The First Commercial Flight“The first commercial flight in the United States occurred in Florida on January 1, 1914, when Tony Jannus flew AC Pheil 21 miles across the bay from St . Petersburg to Tampa in a two-seat Benoist at an altitude of 15 feet” (McDowell, 1995). It was undoubtedly an extraordinary turning point in the way travel would be conducted from then on. From 1783, when Jean Pilâtre de Rozier ascended about 500 feet in a hot air balloon and traveled about 5 1/2 miles in 20 minutes (infoplease.com) to the dawn of the St. Petersburg-Tampa airline in 1914, it was not an easy journey; this is the story of the men who made it possible. In the time between Jean Pilâtre de Rozier's daring ascent and the Wright brothers' first flight on the infamous Kitty Hawk in 1903 (infoplease.com), all air travel and exploration was done in a balloon of some type. Jean Pilâtre de Rozier's expedition is described by BelleStar (1995) as;The first recorded manned flight in a hot air balloon occurs in Paris. Constructed of paper and silk by the Montgolfier brothers, this balloon was piloted during a 22-minute flight by Jean Franois Piltre de Rozier and the Marquis Franois-Laurent d'Arlandes. From central Paris they soared 500 feet above rooftops before landing about 6 miles away in vineyards. The local farmers were very wary of this fiery dragon descending from the sky. The pilots offered champagne to calm them and to celebrate the flight, a tradition carried on by balloonists to this day. The material composition of the first hot air balloon ride is similar in every way to the materials used to build the Wright brothers' Kitty Hawk airplane in 1903. ; wood and fabric (National Air & Sp...... center of paper......there have been 10 billion passengers since that first commercial flight across Tampa Bay in 1914 - New York Times. The New York Times - Breaking News, World News and Multimedia. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/07/business/business-travel-there-have-been-10-billion-passengers- since-that-. first.htmlMola, R. (n.d.). Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Government_Role/earliest_airports/POL9.htmNational Air & Space Museum. (n.d.). Wright Brothers Design Flyer. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://www.nasm.si.edu/wrightbrothers/fly/1903/construction.cfmRemington, S. (1935 First Air Line, 1914. Early Birds of Aviation, Inc. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://earlyaviators.com/ejannto2.htm).