Glider

This article is about the gliders made by the Mechanist, to see the article about the Air Nomad Gliders, see here The gliders are designed by the Mechanist, who came up with the idea when he saw pictures of Airbenders and found the old Airbender gliders lying around the temple. He modified the design and made it possible for non-Airbenders to glide.

They are monoplane in design, do not use an engine or use Airbending for propulsion; instead they are designed to glide on the air currents alone. Launch is by foot, leap, or in Teo's case a wheeled launch, usually from a cliff edge. They have no moving parts and are controlled by shifting the center of gravity. Lift can be gained in various ways such as thermals, ridge lift, mountain waves and convergence.

Katara was encouraged by Teo to try gliding but her enthusiasm for it was somewhat dampened when she had to make the leap of faith. With extra encouragement and mentoring from Aang, she began to trust in the design and in herself too. Soon she took the leap. At first falling but then soon Aang caught up with her and she begins to glide. Aang tells her everything will be fine and to not glide with her mouth open to avoid swallowing bugs.

Katara became more enthusiastic and confident; then having realized that she would need to land begins calling for instructions. Unfortunately she forgot the golden rule of keeping her mouth closed while in flight, and gags on a bug.

Construction
Little is known specifically. They are simple in design and therefore likely to be made from easily available material such as wood that is light, flexible and strong for the spars and frame. The wing covering appears to be cloth or possibly waxed paper. The main fastening material is twine which is likely waxed too. Lack of moving parts makes the glider simple and quick to produce as well as safe.

Use
They appear to be used originally for recreation and may have had some tactical use such as early warning (reconnaissance). They were used against the Fire Nation as defense in The Northern Air Temple. The glider pilots dropped several forms of bombs designed by the Mechanist and rearmed by flying to Appa who was hovering nearby. The pilots collected bombs passed to them as they flew over Appa.

Trivia
The first gliders are thought to have been invented by a multi talented Chinese innovator known as Lu Ban (similar to Leonardo Da Vinci). His invention was more like a piloted kite that could stay aloft for many hours to as long as three days, supposedly.