Truly Terrific Telegram

Saturday will mark 113 years since the Wright Brothers walked four miles to the Kitty Hawk weather station to send a short telegram to their father:

Image from the Library of Congress.

SUCCESS FOUR FLIGHTS THURSDAY MORNING ALL AGAINST TWENTY ONE MILE WIND STARTED FROM LEVEL WITH ENGINE POWER ALONE AVERAGE SPEED THROUGH AIR THIRTY ONE MILES LONGEST 57 SECONDS INFORM PRESS HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.     OREVELLE WRIGHT

There were a couple of errors in transmission (57 should have been 59, and it's "Orville", not "Orevelle"), but the message itself would eventually make history.

I say "eventually" because—as hard as it may seem to believe today—the world as a whole didn't take it all that seriously at the time. In large part, the press didn't believe it (with the exception of Norfolk's Virginian-Pilot, which made up some crazy stories about what had happened), since the brothers had done so much of their work in private. It wouldn't be until they got back to Dayton and started flying their next Flyer at Huffman Prairie where people could see it that the world began to take in the magnitude of what they had accomplished.

Here's hoping you'll be HOME FOR CHRISTMAS too. See you next Wednesday!

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The author is an airline pilot, flight instructor, and adjunct college professor teaching aviation ground schools. He holds an ATP certificate with ERJ-145 and DHC-8 type ratings, as well as CFI, CFII, MEI, AGI, and IGI certificates, and is a Master-level participant in the FAA's WINGS program and a former FAASafety Team representative. He is on Facebook as Larry the Flying Guy, has a Larry the Flying Guy YouTube channel, and is on Twitter as @Lairspeed.

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