The Wright Brothers and a Different Era

From Wikipedia on the Wright Brothers’ Kitty Hawk tests (emphasis added),

The brothers flew the glider for only a few days in the early autumn of 1900 at Kitty Hawk. In the first tests, probably on October 3, Wilbur was aboard while the glider flew as a kite not far above the ground with men below holding tether ropes. Most of the kite tests were unpiloted, with sandbags or chains and even a local boy as ballast.