6. The Wright Brothers only flew together once after promising their father they would not, with Orville even taking their aged father on a short flight in 1910
From the very beginnings of their work in aeronautics, Milton Wright was concerned for the safety of his children. Nonetheless, Milton believed in and encouraged their vision, making them promise that they would never fly together so that in the event of a fatal accident he would only lose one son and the other would live on to continue their dream. With the permission of their father, this promise was broken just once – May 25, 1910 – when Orville embarked on a six-minute flight with Wilbur as his passenger. After successfully completing that flight, Orville invited his watching 82-year-old father to become one of the first humans to fly.
Reaching an altitude of 350 feet, the delighted bishop reportedly kept shouting to his son “higher, Orville, higher!” The flight, the only one of Milton’s life, lasted just seven minutes but was recorded as one of his happiest moments. The concern of their father was well founded, with the 1903 Wright Flyer highly unstable. Modern testing has determined that the aircraft was almost unmanageable by anyone other than the Wrights, who had undergone extensive training for their unique design. On December 17, 2003, the 100th anniversary of the original flight, pilot Kevin Kochersberger crashed in his attempt to repeat their accomplishment using a replica plane.