Alberto Santos-Dumont
Some people in Brazil believe Alberto Santos-Dumont was the first person to fly an airplane, before the Wright Brothers.  This is for two reasons: First, some people think the Wright Brothers' flight at Kitty Hawk did not count.  They believe the Wright Brothers Flyer got off the ground but not long enough to count as flying.  Others say that the winds at Kitty Hawk helped the Flyer too much for the flight to count.  Others say that the Kitty Hawk flight did not count because the Wright Brothers used a catapult to get the Flyer started.  However, the Wright Brothers did not really use a catapult that day, though they did use one with later planes.  Second, some people they think the Wright Brothers did fly, but not in 1903 when they said they did.  One reason for this is that Alberto Santos-Dumont performed almost all his tests and experiments publicly.  Anyone who wanted could watch him work.  He often tested his planes with many people watching.  The Wright Brothers kept much of their work a secret because they did not want other inventors to steal their ideas.  They hoped to patent their work and make money.  However, when the Wright Brothers flew their first true plane at Kitty Hawk, they asked five people from the local town and life saving station to come watch and take a photograph.  By 1906, the Wright Brothers had flown many of their planes many times, for as far as 39 kilometers. Today, most aviation historians believe that Alberto Santos-Dumont was not the first person to fly.