Mondo Knows Facts

The Wright brothers achieved the first powered aeroplane flight in 1903

Orville Wright flew the Wright Flyer for twelve seconds over Kitty Hawk North Carolina

On 17 December 1903 near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright completed the first sustained heavier-than-air powered flight. Orville piloted the aircraft over a distance of thirty-six metres in twelve seconds. Their key breakthrough was developing three-axis flight control, allowing the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively.

Wrightflyer photograph
John T. Daniels ยท Public domain ยท source

Where this comes from

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

More facts like this

Tags: aviation, wright-brothers, flight

The Wright brothers achieved the first powered aeroplane flight in 1903: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
Orville Wright flew the Wright Flyer for twelve seconds over Kitty Hawk North Carolina. The figure is taken from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a technology fact?
Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.