But to bring up the Wright brothers with a Brazilian is bound to elicit* an
avalanche of arguments as to why their flight didn\'t count.
driver in Rio de Janeiro.
The debate centers on the definition of flight.
Henrique Lins de Barros, a Brazilian physicist and Santos-Dumont expert, argues that the Wright brothers\' flight did not fulfill the conditions that had been set up at the time to distinguish a true flight from a prolonged hop.
Santos-Dumont\'s flight did meet the criteria: He took off unassisted, publicly flew a predetermined length and then landed safely.
the Wright brothers simply did not fill any of the prerequisites,Barros.
Brazilians claim that the Wrights launched their Flyer in 1903 with a catapult or at an incline, disqualifying it from being a true airplane.
Even Santos-Dumont experts like Lins de Barros concede* this is wrong. He says that the steady winds at Kitty Hawk were crucial for the Flyer\'s takeoff, disqualifying the flight because it probably could not lift off on its own.
Peter Jakab, chairman of the aeronautics division at the US National Air and Space Museum in / Washington, says such claims are preposterous*.
By the time Santos-Dumont got around to his maiden flight the Wright
brothers had already flown numerous times, including one flight in which they flew 39 kilometers.
Even in France the Wrights are considered to have flown before Santos-Dumont, says Claude Carlier, director of the French Center for the History of Aeronautics and Space.
By rounding the Eiffel Tower in a motorized dirigible in .190 I, Santos-Dumont helped prove that air travel could be controlled.
Exercise A Pre-listening Question Alberto Santos-Dumont was a wealthy Brazilian aviation pioneer who came to Paris, France, at the age of 18 to live and study. He attempted his first balloon ascent in 1897 and had his first successful ascent in 1898. He began to construct dirigible airships powered with gasoline-powered engines in 1898 and built and flew fourteen of the small dirigibles. In 1901, he flew his hydrogen-filled airship from St. Cloud, around the Eiffel Tower, and back to St. Cloud. It was the first such flight and won him the Deutsch Prize and a prize from the Brazilian government. In 1902, he attempted to cross the Mediterranean in an airship but crashed into the sea. In 1909, he produced his monoplane, the precursor to the modern light plane. Exercise B Sentence Dictation Directions: Listen to some sentences and write them down. You will hear
each sentence three times. Exercise C Detailed Listening Directions: Listen to the passage and decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F). Discuss with your classmates why you think the statement is true or false.
-T- 1. The Brazilians believe that it was Alberto Santos-Dumont who
invented the airplane.
(Ask anyone in Brazil who invented the airplane, and they will say Alberto
Santos-Dumont ... )
-T- 2. In Paul Hoffman\'s day Alberto Santos-Dumont was the only person to own a flying machine.
(As Paul Hoffman recounts in his biography Wings of Madness, the eccentric Brazilian was the only person in his day to own a flying machine.)
-T- 3. According to Hoffman, Alberto Santos-Dumont used his dirigible as a
means of transportation.
(He would keep his dirigible tied to a gas lamp post in front of his Paris apartment at the Champs Elysees, and he would fly to Maxim\'s for dinner every night and he\'d fly to go shopping or to visit friends during the day.)
-F 4. On November 12, 1906, Santos-Dumont flew a kite-like device with boxy
wings some 200 meters on the outskirts of Paris.
(It was on November 12, 1906, when Santos-Dumont flew a kite-like contraption with boxy wings called the 14-Bis some 220 meters on the outskirts of Paris.)
-T- 5. Some Brazilians claim that the Wrights launched their Flyer in 1903
with assistance by a device.
(Brazilians claim that the Wrights launched their Flyer in 1903 with a catapult or at an incline, disqualifying it from being a true airplane.)
-T- 6. Some experts believe steady wind might have helped the Flyer\'s takeoff.
(Even Santos-Dumont experts like Lins de Barros ... , Lins de Barros says that the steady winds at Kitty Hawk were crucial for the Flyer\'s takeoff, disqualifying the flight because it probably could not lift off on its own.)
-F 7. Officials from the US National Air Force say such claims are groundless.
(Peter Jakab, chairman of the aeronautics division at the US National Air and Space Museum in Washington, says such claims are preposterous.) -T- 8. The Wrights had already made several successful flights before
Santos-Dumont got around to his maiden flight.
(By the time Santos-Dumont got around to his maiden flight the Wright brothers had already flown numerous times, including one flight in which they flew 39 kilometers.)
