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This is a list of aviation-related events from 1903:

• Konstantin Tsiolkovski deduces the Basic Rocket Equation in his article Explorations of outer space with the help of reaction apparatuses.

March

• March 31/day unknown- : Richard Pearse reputed to have made a powered flight in a heavier-than-air craft, a monoplane of his own construction, that crash lands on a hedge. This date is computed from circumstantial evidence of eyewitnesses as the flight was not well-documented at the time. The machine made a flight claimed to be around 150 feet (45.7 m) on his farm at Upper Waitohi, near TimaruTimaru in south Canterbury, New Zealand, is a territorial authority district of about 30,000 people in and around the former Timaru City. It is located 160 kilometres south of Christchurch and 200 kilometres north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast. Popular in south CanterburyThe New Zealand region of Canterbury mostly comprises the Canterbury Plains. Christchurch is the main city, which is also the seat of the Canterbury Regional Council (trading as Environment Canterbury) and the Christchurch City Council. Geography The regi, New ZealandFor alternative meanings, see New Zealand (disambiguation). New Zealand is a country formed of two major islands and a number of smaller islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. A common Mori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa popularly translated as Land.

• May 2May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). There are 243 days remaining. Events 1194 King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter. 1335 Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinth- Pearse makes a hop or flight of unknown distance, with the aircraft again finishing lodged in a hedge.
• May 11May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (132nd in leap years). There are 234 days remaining. Events 330 Byzantium is renamed Constantinople during a dedication ceremony. 1502 Christopher Columbus leaves for his fourth and final voyag- Pearse is claimed to have made a flight of around 1,000 yards (914 m), landing in the semi-dry bed of the Opihi RiverThe Opihi River flows through south Canterbury, in New Zealand's South Island. It flows southeast for 75 kilometres, reaching the Pacific Ocean 10 kilometres south of Timaru. The town of Fairlie lies on the river's banks. The banks of the river around the.

July

• July 10July 10 is the 191st day (192nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 174 days remaining. Events 48 BC Battle of Dyrrhachium, Caesar barely avoids a catastrophic defeat to Pompey in Macedonia. 1778 American Revolution: Louis XVI of Fr - Pearse makes another hop or flight of unknown distance, with the aircraft yet again finishing lodged in a hedge.

August

• August 18August 18 is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 135 days remaining. Events 293 BC Oldest known Roman temple to Venus founded, institution of Vinalia Rustica begins. 1587 Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Gov - Karl Jatho makes a flight with his motored airplane in front of 4 people. [1]. Karl Jathos craft flies up to 200 feet up to few yards/meters above the ground in a powered heavier-than-air craft. Not launched from a height.

November

• November 12 - The Lebaudy brothers make a controlled dirigible flight of 54 km (34 miles) from Moisson to Paris.

December

• Léon Lavasseur demonstrates his Antoinette engine , designed as a lightweight powerplant specifically for aircraft.
• December 17 - The Wright Brothers make four flights in their Flyer I at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. These are generally accepted as the first powered, piloted flights (but see below). After years of dedicated research and development, the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright fly 300 yards in the first practical aeroplane. This may be the first controlled powered heavier-than-air flight and the first photographed powered heavier-than-air flight.

The Wrights' claim to the first powered, piloted flight is somewhat contentious, as ambiguity arises from the definition of "flight". Pearse was somewhat secretive, and did not document or photograph his flights nearly as well as the Wrights did, however research has produced many corroborating eye-witness accounts of his exploits. The controversy is deepened because Pearse himself downplayed his achievements, not feeling that his "flights" were sufficiently well controlled to warrant the term. His advocates point out that some of these flights (especially that of July 10) were in fact better controlled than the Wrights' efforts of December 17. see Early flying machines