The Wright Brothers' First Flight Lasted Just 12 Seconds

The first flight of the Wright brothers’ airplane was over almost as soon as it began. The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, which lists the 1903 Wright Flyer in its collection, records that the aircraft first flew on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Orville Wright was the pilot. The museum describes it as a 12-second flight that covered 36 meters, or 120 feet. Both numbers are small. Twelve seconds is a fifth of a minute, and 120 feet works out at an average of ten feet for every second in the air. The details here come from the museum’s own record of the aircraft, which is why the date, place, pilot, time and distance can all be stated precisely.