Soaring to a Better Tomorrow: The Wright brothers process and Influence

The Wright brothers were the underdog innovators of their time. Always reading, creating new things and developing their craft growing up side by side. The special thing about the brothers was their dedication, even though they came from little to nothing, the art of using their many trial and errors to learn from, pushed them to grasp later their full potential to accomplish the goal of man’s first flight.

Their success didn’t come easy the long hours of research, building prototypes, and just truly trying to understand aviation as innovators was tough. They persisted in trying to change the world, which would later impact the future of flight with the “stepping stones” they created. The process of how Wilbur and Orville Wright became successful could best be described as their use of the “Design thinking process” to find a breakthrough.

Empathy:

This is the first step or building block of the design thinking process to understand the problem and who you are trying to solve it for. The Wright brothers used this stage to research and try to understand aviation’s potential impact. They tried observing birds for hours, taking note of the aerodynamics in their wings and searching for studies on past aviation, which was very limited since they were one of the few people trying to fly.

Define:

The next step in their quest of trying to fly was defining the problem. The mystery of aviation had the Wright brother perplexed. They were determined to find the process and function of how to create flight. Even though they had no basis to refer to and not much into depth knowledge besides the little research they received from the Smithsonian. Overall, the most important problem they were trying to solve was what could they build that would be able to soar.

Ideate:

In this step, the Wright brothers were starting to formulate or brainstorm different ideas of creating something that would produce flight. First referencing to a hang-glider they had created previously in its practice of trial and error. They then moved on to thinking of a larger sized glider plane that was durable in its material makeup resembling a kite but still be light-weight enough to have a person controlling the aircraft.

Prototype:

This was the big step and turning point for the Wright brothers because this was the time to put all their brainstorming to a physical reality. Throughout their process, they created many prototypes of smaller kites starting from a former design. This design was a good starting point that they based off of to gradually continue enhancing it over time into a larger glider plane that they eventually settled upon.

Test:

When the Wright brothers finished with the first prototype they went to the sand dunes in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to test out their creation. The first flight was somewhat of a disaster, but was ultimately an eye-opener to the Wright brothers that even though they failed, they were determined to keep building and testing for a solution. The brothers were constantly critiquing the designed aircraft with each mistake, even adding an engine through the years it took of rebuilding to finally one day successfully fly and land an aircraft.

What can we take away from the Wright brothers process to positively influence our daily lives?

The Wright brothers are the definition of being dedicated to advancing their craft because even through the mist of failure and being considered an underdog in this race to take flight they ultimately prevailed. They are an example of when you are passionate about solving a problem in this world with determination you will go through create lengths to accomplish that goal.

For me, I feel that through understanding the Wright brothers process they have encouraged me to be persistent in pursuing my creative ideas and innovative designs, that I hope to implement one day to help others and change the world. Ultimately, they have influenced me to be ambitious when it comes to my work ethic as the Wright brothers were in not giving up when it came to flight since they could have stopped after they failed the first time.