Because wind strength and direction were less reliable than at Kitty Hawk, the men sometimes had to laboriously re-lay the of "Junction Railroad" launch rail to suit conditions. On 7 September the men began using a catapult to accelerate the aircraft to the speed necessary for takeoff. They used a falling weight of , later increased to , suspended from a high derrick, with a block and tackle to multiply the distance that the aircraft was pulled. Launched by the apparatus, Wilbur made his first turn in the air on September 15, and on September 20 he succeeded in flying a complete circle—the first ever by an airplane—covering in 1 minute 16 seconds. This flight was witnessed by Amos Root, who wrote an account in the January 1, 1905 issue of "Gleanings in Bee Culture", a trade magazine he published.