Transcript[]
Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby
Tim and Moby go through airport security. Tim gets through the metal detector with no problem, but when Moby goes through, it buzzes loudly.
Two security agents rush him with security wands, and a third speaks into his walkie-talkie. Moby looks nervous.
TIM: I'll meet you on the other side.
Tim walks off and takes a seat by an airport gate. He reads from a typed letter.
TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, Why do people make such a big deal about the Wright Brothers? Their plane looks so dinky, and it barely got off the ground. Confused, Damian. Hey, Damian. Today, we credit Orville and Wilbur Wright as the inventors of the airplane.
An image shows a plaque with a portrait of the Wright brothers. Text beneath the portrait reads: Orville and Wilbur Wright.
TIM: But back in their day, most people were as skeptical as you.
An animation shows five men watching the Wright brothers test their plane on a sandy beach.
TIM: Only five observers were on hand to watch their historic flight.
Moby's head rolls through the airport's x-ray machine. His body walks up to it. He picks up his head with his hands and reattaches it. Then his feet roll through the x-ray machine.
TIM: Uh, on December 17, 1903, the Wright Flyer flew for 12 seconds, covering 120 feet. The brothers took turns piloting until they made it nearly a thousand feet.
An animation shows the Wright Flyer at the beach, making the flights as Tim describes.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Uh, no, none of those runs went more than 10 feet off the ground. And they needed a track going down a hill to get the Flyer airborne.
An animation shows the plane using a track to take off.
TIM: And the plane was destroyed by a gust of wind.
The Wright Brothers watch sadly as the plane is blown into the air, then returns to the ground and breaks.
TIM: It never flew again.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Okay, so maybe the flights themselves aren't all that impressive. Other inventors had made similar flights before them. But the Wright Flyer marked a turning point. It was the first powered plane that a pilot could totally control.
An animation shows Orville Wright steering the plane as it flies.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: For decades, people had been trying to create the perfect flying machine. Sir George Cayley built models to study aerodynamics, how air flows around objects.
An animation shows Cayley experimenting with a small, spinning machine.
TIM: His work led to advances in the design of wings and tails.
An animation shows Cayley trying unsuccessfully to get a plane-like vehicle off the ground.
TIM: Early pilots used these discoveries to build and fly gliders, unpowered aircraft.
Otto Lilienthal, known as the Glider King, made thousands of such flights. He would leap from high places to capture wind currents, then shift his weight around to change direction and stay level.
An animation shows Lilienthal in a glider, jumping from a high cliff as a crowd looks on. He kicks his legs and leans back and forth to guide himself as he glides.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: It worked, until his last flight, in 1896. A strong gust of wind sent Lilienthal into a steep nosedive.
An animation shows Lilienthal losing control of his glider and diving steeply downward.
TIM: Orville and Wilbur were deeply affected by his death. It inspired them to create a more reliable maneuvering system.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Working out of their bicycle shop, the Wrights began designing their own airplane in 1899.
An animation shows the Wright Cycle Company, a small building on a quiet, treelined street.
TIM: They started by collecting and comparing huge amounts of data.
An animation shows Orville Wright at a chalkboard covered with diagrams and mathematical equations. Wilbur Wright is at a desk, making notes on sheets of paper.
TIM: They read up on the experimental aircraft of their predecessors. And spent hundreds of hours analyzing how birds maintained stability.
MOBY: Beep.
Moby giggles.
TIM: Laugh all you want. It's what led to their big breakthrough. They realized birds didn't just use their feathers for flapping. Tiny twists of their wings and tail enable them to stay level.
An animation shows Wilbur Wright lying on his back, looking upward through a pair of binoculars. He is watching a bird fly. It flaps its wings, and then it glides.
Wilbur writes in a notebook what he observes.
TIM: They also seemed to help them make adjustments to their altitude and direction.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Wilbur figured out how to mimic this wing-warping using a system of pulleys. This gave their Wright Flyer three different types of control. The wings could curl to let the airplane roll, the elevator controlled pitch, and the rudder enabled the plane to yaw.
An animation of the Wright Flyer demonstrates the movements that Tim describes. When the plane rolls, the wings move like a see-saw. When it pitches, the nose angles upward. When it yaws, it pivots left and right.
TIM: The pilot had to constantly adjust on all three axes.
An animation shows Orville Wright piloting the Wright Flyer, controlling it through different adjustments.
TIM: Because the slightest shift in the wind would throw the plane off balance.
The plane hits the ground and breaks. Orville is unharmed.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Other airplane designers had fought against instability, but the Wrights embraced it. Years in the bike shop led them to this breakthrough concept. Just as a bicycle requires constant corrections to keep it upright, so would their Flyer.
An animation shows Orville Wright riding his bicycle down a quiet street.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Having command of roll, pitch, and yaw gave pilots control in any conditions. They would counter the wind whether it was in their face or behind them, blowing side-to-side or pushing them up and down.
An animation shows Orville Wright piloting the Wright Flyer in a thunderstorm.
TIM: To this day, all airplanes make use of the same basic control system: pitch, roll, and yaw.
An animation shows a small, modern-day jet flying in a thunderstorm. Inside, the pilot watches three dials that read pitch, roll, and yaw.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Oh right, the power problem. Gliders needed strong winds to stay aloft, so some early plane designers focused on creating a portable wind source. That's all a propeller is, a fan to blow air over the wings.
An animation shows two early planes, each with an engine blowing air at its wings.
TIM: But the steam engines they used were unbelievably heavy. They couldn't generate enough power to overcome their own weight.
Both planes sit at a stop light. When the light turns green, they try to take off, but they do not move.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: The Wrights knew they needed a better power-to-weight ratio. That's kind of why the Wright Flyer looked so dinky. The frame needed to be as light as possible. Instead of metal propellers, they used hand-carved wood.
An animation shows Wilbur Wright installing the tail on the Wright Flyer. It is made of wood.
TIM: And instead of a powerful, heavy steam engine, a lightweight, gas-powered engine would be enough to keep it aloft.
Orville Wright installs the lighter engine on the Wright Flyer.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Yep, and just in case of a crash, they needed a nice, soft landing spot. So they picked out a deserted beach a few miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
An animation shows the Wright brothers at the beach, guiding the Wright Flyer down its track and launching it into the air.
TIM: Those simple test flights marked a turning point in the history of aviation.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: They didn't get much attention at first. Those who did take notice responded with doubt or even ridicule.
An animation shows the Wright brothers looking at a newspaper with their picture on the cover. The paper's headline reads: Flyers or Liars?
TIM: The brothers were only too happy to stay out of the limelight.
An animation shows Orville and Wilbur Wright in their bicycle shop. Orville is testing a propeller, and Wilbur is taking notes at his desk.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: It gave them time to improve on the Flyer's design, making it faster, sturdier, and more maneuverable. Within a few years, their planes could carry passengers and even land on water!
An animation shows a series of small airplanes, each one an improvement over previous ones. The final one in the series lands smoothly on a lake.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: In 1909, they incorporated the Wright Company. The plan was to sell planes, training, and shipping services.
An animation shows the Wright brothers standing outdoors, in front of a group of their planes. Above them, a metal archway reads: Wright Company. A banner hanging from the archway reads: Grand Opening, The New Model C's Are In.
TIM: But there just wasn't a market for any of that stuff yet.
Wind and tumbleweeds symbolize the lack of Wright Company customers.
TIM: So to drum up business, the brothers held exhibitions.
An animation shows the Wright brothers holding an air show at their outdoor company. Many people are in attendance.
TIM: They'd fly their latest designs in front of large crowds.
The Wrights fly one of their planes. The attendees look up into the sky, obviously impressed.
TIM: As word spread, even heads of state showed up to watch. Orville and Wilbur became the face of the emerging aircraft industry.
An animation shows the Wright brothers receiving medals from a visiting dignitary.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to turn their business around.
A photographer takes a picture of the three of them. The picture appears on a newspaper's front page. The paper's headline reads: High Flying Heroes.
TIM: They spent a lot of energy suing other inventors for stealing their ideas. It took its toll on Wilbur, who died of a fever in 1911.
Wilbur disappears from the photo, leaving only Orville and the visiting dignitary.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Orville sold the company and patents a few years later.
An animation shows Orville standing beneath the arch of their company. A sign next to him reads: Sold.
TIM: He was a rich man, but it had to be disappointing.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: The Wrights wanted to be the ones to bring flight to the masses. They dreamed of a day when air travel would be routine. Planes would take passengers from one city to another and carry cargo to countries all over the world.
Tim and Moby are on a moving sidewalk. As Tim speaks, they glide past people from all over the world and huge crates of international shipments. Clearly, the Wright brothers' vision has become a reality.
TIM: By the time Orville died in 1948, all of that had come to pass.
A voice comes over the airport's intercom.
ANNOUNCER: Now boarding, Gold-Plated Diamond Club members. Please have 22 forms of identification ready as you approach the jetway.
Tim and Moby walk up to two flight attendants who are standing by the boarding gate. Moby reaches into his pockets, produces a pilot's hat and pair of sunglasses, and puts them on.
FIRST FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Right this way, Captain.
The second flight attendant hands Moby a cup of coffee.
SECOND FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Your coffee, Captain.
Moby takes a sip of his coffee and salutes the second flight attendant. Tim looks on in shock.
MOBY: Beep.
Moby walks off to board the plane.
TIM: Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit biting my nails.