The nine stages of flight. The people and their accomplishments.

1. 400 BC- flight in China

The Daoist book called "Bapouzi", which means "Master who Embraces Simplcity" describes some ideas intrinsic to rotary wing aircraft, as early as the 4th century AD. The ideas were stemmed from observing bamboo flying toys which children in China used to play with.

2. Ancient Greece

Hero of Alexandria, an ancient Greek engineer, worked with steam and air pressure to create sources of power. He developed the "aeolipile" which used jets of steam to create a rotary motion.

3. 1484 Leonardo da Vinci- The Ornithopter and the Study of Flight

An ornithopter is a type of flying machine that attempts to fly by imitating the flapping of a bird's wings. Leonardo Da Vinci conceptualised it in the 1400s, and many others attempted in troughout the centuries but none successfully.

4. 1783- Joseph and Jaques Montgolier- The Flight of the First Hot Air Balloon

These brothers were the inventors of the Montgoliere-style hot air balloon, Globe Aerostatique. On 4 June 1783 they flew their first balloon as a public demonstration to claim its invention. The flight lasted two minutes and flew two kilometres.

5. 1799-1850's- George Cayley- Gliders

Sir George Cayley was an English engineer and one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. In 1799 he conceptualised the modern aeroplane as a fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, thrust, and control. Many consider him the "Father of Aviation".

6. 1891 Otto Lilienthal

Otto Lilienthal, known as the "Glider King" was a German pioneer of human aviation. He followed the same experimental approach as Sir George Cayley. The hang glider he created involved a triangle control frame and a basebar. By shifting his body, he was able to change the centre of gravity, and thereby control his gliders.

7. 1891 Samuel Langley

Samuel Langley was an American astronomer, physicist, inventor, and a pioneer of aviation. Langley built a rotating arm and powered larger flying models with steam engines. His first success came in 1896 when he flew an unpiloted plane of a mile.

8. 1894 Octave Chanute

Octave Chanute was a French-born American railway engineer and aviation pioneer. He also helped the Wright Brothers, both in terms of giving them advice and publicizing their experiments. He published the very influencial book "Progress in Flying Machine" in 1894.

9. 1903 The Wright Brothers- First Flight

Orville and Wilbur Wright were two American brothers who made the first controlled, powered, and sustained human flight in 1903. They were the first to invent the aircraft controls that made fixed wing powered flights possible.

We remember ... ... and ... by their ... instead of by their ... in the face of ..

We remember inventors, explorers, and entrepreneurs by their successes instead of by their persistence in the face of uncertainty. The common elements that unite these groups is their willingness to take calculated risks and the perseverance to persist in spite of seeming failure. None of them went into any endeavor with the intent to fail but neither was success guaranteed. They knew the risks and were not deterred, ultimately they succeeded one more time than they failed. In our haste to obtain success can we afford to overlook the process that brought it about.

Today, we attempt to isolate ourselves from risk as much as possible while looking with distrust toward those who are willing to leave the refuge of certitude for an uncertain reward. From the vantage point of the past tense, we conveniently forget that those who altered our history, left their impact on industry, and shaped our culture did not foreknow the outcome of their actions.

Would history remember men like Marco Polo, Columbus, or Lewis and Clark if they had not dared to venture into the unknown. Whether pilgrim or pioneer, it was unnamed common people who risked everything to better themselves. Civilization followed the trails they blazed. What of the inventors like Alexander Graham Bell, the Wright brothers, and Thomas Edison who succeeded where others failed because they refused to qui? In the political realm, can we ignore men like Abraham Lincoln who overcame a string of failures to become president or Winston Churchill whose perseverance gave a beleaugered Engalnd the will to outlast the destruction of a dictator war machine? What of the entrepreneurs, both the infamous and the ignonimous, who made their fortunes through risk and then risked their fortunes again in order to increase them? Massive corporations were birthed into existence through the travail of those individuals who nurtured them through their humble beginnings. In every case, success was the indirect result of the persistence of individuals willing to take necessary risks.

By focusing only on obvious success and overlooking the process that included apparent failure we succumb to an unrealistic expectation that we are supposed to succeed without setback.

Perhaps then the destination is not as important as the journey.