On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 15:08:38 GMT, "Steven P. McNicoll"
wrote:

If that were true, wouldn't Clement Ader be credited with the first flight?
He is credited with being first to leave the ground in a powered,
heavier-than-air machine. He wasn't credited with the first flight because
he did not control his machine. It was known at the time, before the
Wrights flew, that true flight required control.

Not at all. If I saw a plane "flying" out of control, I would not
define it as flight.

That's assuming that Mr. Ader, whose name unfortunately has never come
to my attention, is indeed credited with this feat. What sort of a
landing did his uncontrolled aircraft make?

Many years ago I saw a film that consisted entirely of unsuccessful
flights--folks jumping off barn roofs with flapping wings, taking off
in crates that collapsed, etc. About half of them left the ground in a
powered heavier-than-air machine, but none of them flew. Perhaps Mr.
Ader was among them?


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

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