If there is one word that is continuously being proved incorrect throughout history, it is the word ‘impossible’. Everytime a rational mind thinks of anything that has never been tried before, there is always a majority of people their to say thatit is not possible. However, from time to time, human intelligence has proved its superiority over human reasoning. Man hasbeen able to achieve nearly everything that a brainis able to imagine. The best example in this aspect is aviation. From the earliesteffort of flying via huge feathers to the super secret flying machinein military bases, there is aplethora of moments which added a new wing in the crown of technologicaladvancements. Moreover, the fantasy of flight was not only limited to a certain class. In current times, all of us can revel in the flight as well as flying. Affeciandos can choose to be air force pilots or commercial pilots. Many training centers and schools are offering training such as Floatplane training and float endorsement for leisure flyers.
Flight perhaps is one of the most amazing marvels, yet it is also a very common mean of conveyance. It is reallyinteresting to see how this incredibleachievement turned into the business that it is today.
Supposedly, the very first fruitful effort of making an object fly was the kite which was devised in China during 200BC. However, a very old Greek myth ofDeadlus is also thought to be taken from a real incident. It is said that Deadlus tried to imitate the flight of bird by means wax to stick large wings to his body. The authenticity of this myth is debatable, though it clearly does defineman’s desire to fly from the oldest of civilization.
Even after such unsuccessful attempts, an almost fruitful effort of flying is said to be of around the ninth century. A Berber man took a short flight on his gliding machine and landed back to where he started. This can possibly be the first glider, but the landing was like a crash. The first recorded and credible event of such flight is found in year 1010th when an English monk Eilmer of Malmesbury flew about 200 meters in his glider.
During the 18th century, it was Leonardo da Vinci who created designs and illustrations that are said to be the biggest inspiration for what we know as modern aviation. Da Vinci himself was a serious believer in man’s ability to fly in flying machines. He drew many machines which very much resemble the planes and helicopters that we know today.
Jean-Francois and Francois Laurent made the first modern in a hot air balloon. The idea of hot air flight was nearly a century old, but it was in 1783 when these two gentlemen took the flight. The balloon later was enhanced as a controlable airship by Henri Giffard in 1852.
Not much later in 1884, the French army made the first ever electric powered airship. The Airships were based on the “lighter than air” principle, which proposed that anything lighter than air can float on the air like a boat on water. This was successfully achieved by heating the air, yet the airships were short lived and fragile. The twentieth century came with a newer idea that was denser than air flight, but that is a whole new page in history of flight.
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