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SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/aero-first-powered-crewed-flight

What aircraft carried people on the first free human flight?

A Montgolfier hot-air balloon in 1783.

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  1. A Montgolfier balloon ✔
  2. A Wright Flyer
  3. A steam helicopter

Why: Pilatre de Rozier and Francois d'Arlandes made the first free human flight over Paris on November 21, 1783, in a Montgolfier hot-air balloon.

Huh, didn't know that: A free hydrogen-balloon flight followed less than two weeks later.

The dad joke
That first balloon flight really lifted aviation history.
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References

Answer: A Montgolfier balloon. Pilatre de Rozier and Francois d'Arlandes made the first free human flight over Paris on November 21, 1783, in a Montgolfier hot-air balloon.

  1. The Dream of Flight www.loc.gov/exhibits/dreamofflight/dream-dream.html
    The first manned balloon flight, in a Montgolfier designed hot-air balloon on November 21, 1783, lasted twenty-five minutes
    Checked 2026-10-10.

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