Comment by throwaway48476
1 day ago
It's good that you're still around to correct misinformation about MCAS. I've seen so much misinformation about it, including from paid "experts".
The Wright brothers succeeded because they were pioneers in wind tunnels and aluminum engine blocks.
Thank you. I've had commercial pilots email me telling me I was correct and to keep on the good fight :-)
The Wrights did a lot more than that to be successful. Their innovations were:
1. using a wind tunnel to correctly get lift and drag coefficients for various wing sections (as you wrote)
2. first aviation engine (high power/weight ratio) (as you wrote)
3. first propeller theory, enabling 90% efficiency (other aviation propellers were 50% efficient)
4. first 3-axis control system
5. identified and solved adverse yaw problem
6. first research and development program, where problems were identified in advance, and a machine was developed to solve each problem, then the solutions were put together to make the 1903 Wright Flyer
7. kept meticulous notes on all their work and preserved the evidence of their success, such as photographs and notebooks. Exacting replicas have been built, and their flight characteristics match the Wright's results