A Day to Remember the Wright Brothers

How the Wright Brothers Changed the World

Exactly 115 years ago, Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first mechanically propelled airplane near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Although their plane flew just 4 miles, this was a massive leap for the future of flight. The Wright brothers had achieved the impossible - a flying machine! - by inventing the three-axis control, which allows pilots to simultaneously steer an aircraft and keep equilibrium. That day, the Wright Brothers changed the course of history, which is why December 17th is officially known as Wright Brothers Day.

The two brothers were engineers, mechanics, innovators, and inventors. Their hands-on experience working with bicycles, motors, and machinery gave them the belief that a flying machine was truly possible. Inspired by the Wright Brothers, POWERUPs founder - Shai Goitein, set to create the worlds first motorized paper airplanes.

Shai was a cargo pilot and an Industrial designer for many years before he found himself teaching children the physics of aerodynamics in 2007. He wanted to give kids the same educational hands-on experiences he had as a pilot, right from their classrooms. As part of his class prep, he learned about new, light-weight enabler technologies from microcontrollers, micromotors, and ultra-small lightweight and powerful batteries. That’s when the idea struck him: how about meshing these technologies with the past time, handmade paper airplanes  - and like that, POWERUP remote controlled paper airplanes was born.

Shai and the POWERUP team has always been inspired by the Wright Brothers, who created something that people didn’t think was possible and changed the lives of millions. The Wright Brothers inspired others to experiment, innovate and create, which is one of POWERUPs main goals. In this technology era, we strive to give adults and children a hands-on experience that is both educational and fun. 

Today our company and people around the world celebrate the achievements of the Wright Brothers. Whether you’re nestled up indoors somewhere avoiding the winter weather or busy preparing for the holidays, take a moment to give tribute to the Wright Brothers. Perhaps, you have time to make a tributary flight, in honor of Orville and Wilbur Wright. However, you celebrate or acknowledge their great accomplishments, at POWERUP, we salute the Wright Brothers - and we salute you!

From all of us, have a happy holiday season, pilots! We’ll catch up with you in the New Year.

All the best,

The POWERUP Team

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