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Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”

2023 Handbook

2023 Test B English · Question 33 of 57

Passage Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”

Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”

by Orville Wright

In 1903 brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright conducted experiments related to flying machines. These experiments would eventually lead to air travel becoming a reliable form of transportation.

During the night of December 16, 1903, a strong cold wind blew from the north. When we arose on the morning of the 17th, the puddles of water, which had been standing about camp since the recent rains, were covered with ice. The wind had a velocity of 10 to 12 meters per second (22 to 27 miles an hour). We thought it would die down before long, and so remained indoors the early part of the morning. But when ten o’clock arrived, and the wind was as brisk as ever, we decided that we had better get the machine out and attempt a flight. We hung out the signal for the men of the Life Saving Station.1 We thought that by facing the flyer into a strong wind, there ought to be no trouble in launching it from the level ground about camp. We realized the difficulties of flying in so high a wind, but estimated that the added dangers in flight would be partly compensated for by the slower speed in landing.

Final Preparations

We laid the track on a smooth stretch of ground about one hundred feet north of the new building. The biting cold wind made work difficult, and we had to warm up frequently in our living room, where we had a good fire in an improvised stove made of a large carbide2 can. By the time all was ready, J. T. Daniels, W. S. Dough and A. D. Etheridge, members of the Kill Devil3 Life Saving Station; W. C. Brinkley of Manteo, and Johnny Moore, a boy from Nags Head,4 had arrived.

We had a “Richard” hand anemometer with which we measured the velocity of the wind. Measurements made just before starting the first flight showed velocities of 11 to 12 meters per second, or 24 to 27 miles per hour. . . .

Audacity—and Calculation

Wilbur having used his turn in the unsuccessful attempt on the 14th, the right to the first trial now belonged to me. After running the motor a few minutes to heat it up, I released the wire that held the machine to the track, and the machine started forward in the wind. Wilbur ran at the side of the machine, holding the wing to balance it on the track. Unlike the start on the 14th, made in a calm, the machine, facing a 27-mile wind, started very slowly. Wilbur was able to stay with it till it lifted from the track after a forty-foot run. One of the Life Saving men snapped the camera for us, taking a picture just as the machine had reached the end of the track and had risen to a height of about two feet. The slow forward speed of the machine over the ground is clearly shown in the picture by Wilbur’s attitude. He stayed along beside the machine without any effort.

Flight

The course of the flight up and down was exceedingly erratic, partly due to the irregularity of the air, and partly to lack of experience in handling this machine. The control of the front rudder was difficult on account of its being balanced too near the center. This gave it a tendency to turn itself when started; so that it turned too far on one side and then too far on the other. As a result the machine would rise suddenly to about ten feet, and then as suddenly dart for the ground. A sudden dart when a little over a hundred feet from the end of the track, or a little over 120 feet from the point at which it rose into the air, ended the flight. As the velocity of the wind was over 35 feet per second and the speed of the machine over the ground against this wind ten feet per second, the speed of the machine relative to the air was over 45 feet per second, and the length of the flight was equivalent to a flight of 540 feet made in calm air. This flight lasted only 12 seconds, but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in full flight, had sailed forward without reduction of speed and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started.

From “How We Made the First Flight” by Orville Wright—Public Domain/Federal Aviation Administration

1Life Saving Station: one of the rescue stations along the Atlantic coastline that provided assistance to mariners in distress

2carbide: a very hard material composed of carbon and other heavy metals

3Kill Devil: the town of Kill Devil Hills in eastern North Carolina

4Nags Head: a town in eastern North Carolina

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 5.

This flight lasted only 12 seconds, but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in full flight, had sailed forward without reduction of speed and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started.

The words “only,” “nevertheless,” and “finally” most clearly convey the idea that

  • Aeven a flight of such minor duration had taken a long time to achieve.
  • Bthe short flight gave the Wright brothers hope for longer ones in the future.
  • Cthe flight proved that the machine was, at last, capable of becoming airborne.
  • Dalthough it was brief, the flight was a remarkable accomplishment.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks what idea is most clearly conveyed by the words “only,” “nevertheless,” and “finally” in the sentence from paragraph 5.

A. Incorrect. Although the duration of the flight was short and a successful flight had taken a long time to achieve, the words in the sentence from paragraph 5 are used to emphasize the remarkable nature of the flight, not the length of time it had taken the Wright brothers to be successful.

B. Incorrect. While it is easy to imagine that the Wright brothers had hope for longer flights, the words in the sentence from paragraph 5 do not relate directly to this sentiment; instead, they describe the groundbreaking success of their flight.

C. Incorrect. While the capabilities of the aircraft were demonstrated during the flight, the words in the sentence from paragraph 5 apply not only to the machine but also to the efforts of the people who designed it, built it, and actually made it fly.

D. CORRECT. The words in the sentence from paragraph 5 suggest that, though the first flight may not have lasted very long or taken the pilot very far, the Wright brothers accomplished something no one had been able to do before: successfully pilot an airplane in flight.

Question analysis

This word-choice question quotes the 60-word closing sentence of Orville Wright’s account of the first airplane flight, the sentence that begins by saying the flight lasted only 12 seconds. Students must decide what idea the words “only,” “nevertheless” and “finally,” spread across the sentence, most clearly convey, and the choices offer four readings of the flight’s significance.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L4a context clues
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining how word choice shapes meaning is grade 7 work, and these three words are familiar. The demand comes from the 60-word, old-fashioned sentence around them and from reading each word as it is used here, a typical grade 7 challenge.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: about grade 7, 816 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 127 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

“Only” and “nevertheless” work as a pair, a concession followed by a claim of importance, and seeing that pair is most of the question. The trap is “finally,” which most students know as “at last,” a sense that suggests years of trying or a machine that at last left the ground. Here it simply means the flight ended with a level landing, so the choices built on the everyday meaning fall away for students who read it in its place.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The “minor duration” choice and the right one both open by granting that the flight was brief; they part on the second half, a long road to success or a remarkable accomplishment. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    “Finally” here marks the last stage of the flight, the landing “at a point as high as that from which it started,” and students must infer that from its place after “raised itself” and “sailed forward.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Complex sentences minor Understanding the question

    The 60-word sentence places “only” fourth, “nevertheless” tenth and “finally” 48th, inside a chain of three “had” clauses, so the three words must be gathered from across it before their combined idea appears. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Read the sentence with each of the three words left out in turn and notice what changes; then choose the idea the three create together, not one that a single word suggests alone.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    Here the question is about the author’s word choice. Three words, “only,” “nevertheless” and “finally,” are spread across one long sentence. You need the idea they create together. Look at what each word means right where it sits.

  2. Look at only and nevertheless

    The sentence begins, “This flight lasted only 12 seconds.” The word “only” stresses how short that is. Next comes “but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world.” Nevertheless means even so, or in spite of that. Together these two words say: yes, it was short, but it still mattered greatly.

  3. Look at finally

    The sentence lists three things the machine did. It “had raised itself by its own power into the air,” then “had sailed forward without reduction of speed.” Last, it “had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started.” Here, finally means as the last step. It does not mean after a long wait. It shows the flight was complete from start to finish.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. It reads “finally” as meaning after years of trying. The sentence says nothing about how long the brothers worked.
    • B is wrong. None of the three words looks ahead to future flights.
    • C is wrong. It leans on one word, “finally.” It skips how “only” and “nevertheless” work as a pair.
    • D is right. Brief matches “only.” Remarkable, or amazing, matches “nevertheless the first in the history of the world.”

    Watch out: A is tempting because most people know finally as “at last.” Always check what a word means in its own sentence.

  5. Choose the answer

    Together the three words say the flight was short but still a historic first. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. Like D, it starts by saying the flight was brief. But A then claims the flight took a long time to achieve, which needs “finally” to mean “at last.” Here it marks the landing, the last step. D keeps the real idea: short, yet a world first.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 33 as printed on page 174 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 174, question 33. Open page 174 of the handbook (PDF)
The passage “Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”” as printed (pages 13–14)The passage “Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”” as printed on page 13 of the DOE handbook.The passage “Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”” as printed on page 14 of the DOE handbook.