Few products in the history of the world have been identified so completely with technological progress as has the airplane. The airplane and its child, space travel, have been dominant technologies for the past century. And the development of the airplane industry during its early years provided many lessons for entrepreneurs that still apply today.

Those lessons begin with Wilbur and Orville Wright.

While some early visionaries used balloons to achieve their lift into the sky, the Wright brothers believed that wings were to be the basis of sustained, powered flight. Not only were they visionaries, but they also were innovative, self-taught engineers whose experimental skills were honed in their bicycle shop. They were not afraid to get into the technical work and make their own prototypes. They recognized the need for enabling technology and set out to make it happen.

Eventually they decided to break the problem of flight down into several smaller problems. First they worked on control, leaving thrust and lift alone. Then, when they felt that they had a method for control, they would work on one of the other elements of flight. When they finally had all the pieces separately worked out, they worked at putting them all together.

They took their new model to Kitty Hawk, N.C. A few witnesses gathered on the sand dunes on Dec. 17, 1903, to see whether the Wrights would be successful. That morning Orville climbed onto the lower wing of their bi-wing plane and guided it for 12 seconds over 20 feet along the shore. They dubbed the airplane "Flyer I." Then their entrepreneurial spirit kicked in.

Newspaper reports of their success followed quickly. But the Wrights did not follow up with public flights until they could make sure that the technology and patents were carefully worked out. They moved their work closer to their home in Dayton and built the Flyer II, then the Flyer III. Each new Flyer model was an improvement upon the previous one.

Finally, in 1908, the Wrights began to advertise. They took orders and started producing planes at the rate of four per month. Unfortunately, just looking at their planes was enough to give competitors ideas on how to improve them. The Wrights became so involved in various patent lawsuits that they failed to keep ahead of the technology. The Wrights tried to maintain control of the market, but the advances were happening too fast. Wilbur's death in 1912 seemed to end the era of the Wrights. Orville continued on, but his enthusiasm had waned.

During these early years, U.S. engineer-entrepreneurs were busy building airplanes and learning how to improve technology. Companies were led by individuals who had vision, engineering skill and entrepreneurial instincts. With the growth of the aircraft industry, safety and government regulation became factors in building airplanes. These restrictive factors were best handled by larger, more complex companies building larger, more complex planes. These companies began to acquire small entrepreneurs and then to merge among themselves. The emergence of space as part of the industry accelerated the consolidation of companies.

Aerospace is now dominated by a few very large companies. Innovations are made incrementally and over a long time. For safety, that is probably good. For dynamic market development and progress, that is probably bad.

So what can we learn from airplane development? First, don't be afraid to get involved technically. Second, look carefully at what enabling technologies might need to be developed so that the real tasks can be done better. Third, divide the problem into pieces that can be solved easily. Finally, don't get so caught up in defending your position that technology passes you by. Remember, today you can't buy a ticket to fly "Wright Brothers Aviation."