When it comes to the practicality of flying, the first experiment where an object ‘flew’ in the air, was in fact carried out by two Chinese philosophers, Mozi and Lu Ban, who are also said to be the inventors behind the kite. As a result of their pioneering ways in the 5th Century, they were able to gather military intelligence from rival kingdoms.
The Wright brothers may have invented the first motorised aircraft, but the 9th century engineer Abbas Ibn Firnas is considered to be the first human to fly with the help of a pair of wings built by silk, wood and real feathers.
According to historians, when Ibn Firnas was between the age of 65 and 70, he jumped off a cliff from Yemen’s Jabal Al-Arus mountain and glided in the air, staying in flight for at least ’10 minutes’. The short flight left him both injured and disappointed. He realised that because he had neglected the mechanics of landing, he couldn’t balance his flight in the air and ended up crash landing.
Ibn Firnas lived for another 12 years. He realised that slow landing is achieved via the collaborative work between tail and wings, a conclusion he reached after decades of studies of bird flight and their landings. It is Firnas who could successfully claim to be behind the theory that went on to create the ornithopter, an aircraft that mimics birds and flies by flapping its wings. His flying machine diagrams went on to become the cornerstones of aviation engineering in the late 20th century.
Flying had been the dream of human beings for several centuries before it was finally accomplished. History is full of myths and fables featuring humans with wings doing extraordinary things in the sky. In Greek Mythology, Icarus is believed to have flown so close to the sun despite his father’s advice, that his waxed feathers melted, leading to his crash landing and subsequent drowning in the sea.
When it comes to the practicality of flying, the first experiment where an object ‘flew’ in the air, was in fact carried out by two Chinese philosophers, Mozi and Lu Ban, who are also said to be the inventors behind the kite. As a result of their pioneering ways in the 5th Century, they were able to gather military intelligence from rival kingdoms.
