<Tab/>In August of 1900, Wilbur built his first glider. They sought an arrangement where practice would be easy. Wilbur wanted to build a 150-foot tower with a pulley at the top. A rope, attached to the glider, would pass over the pulley and be tied to a counterweight, supporting part of the weight of the craft. Wilbur believed this arrangement would permit the pilot to practice the skills needed to fly even if the craft was not yet fully airworthy. The brothers friend, Octave Chanute, wisely recommended against this course of action, instead encouraging the brothers to find a place with lots of sand and strong winds, to minimize the effort in moving the glider from the point of landing back to the point of takeoff.
<Tab/>Wilbur then contacted the U.S. Weather Bureau for information on windy regions of the country. He chose a remote sandy area off the coast of North Carolina named Kitty Hawk where there would be no fanfare or no media. The winds averaged 13 M.P.H. and were good speeds for testing. Wilbur arrived in Kitty Hawk on September 13, 1900, while Orville followed on September 27. The two brothers camped in a tent close to Kitty Hawk. The biplane glider was finished during the first week in October. The glider was designed with a wingspan of 20 feet and weighed about 50 pounds. They then began testing the biplane glider. Initially it was tested as a manned kite, where one brother and Bill Tate (the Wright brothers friend) held the ropes while the other brother lay onboard, operating the controls. Later, it was tested as an unmanned kite, with chains being used for ballast. The longest flights were anywhere between 300 and 400 feet in length.
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