colombian Exposition in Chicago one of the first ever international conferences on flight. i think this bit from a page on the Cicero Flying Field[4] does a nice job of displaying the mentoring attitude of Chanute.<p>&quot; Chanute had faith that the scientific method hitched to engineering discipline might well allow humans to fly through the air. He wrote a series of 27 articles under the title Progress in Flying Machines, which recapped the history of aviation, and which were published in The Railroad and Engineering Journal, beginning with the October 1891 issue. Chanute stated that he had a three-fold purpose in writing those articles:<p>“1. To satisfy himself whether, with our present mechanical knowledge and appliances, more particularly the light motors recently developed, men might reasonably hope eventually to fly through the air.” Chanute wrote that he “now thinks that this question can be answered in the affirmative”<p>“2. To save the waste of effort on the part of experimenters, involved in trying again devices which have already failed.” - and to point out the reasons for such failures<p>“3. To furnish an account of those recent achievements which render it less chimerical than it was a few years ago to experiment with a flying machine...” - and to suggest how a promising design might be distinguished from a poor design &quot;<p>1. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Lilienthal" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Otto_Lilienthal</a> 2. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octave_Chanute" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Octave_Chanute</a> 3. <a href="https://archive.org/details/cu31924004359596" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;cu31924004359596</a> 4. <a href="http://www.lincolnbeachey.com/cicart.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lincolnbeachey.com&#x2F;cicart.html</a><p>edit: left off cicero flying field attribute

In my Paris apartment the elevator does not stop on our floor; it used to be the servants quarters. After a long walk up 7 flights of stairs I always imagined what it would be like to have small aircraft, like a dirigible, pull up to my window and hop out. What a surprise to find out someone was doing that 100 years ago.

<i>&gt;Santos-Dumont would then land in front of his favorite café, tie the guide rope much like one might tie a horse to a hitching post, and walk in for a meal. It must have been quite a sight.</i><p>Okay, now I want my own personal dirigible for commuting. Kickstarter?

Santod Dumont feared that flight would be used for war and this was realised when the Paulista uprising triggered civil war. He took his own life as the bombers overflew Guaruja on their way to attack Sao Paulo.

TIL that Santos-Dumont was not French (as I always thought), but a Brazilian!

I never knew there was such a thing as the appendix. Thanks for the link!

We often forget that behind the inventors and pioneers there are human beings, with all their qualities, failures and personal demons. Thanks for the wonderful read.