Chapters 3-4 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 3: The Art of Flying

"While the Wright brothers were building bicycles in Dayton, an engineer named Otto Lilienthal was conducting gliding experiments from the top of a small hill and Germany." (Chap. 3, p. 15)

Lilienthal had pioneered a technique with the gliders whereby he would attach a glider to his back and run down a hill until the wind lifted the glider's wings. Newspapers around the world told stories about Lilienthal referring to him as the "Flying Man." Photos showed Lilienthal flying through the air attached to something that looked like bat wings. Lilienthal was in the heyday of his career when a glider stalled during a flight in 1896. Lilienthal fell and broke his spine. He died the next day.

Lilienthal would not be the first or last man to die trying to fly. The author tells the story...