As an aerospace engineer, I had dreamed for years of standing at the birthplace of flight. Yet when I finally arrived at Kitty Hawk, the scene felt strangely modest — just sand, wind, fragile wood, and two stubborn brothers refusing to obey gravity’s limitations. The Flyer looked less like a machine destined to change history and more like an accident waiting to happen. Then it suddenly rose into the air directly above my head. My expression in that moment was not admiration but pure horror. I instinctively ducked, convinced the entire contraption was about to collapse onto me. Every spacecraft and aircraft I had ever studied suddenly began here — with terror, courage, and trembling wings above the sand.
