Assignment #13- Reading Reflection No. 1

Since I am very passionate about my job and aviation, I chose to read The Wright Brothers.

1. The Wright brothers were both very smart, bright young men. What surprised me the most about both of them was that they never graduated high school. I feel in the time frame they were growing up, that was the norm. However they relied on their creativity and curiosity to solve many of their problems. What I admire most about them is their unrelenting perseverance to never give up, despite many trials and failures. What I least admired was how dangerous many of their trials actually were in the beginning. I do believe this aspect was perhaps overlooked, but in modern day they would have most likely received push back in several of their tests. Most of the Orville's trials did result in failure. They received much adversity, but they were able to motivate each other to keep trying to improve. Every time they tested their ideas, the plane flew just a little bit longer or a little bit higher. I believe this was the stamina that kept them going and ultimately lead to their success. 
2. The 2 greatest competencies that the brothers exhibited was persistence and commitment. It is very easy to get discourages when plans fail. However, they used each failed flight as an opportunity to figure out what was wrong in order to improve their design. They also took risk, although I do not believe it was really calculated. They knew that they would have to fly a potentially faulty design which came with great risk. However, they let their commitment take over in order to make their ideas worth it. 
3. It was very confusing to understand the brothers' perspective on the plans following their successes. It almost seemed like they did not want their great accomplishment to be preserved. There was much negotiation on donating the Wright Flyer to the Smithsonian. Personally, I would consider that such a great honor but the brothers did not. They did not want people getting the wrong impression of their invention, as several features had been altered from the original model. The brothers were very particular in how they wanted their legacy to live out. 
4. I would ask my questions to both Orville and Wilbur. They were very similar but also very different which I discovered throughout the book. The first question would be "What was the scariest moment you experienced while flying?" As an aviator myself, I have encountered several emergencies in flight. I am curious too see what kept them going and how the overcame their fear, if any. The second question I would ask them is, "Where did you originally envision your plane in 10 years?" It is hard to imagine a world without aviation. Commercial and military alike, we could not do what we do without it. I am curious to see if they ever saw their invention quite literally "taking off" the way it did. 
5. I don't believe I see hard work the way the brothers did. Their innovation was a hobby to them. They enjoyed working on it and were genuinely immersed in their work. There is no doubt that they put hard work into it, I just don't believe they viewed it as such. To me, hard work is not always fun and is often challenging. Hard work is rewarding nonetheless, but I think the brothers had a different perspective on it. 

Reflection: I really enjoyed reading this autobiography. It was just amazing to me how the Wright brothers came up with a concept that we rely on today. They laid the foundation for what I do day in and day out. Many of the conditions of flight that they self-discovered, I spent hour studying and learning about. Curiosity led them to such an immense invention and they enjoyed just about every step of the way. Their story was presented in such a hopeful and proud manner. It was such a great read and I learned so much!