1903年12月17日莱特兄弟驾驶自行研制的[[固定翼飞机]][[飞行者一号]]实现了人类史上首次重于空气的[[航空器]]持续而且受控的动力飞行<ref>[http://www.nasm.si.edu/wrightbrothers/ "The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age."] ''Smithsonian Institution.'' Retrieved: September 21, 2010.</ref><ref>Johnson, Mary Ann. [http://www.libraries.wright.edu/special/symposium/Johnson.html =On the Aviation Trail in the Wright Brothers' West Side Neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080630194449/http://www.libraries.wright.edu/special/symposium/Johnson.html |date=2008-06-30 }} Wright State University, 2001.</ref><ref name= "BBC News">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/11/98/great_balloon_challenge/299568.stm "Flying through the ages."] ''BBC News'', March 19, 1999. Retrieved: July 17, 2009.</ref>，被广泛誉为现代飞机的发明者。莱特兄弟虽然不是进行航空器飞行试验的第一人，但他们首创了让固定翼飞机能受控飞行的飞行控制系统，从而为飞机的实用化奠定了基础<ref>{{cite web| language=en| author=Padfield, Gareth D., Professor of Aerospace Engineering, and Lawrence, Ben, researcher.| url=http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/eweb/fst/publications/2854.pdf | title=The Birth of Flight Control: An Engineering Analysis of the Wright Brothers 1902 Glider. | format=PDF | publisher=''The Aeronautical Journal,'' Department of Engineering, The University of Liverpool, UK | pages=697 | accessdate=2008-01-23|date=2003年12月}}</ref>，此项技术至今仍被应用在所有的固定翼航空器身上<ref>Howard 1988, p. 89.</ref><ref>Jakab 1997, p. 183.</ref>。