Flight Log: 1902 Kitty Hawk, N.C.

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1902 Kitty Hawk, N.C.
Wright 1902 Glider

On their third visit to Kitty Hawk, N.C., in 1902 the Wrights made 700-1,000 glides increasing their record for distance to 622-1/2 ft., for time to 26 seconds, and for angle of descent to 5 degrees for a glide of 156 ft.. Orville has stated that the flights of 1902 demonstrated efficiency of their system of control for both longitudinal and lateral stability and also the fact that their tables of air pressure derived from their wind-tunnel tests would enable them to calculate in advance the performance of their flying machine.

DATE	FLIGHT	PILOT	TIME	DISTANCE	REMARKS
Sep 19					Glider first flown as kite, then about 25 glides made, none entirely free. Daniel Tate assists brothers in glides on this and subsequent days.
Sep 20
	1	WW	11 sec.	ca. 200 ft	Nearly 50 glides made September 19 and 20.
	2	WW		140 ft.	Wilbur made free glide.
Sep 22					Glider flown as kite.
Sep 23		OW		160 ft.	Orville made first free flight. Altogether about 75 glides were made, varying in length from 150 to 225 ft. and in duration from 10 - 12 seconds. Machine damaged in landing at end of day, requiring delay in experiments for several days to make necessary repairs.
Sep 29
	1	OW	10-1/4 sec.	150 ft.
	2	OW		198 ft.
	3	OW		216 ft.
	4	OW		25 ft
	5	OW		40 ft
	6	WW	6-1/2 sec.	98 ft
	7	WW		25 ft
	8	WW		25 ft
	9	WW		25 ft
	10	WW	6-3/5 sec.	90 ft
	11	WW	6-2/5 sec.	100 ft
	12	WW	9 sec.	140 ft
	13	WW	8-3/5 sec.	132 ft
	14	WW		123 ft
	15	WW	7 sec.	150 ft
	16	WW	5-1/5 sec.	112 ft
	17	WW	8 sec.	160 ft
	18	WW	9-1/2 sec.	150 ft
	19	WW	9-1/4 sec.	159 ft
	20	WW	6 sec.	120 ft
	21	WW	13 sec.	230 ft
	22	WW	12-4/5 sec.	212 ft
	23	OW		180 ft
	24	OW		111 ft
	25	OW	5-1/4 sec.	120 ft
Sep 30					Lorin Wright, who arrived at Kitty Hawk on the morning of September 30, witnessed Wright gliding experiments carried out between this date and October 10.
	1	OW		183 ft
	2	OW	8-1/5 sec.	191 ft
	3	WW	7-2/5 sec.	145 ft
	4	WW	5 sec...	78 ft
	5	WW	5-1/4 sec..	125 ft
	6	WW	8 sec..	150 ft
	7	WW	7 sec.	150 ft
	8	WW	5-3/4 sec.	132 ft
	9	WW	25 ft. per sec. (ca. 6-1/2 sec.)	162 ft
Oct 1					George A. Spratt arrived in afternoon and witnessed Wright gliding experiments between this date and October 17.
	1	WW		101 ft
	2	WW	7-1/5 sec.	150 ft
	3	WW	9-4/5 sec.	180 ft
	4	WW	3-3/5 sec.	93 ft
	5	WW	8-2/5 sec.	165 ft
	6	OW		129 ft
	7	OW		133 ft
	8	OW	8 sec.	142 ft
	9	OW		150 ft
	10	OW	8-3/5 sec.	162 ft
	11	WW		310 ft
	12	WW	ca. 25 sec.	320 ft
	13	OW	9 sec.	183 ft
	14	OW	5-1/4 sec.	123 ft
	15	OW	9-1/4 sec.	176 ft
	16	OW	9-1/2 sec.	202 ft
	17	WW	11-4/5 sec.	226 ft
	18	WW		312 ft
	19	WW		238 ft
	20	WW	18 sec.	287 ft
	21	OW	7 sec.	156 ft
	22	WW	11-1/2 sec.	205 ft
	23	WW	10-1/5 sec.	210 ft
	24	OW	7 sec.	156 ft
Oct 2					Only a partial record of glides was kept.
	1	WW	16 sec.	252 ft
	2	WW	22 sec.	328 ft
	3	WW		320 ft
	4	WW		351 ft
	5	OW		217 ft
	6	OW		216 ft
	7	WW	24-1/2 sec.	506 ft
	8	WW	24-1/2 sec.	504 ft
	9	WW	23-1/2 sec.	550 ft
Oct 3					No records were maintained for glides made in the morning and only a few for those made in the afternoon.
	1	OW		279 ft
	2	OW	14-1/4 sec.	315 ft
	3	WW	12-1/5 sec.	189 ft
	4	WW		318 ft
	5	WW	8 sec.	168 ft
	6	WW	13-1/4 sec.	255 ft
Oct 8					Octave Chanute and Augustus M. Herring, who had arrived at Kitty Hawk on October 5, were present at glides made on October 8, 9, and 10.
	1	WW	3 sec.	45 ft
	2	WW	12 sec.	180 ft
	3	WW	9-1/2 sec.	180 ft
	4	WW	10-1/4 sec.	135 ft
	5	WW	11-2/5 sec.	225 ft
	6	WW	12-4/5 sec.	235 ft
	7	WW		short glide
	8	WW	13-1/5 sec.	237 ft
	9	WW		short glide
	10	WW	9-2/5 sec.	162 ft
	11	OW	8-2/5 sec.	148 ft
	12	OW	8-1/2 sec.	151 ft
	13	OW	9-3/5 sec.	170 ft
	14	OW	9 sec.	165 ft
	15	OW	7 sec.	160 ft
	16	OW	6 sec.	155 ft
Oct 9
	1		6-1/2 sec.	ca. 110 ft
	2	OW	6 sec.	120 ft
Oct 10					Many glides were undertaken on this date, but there are no available data on the time and distance of the glides. The first photograph of a Wright glide in a turn was taken on this date.
Oct 15					Several attempts at gliding were made in the morning and two flights were made after dinner.
Oct 17					Data unavailable on glides made on this date, but Orville did most of gliding before dinner and Wilbur made five or six glides after dinner for the purpose of obtaining pictures.
Oct 20
	1	OW		360 ft
	2	WW		300 ft
	3	OW		335 ft
	4	WW		300 ft
	5	OW	12 sec.	300 ft
	6	WW	21-4/5 sec.	551 ft
	7	WW	24-4/5 sec.	552 ft
	8	WW	24-1/2 sec.	525 ft
	9	WW	22 sec.	548 ft
	10	OW	24-1/4 sec.	505 ft
	11	OW	18 sec.	406-1/2 ft
	12	OW	16-1/2 sec.	335 ft
Oct 21
	1	WW?	13-1/5 sec.	150 ft.
	2	OW	10 sec.	63 ft
Oct 23
	1	WW		short glide
	2	OW	15-1/2 sec.	336 ft
	3	WW	17 sec.	351 ft
	4	OW	16-1/4 sec.	426 ft
	5	WW	18-3/5 sec.	394 ft
	6	OW	16 sec.	380 ft
	7	WW	17 sec.	418 ft
	8	OW		short glide
	9	WW	26 sec.	622-1/2 ft	This glide set a new duration and distance record.
	10	OW	24 sec.	540 ft
	11	WW	24-1/5 sec.	540 ft
	12	OW		509 ft
	13	OW	21-2/5	615-1/2 ft
Oct 24		OW		255-1/2 ft	Glides on this date averaged about 200 ft. A number of glides were witnessed by passengers aboard a steamer cruising nearby. In the last 10 days of practice Wilbur and Orville made more glides than in all the preceding weeks. In two days they made about 250 glides in winds ranging from 9 - 16-3/4 meters per second.