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.
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.
How does the sentence help convey Orville Wright’s perspective about this first flight?
- AIt provides evidence that he maintained a scientific approach when attempting flight.
- BIt emphasizes that he believed the flight was successful despite its short distance.
- CIt provides a comparison between flight distances under calm and high wind conditions.
- DIt highlights the importance of such calculations in the success of future flights.
Show the answer
Correct answer: B
The question asks how the sentence from paragraph 5 helps convey Orville Wright’s perspective about the first flight.
A. Incorrect. Since there is no indication in the sentence from paragraph 5 that Orville took these measurements while he was flying the plane, the idea that he maintained a scientific approach when attempting flight is an assumption rather than fact. It also does not account for the equivalent distance of the flight in calm air, which emphasizes the importance of the accomplishment.
B. CORRECT. In the sentence from paragraph 5, Orville uses the wind velocity and the machine speed to highlight the distance that the plane covered while in the air and to determine the distance that it would have flown on a day with calm winds, which emphasizes the magnitude of the accomplishment.
C. Incorrect. Since Orville does not suggest in the sentence from paragraph 5 how far the plane traveled under the actual conditions of high winds, the comparison is incomplete. Additionally, this statement does not address the reason that he would make such a comparison, which allowed him to describe the flight in more impressive terms (540 feet versus 120 feet).
D. Incorrect. Unlike the wind velocity calculations made in preparation for the flight, which along with pilot experience might help in determining the success of future flights, the calculations that Orville provides in the sentence from paragraph 5 interpret the results of the first flight and communicate its success.
Question analysis
In Orville Wright’s report on the first powered flight, a long sentence works through wind speeds, air speeds and distances, and this point-of-view question asks what that sentence shows about how he viewed the flight. Students must work out what purpose the numbers serve, and more than one option describes the sentence in a way that sounds accurate.
- Grade level
- Grade 8 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Inferring a writer’s attitude from a sentence of measurements, with no opinion words at all, goes beyond typical grade 7 point-of-view work, and 1903 technical terms such as “velocity” add to the reading load.
- Estimated difficulty
- Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 3, strategic thinking · mainly analyze
- What makes it hard
- How, not what moderate
- Reading between the lines moderate
- Complex sentences minor
- Evidence
- Answered from one paragraph or stanza
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 7, 816 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 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
A question about perspective usually turns on words of feeling, but this sentence offers nothing except speeds and a distance. Students have to ask why Orville bothers with the arithmetic, and the answer is that 540 feet in calm air turns a 12-second hop into the achievement he believed it was. In this printing the most tempting wrong choice credits him with a scientific approach, which fits the sentence’s manner exactly but describes his method rather than his judgment of the flight.
How, not what moderate Working it out
The stem asks what the calculation reveals, so students must see that converting a short hop into “a flight of 540 feet made in calm air” is Orville’s way of arguing that the flight counted. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
No word in the sentence names a feeling or a verdict; his belief in the flight’s success has to be read from his decision to recast roughly 120 feet over the ground as 540 feet through still air. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
One 61-word sentence links four figures, a wind over 35 feet per second, a ground speed of ten, an airspeed over 45 and the 540-foot equivalent, through “As,” two “and”s and a run of commas. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Strategy: Put the sentence’s figures into plain words, such as how far the flight would have reached in still air, and then ask what Orville gains by giving readers that figure.
Traps
- True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.
- Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.
- Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.
The wrong answers, classified
A True but not the answer (King et al., 2004; Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Rightly sees careful measurement in every clause, in keeping with the anemometer readings of paragraph 3, but a scientific habit shows how Orville worked, not what he concluded about this flight.
C Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Describes what the sentence contains, a flight set against one in calm air, without saying what that comparison shows about Orville’s view of the flight, which is what the question asks.
D Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Supposes such figures were recorded to plan later attempts, as one might expect of inventors, but the sentence sizes up the flight just ended and says nothing about the future.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks about Orville Wright’s perspective, or point of view, on the first flight. In other words, what did he think of it? The quoted sentence is full of numbers, not feelings. So ask why Orville bothered to work out these numbers.
Sort out the numbers
The wind blew against the machine at over 35 feet per second. The machine moved over the ground at 10 feet per second. It flew into the wind, so the air rushed past it at both speeds added. That is more than 35 + 10 = 45 feet per second. The flight lasted 12 seconds. Over the ground, that is 10 × 12 = 120 feet. Through the air, it is 45 × 12 = 540 feet.
Ask why Orville does this math
Paragraph 5 says the flight ended “a little over 120 feet from the point at which it rose into the air.” That sounds short. So Orville shows that, in calm air, the same flight would have gone 540 feet. The next sentence says the flight “lasted only 12 seconds.” Yet it was still “the first in the history of the world” of its kind. So he sees the short flight as a real success.
Check each choice
- A is partly true. The careful numbers do show a scientific way of working. But that is about how Orville works, not what he thinks of this flight.
- B fits. The math turns a short hop into a 540-foot flight. It shows he believed the flight was a success.
- C does not fit. The sentence does compare windy air with calm air. But C only says what the sentence contains, not what Orville thinks.
- D does not fit. The math measures the flight that just ended. It says nothing about future flights.
Choose the answer
Watch out: A is tempting because the sentence really is careful and exact. But the question asks for his perspective about this first flight. Only B tells what he concluded about it. So the answer is B.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
A is the closest wrong answer, and it is partly true: the measurements are scientific. But A describes Orville’s method, not his view of the flight. The question asks what the sentence shows he thought. He turns about 120 feet into “a flight of 540 feet made in calm air” to show the flight counted. That is B.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”” as printed (pages 13–14)
