The Wright Flyer made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown by brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright, it marked the beginning of the pioneer era of aviation.
Wright Flyer
Patent plan
Displayed in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, the Frieze of American History detail The Birth of Aviation depicts Leonardo da Vinci, Samuel Langley, Octave Chanute, and the Wright Flyer's first flight
Distant view of the Wright airplane just after landing, taken from the starting point, with wing-rest in center of picture and launching rail at right. This flight, the fourth and final of 17 December 1903, was the longest: 852 feet (260 m) covered in 59 seconds. The photo was published in 1908.
An airplane or aeroplane, informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research. Worldwide, commercial aviation transports more than four billion passengers annually on airliners and transports more than 200 billion tonne-kilometers of cargo annually, which is less than 1% of the world's cargo movement. Most airplanes are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, but some are designed to be remotely or computer-controlled such as drones.
The first flight of an airplane, the Wright Flyer on 17 December 1903
North American P-51 Mustang, a World War II fighter aircraft
An All Nippon Airways Boeing 777-300ER taking off from New York JFK Airport
Le Bris and his glider, Albatros II, photographed by Nadar, 1868