means that the surplus carrying power of the aeroplane can be
increased. Fuel can be carried for flights of greater and greater
distances, and rapid increases of speed can be attained. With
improvements in safety there seems no limit to the possibilities of
flight. So far a long train of casualties has marked the airship’s
progress. This was inevitable when men came to imitate the birds, and
trust themselves to the fickle currents of the air. But many aviators
have been drawn from a reckless class, and many accidents have been
due to a desire to thrill an audience rather than to learn more about
the laws of flight. The Wrights have held to the wise course. They
care nothing for spectacular performances or establishing new records
for their own glory. Their work is in the shops, devising improvements
that will make the airship safer and better fitted for commercial
uses. They are men of remarkable balance, and it was their quality of
unremitting care that made them the wonder of Europe, used above all
things else to the dramatic in men’s flights through air.
End of Project Gutenberg's Historic Inventions, by Rupert S. Holland