It would not be considered at all safe for a bicycle rider to attempt to ride through a crowded city street after only five hours' practice spread out in bits of ten seconds each over a period of five years, yet Lilienthal with his brief practice was remarkably successful in meeting the fluctuations and eddies of wind gusts.

We thought that if some method could be found by which it would be possible to practice by the hour instead of by the second, there would be a hope of advancing the solution of a very difficult problem." The brothers found that winds of the velocity they desired for their experiments were common on the coast of North Carolina.

They pitched their camp at Kitty Hawk in October, 1900, and made a brief and successful trial of their gliding machine.

Next year, they returned with a much larger machine; and in 1902 they continued their experiments with a model still further improved from their first design.

Having tested their theories and become convinced that they were definitely on the right track, they were no longer satisfied merely to glide.