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 4.
Wilbur having used his turn in the unsuccessful attempt on the 14th, the right to the first trial now belonged to me.
The sentence contributes to the development of ideas in the excerpt by
- Ademonstrating the challenge of the extreme winter conditions during the flight.
- Brevealing how many tries it took for Wilbur Wright to finally get the machine to take flight.
- Cdemonstrating that both Orville and Wilbur Wright were eager to pilot what could potentially be the first flight.
- Dsuggesting a sense that both brothers felt confident they would soon succeed in completing the first flight.
Show the answer
Correct answer: C
The question asks how the sentence from paragraph 4 contributes to the development of ideas in the excerpt.
A. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 4 does not refer to the challenge of the winter conditions during the flight attempt.
B. Incorrect. While the sentence from paragraph 4 specifically references a previous flight several days earlier, it does not state how many attempts came before Wilbur’s attempt on December 14.
C. CORRECT. The sentence from paragraph 4 indicates that the Wright brothers had agreed to take turns attempting to achieve the first flight, which suggests their eagerness to each be the first to successfully fly the machine.
D. Incorrect. Orville’s trial came about simply because the brothers took turns, which would suggest that there was no greater likelihood of success or reason to be more confident at that moment than there had been for previous attempts.
Question analysis
This question quotes the sentence that opens the “Audacity—and Calculation” section of Orville Wright’s account, in which he explains that the first trial on December 17 was his because Wilbur had used his turn on the 14th. Students decide how the sentence contributes to the development of ideas in the excerpt. Several choices bring in other parts of the story, so students must stay with what this one sentence shows.
- Grade level
- Grade 8 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- At grade 7 Explaining what one quoted sentence adds is routine grade 7 work. This sentence is short but opens with an old-fashioned “Wilbur having used his turn” construction, and its point about the brothers is implied rather than stated.
- Estimated difficulty
- Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
- What makes it hard
- A very close wrong answer moderate
- Reading between the lines moderate
- Complex sentences minor
- Evidence
- Answered from one sentence or line
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 7, 816 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 102 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
The sentence is about whose turn it is, and the question asks what that arrangement says about the brothers. A quick reader may lose the subject in the opening phrase and think Wilbur is still trying, or may carry the cold of earlier paragraphs into a sentence that never mentions it. The harder call is between eagerness and confidence: the heading “Audacity—and Calculation” makes confidence sound right, but a failed attempt three days earlier gives no reason for it.
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The choice about confidence matches the key’s frame, both brothers feeling something about the first flight; it differs in one word, confident instead of eager, and only eagerness follows from taking turns. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
The sentence names no feeling; eagerness has to be read from the turn-taking itself, the brothers alternating for “the right to the first trial,” a chance each wanted to be his. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The sentence opens with an absolute phrase, “Wilbur having used his turn in the unsuccessful attempt on the 14th,” whose subject is not the subject of the main clause, so a reader can lose track of who flies. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Strategy: Untangle the sentence first: say who used a turn, when, and who goes next. Then ask what the arrangement it describes suggests about the two brothers, and test each choice against that.
Traps
- Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
- Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.
- Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
The wrong answers, classified
A Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Carries the frozen puddles and “biting cold wind” of paragraphs 1 and 2 into this sentence, which says nothing about the weather and is only about whose turn it was.
B Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Loses the subject of the opening phrase and has Wilbur keep trying until he flies, though the sentence mentions one failed attempt and gives this trial to Orville.
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reads “the right to the first trial” and the heading “Audacity—and Calculation” as confidence, but taking turns says nothing about their odds, and the attempt on the 14th had failed.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks what one sentence adds to the excerpt. The sentence is short, but it starts in an old-fashioned way. First untangle who did what. Then ask what the sentence tells you about the two brothers.
Untangle the sentence
The sentence is “Wilbur having used his turn in the unsuccessful attempt on the 14th, the right to the first trial now belonged to me.” The first part gives a reason. In plain words: Wilbur already had his turn on the 14th. Unsuccessful means it failed. The second part says: so now it is my turn. The “me” is Orville, who wrote the excerpt. A trial here is a try.
Ask what taking turns shows
The brothers took turns trying to fly. Each one had a “right” to a turn. You take turns when both people want the same chance. Each brother wanted to be the pilot. This could be the first flight in history, so both were eager. Eager means they really wanted it.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. The sentence says nothing about the cold or the wind.
- B does not fit. It mentions only one failed try by Wilbur. And this trial was Orville’s, not Wilbur’s.
- C fits. Taking turns shows that each brother wanted to fly the machine.
- D does not fit. Nothing in the sentence shows confidence. The last try had failed, and it was simply Orville’s turn.
Watch out: D is tempting because the section heading is “Audacity—and Calculation.” Audacity means boldness. But taking turns shows eagerness, not a belief that they would succeed.
Choose the answer
The turn-taking shows that both brothers wanted to fly. So the answer is C, “demonstrating that both Orville and Wilbur Wright were eager to pilot what could potentially be the first flight.”
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
D is the closest wrong choice. Both C and D describe how the brothers felt about the first flight. But the sentence gives no reason to feel sure of success. It even mentions “the unsuccessful attempt on the 14th.” What it does show is that each brother wanted his own turn. That is eagerness, so C fits better.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”” as printed (pages 13–14)
