anemometer, attached to the front center strut, recorded the distance covered in meters. Flight trials at Kitty Hawk Upon returning to Kitty Hawk in 1903, the Wrights completed assembly of the Flyer while practicing on the 1902 Glider from the previous season. On December 14, 1903, they felt ready for their first attempt at powered flight. With the help of men from the nearby government life-saving station, the Wrights moved the Flyer and its launching rail to the incline of a nearby sand dune, Big Kill Devil Hill, intending to make a gravity-assisted takeoff. The brothers tossed a coin to decide who would get the first chance at piloting, and Wilbur won. The airplane left the rail, but Wilbur pulled up too sharply, stalled, and came down after covering in 3 seconds, sustaining little damage. Repairs after the abortive first flight took three days. When they were ready again on December 17, the wind was averaging more than , so the brothers laid the launching rail on level ground, pointed into the wind, near their camp. This time the wind, instead of an inclined launch, provided the necessary airspeed for takeoff. Because Wilbur had already had the first chance, Orville took his turn at the controls. His first flight lasted 12 seconds for a total distance of – shorter than the wingspan of a Boeing 747. Taking turns, the Wrights made four brief, low-altitude flights that day. The flight paths were all essentially straight; turns were not attempted. Each flight ended in a bumpy and unintended landing. The last flight, by Wilbur, covered in 59 seconds, much longer than each of the three previous flights of 120, 175 and 200 feet (, and ) in 12, 12, and 15 seconds respectively. The fourth flight's landing broke the front elevator supports, which the Wrights hoped to repair for a possible flight to Kitty Hawk village. Soon after, a heavy gust picked up the Flyer and tumbled it end over end, damaging it beyond any hope of quick repair. It was never flown again. In 1904, the Wrights continued refining their designs and piloting techniques in order to obtain fully controlled flight. Major progress toward this goal was achieved with a new machine called the Wright Flyer II in 1904 and even more decisively in 1905 with the third, Wright Flyer III, in which Wilbur made a 39-minute, nonstop circling flight on