The History: In his personal diary, Orville noted the wind speed was 8 meters/second at 7AM, 9-10 meters/second a little after 10 AM and later reached 14 meters/second. When Dan Tate arrived around 9 AM, the Wrights prepared the 1902 glider and took it to Big Hill to practice gliding.

One of the pictures George Spratt took of Orville Wright (left) and Dan Tate (right) launching the Wright 1902 glider off the east slope of the Big Hill, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina on October 17 1902. Wilbur Wright is flying the glider.

Orville estimated they flew 60-100 glides this day! The glide times averaged about 20 seconds each and 12-15 glides were more than 26 seconds. "Will" [Wilbur] made two particular "long duration" glides: one 30 2/5 seconds and another 26 2/5 seconds and 52 feet long.

Fifty-two (52) feet and 30 seconds is not very long is it? The Wrights' goal at this point in their gliding experiments is to remain in the air as long as possible versus achieve long distances. Compare today's times to the times of their glides last year on October 1, October 2, October 3 and October 8.