After four years of work, including thousands of glider flights, Orville and Wilbur Wright built their first airplane, called the Flyer. Made mostly from wood and cloth and powered by a 12-horsepower engine, the plane had a control system that allowed the pilot to maintain wing balance during flight. <NP> Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in December, 1903, Orville Wright piloted the Flyer in a 12-second, 120-foot flight, thus becoming the first person to successfully fly an engine-driven, heavier-than-air machine. <NP> As the Wrights continued their experiments, they made longer and longer flights.
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