Beginning of Aviation By VÍCTORJ89 1000 BCE Kite is invented in China. 1485 Leonardo da Vinci designs flying machines and parachute. 1783 Jacques Alexandre César Charles and M.N. Robert fly in a hydrogen balloon. 1902 Orville and Wilbur Wright make first powered, sustained, and controlled flight in a heavier-than-air flying machine. 1906 Alberto Santos-Dumont makes first successful powered flight in Europe. 1931 Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly a solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight.