Alberto Santos Dumont Facts
Alberto Santos Dumont Facts
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| Interesting Alberto Santos Dumont Facts: |
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| Santos-Dumont was very familiar with steam-driven machinery as it was used on his family's plantation, and had a special interest in the works of Jules Verne. |
| These inventions made the work of the plantation so automated that it resulted in wealth and prestige for his family. |
| Santos-Dumont was educated at home with private tutors until he was old enough to attend high school in a farther city. |
| After some time, his father was badly injured while working on the plantation; he sold the plantation and moved his family to Paris where Santos-Dumont finished his education. |
| During this time, Santos-Dumont began experimenting with various means of flight, beginning with the balloon in 1897. |
| While construction was being completed on a balloon according to Santos-Dumont's own design, he began experimenting with steerable balloons, or dirigibles, that would let the pilot control the direction rather than just be carried along with winds. |
| Santos-Dumont's study of lighter-than-air aircraft included several different types of dirigibles, some of which had different length shapes in order to make them hold their inflated shape and steer better. |
| While he still worked with dirigibles, Santos-Dumont won a number of prestigious competitions but also fell victim to sabotage in several competitions as well |
| He turned his attention to heavier-than-air airships, as rudimentary airplanes were first called. |
| Santos-Dumont is credited with the first flight, even before the Wright Brothers, as their aircraft required a catapult of sorts to launch it and Santos-Dumont's design took off without any external assistance. |
| A Santos-Dumont plane is also credited with carrying the first female pilot, Aida de Acosta, when she flew one of his planes in 1903. |
| Santos-Dumont's constructions included several fixed wing airplanes and even a helicopter. |
| One of his most famous planes was the fixed wing 14-bis, which he flew under its own takeoff power before the Wright Brothers developed such a wheeled system. |
| In popular culture, Santos-Dumont had already contributed to fashion as Parisians began to imitate his style of dress, but due to the needs of piloting, he also popularized the wrist watch; it had only been worn as jewelry by women until he made it popular. |
| Santos-Dumont piloted his final flight in 1910, but it ended in an unexplained crash; several months later he began suffering from vertigo and other neurological issues. |
| He died in 1932, having only been a passenger on flights after his final crash. |
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