O
Untethered
Gerard J. Arpey
Chairman and CEO American Airlines
©CHET SNEDDEN
FALL 2011
celebratedliving.com
6
FROM
THE CEO
One of the things I like to do in this
space is honor the pioneers of flight
— themen andwomenwhose curios-
ity, ingenuity, and daring helped
mankind stretch the boundaries of
what was possible in their time. This
month I’d like to pay tribute to a pair
of brothers who, in less than a year,
turned their dream of human flight
into reality. I’mnot talking about the
Wright brothers but rather the less-
heralded Montgolfier brothers of
France, who conceived and launched
the first untethered, manned balloon
flightsmore thanacenturybefore the
eventsatKittyHawk.
Joseph and Étienne Montgolfier
weretwoofthe16childrenofaprosper-
ous family in southernFrance.While dutifullyworking in
the familybusiness, theyalsopursued their interest in sci-
ence.Oneday in1782,Josephwaswatchingafireburn inhis
fireplaceandbecameabsorbedby therisingsmokeandem-
bers, so he enlisted his brother in a series of experiments.
Fireswere lit under small bagsmade of fabric and paper
(
balons
), which expanded and rose to the ceiling of their
house.Thebrothersbelieved theyhaddiscoveredanewgas
(which theyhumblycalled“Montgolfiergas”), butof course
todayweknow thegaswas just air,whichwhenheatedbe-
comes lighter than thesurroundingair.
The brothers took their experiments outdoors, con-
structingprogressively largerballoonswith sidesmadeof
lightwoodand cloth tops. InDecember 1782, they lost con-
trol of their newest contraption. It floated to a nearby vil-
lage,where the frightened locals—wonderingwhat in the
worldhaddescendedupon them—destroyed itwithstones
and pitchforks. Undaunted, theMontgolfiersmade their
firstpublicdemonstration inJune1783.Theirnewballoon,
filledwithair heatedbywool and strawburnedunder the
opening at the bottom of the bag, was lifted roughly 3,000
feet in the air and stayed aloft about 10 minutes before
driftingand landingamileandahalf away.
Threemonths later, thebrothers traveled toVersailles
and, before a huge crowd that included King Louis XVI
andQueenMarie Antoinette, repeated their experiment
with a bigger balloon. Included on this flight were the
world’s first hot-air-balloonpassengers:
a sheep, a duck, and a rooster. The ad-
venturous animals floated for about
eight minutes, reaching a height of
roughly 1,700 feet before landing safely
twomilesdown the road.
The stage was now set for the first
manned flight. King Louis XVI initially
decreed that thefirst humanpassengers
be criminals (whose liveswere presum-
ably less important than others). But he
waspersuaded toallowayoungscientist
togoup inaseriesof tetheredtestflights,
whichwere successful. The first unteth-
ered, manned flight took place on
November 21, 1783. This time the scien-
tist was joined by an army officer, and
together the twofloatedoverParis for 25
minutes. They landed just outside the city and couldhave
traveledmuch farther iffirehadnot threatened toburn the
balloon fabric. To save theballoon, the scientist had toput
out the firewithhis coat.Withno fire to keep it aloft, the
balloondescendedquickly to theground.
TheMontgolfierbrothersmadeaviationhistory.Andyet,
less than twoweeksafter their crowningachievement, two
French scientists took to the skies in anuntetheredhydro-
genballoon, flying longer and farther than theMontgolfier
flight hadgone. Hydrogenballoons solved the fundamental
problemwith hot air balloons at the time, whichwas that
whilefirewasnecessary toconstantlywarm theair, sparks
from thefireposedabigsafetyhazard.
To go from staring into a fire to flying twomen across
Paris to having your achievement quickly surpassed— all
in a year— is, I suppose, a bittersweet story. But I like it
because it reminds me that while the distance between
dream and reality can sometimes be crossed quickly, we
canneverrestonour laurels.Evenmore importantly,wecan
never stop dreaming. Many years after theMontgolfiers,
another famousaviator,CharlesLindbergh, said itwell: “We
actually live, today, inourdreamsofyesterdayand, living in
thosedreams,wedreamagain.”
For followingtheirdreams,and forultimatelyhelpingall
ofus live livesuntethered from theground,a tipof thehat to
les frères
Montgolfier. Andwherever your dreams are tak-
ingyou today, thanks forflyingwithus.Bonvoyage!
