The history of the airplane shows that a lot of other scientists had designed gliders and concepts for flight – as far back as 400 BC. But it was not until December 1903, when two American brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright attempted to fly that the concept of an engine powered aircraft came into being. The Wright brothers’ flight was the first to be adjudged by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale as sustained. The actual flight travelled a total of 120 feet at a height of 10 feet in the air and lasted a total of 12 seconds! Although they were not the first to build and fly experimental aircraft, the Wright Brothers were the first to invent controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.