Handling Qualities Analysis of the Wright Brothers' 1902 Glider

From a handling-qualities standpoint, it can be argued that the Wright brothers’ 1902 glider represents their most significant design breakthrough on the basis that their subsequent aircraft retained the same basic control concept. This paper is a study of that aircraft, and results from wind-tunnel tests, modeling, and flight simulation trials are presented. Unstable in both longitudinal and lateral axes, the 1902 glider’s flight dynamics provide maneuverability but also a tendency to pilot-induced oscillation in tight tracking tasks. The Wrights taught themselves to fly on this aircraft and paved the way for the development of their powered flyer. This paper stands as a celebration of the achievements made by the Wrights 101 years ago and demonstrates the technological leaps they made in the process of designing, building, and flight testing the 1902 glider. The results are placed in the context of modern handling-qualities engineering.