Successful man powered aircraft projects may be divided into three main stages:

(a) Design.

(b) Construction.

(c) Operation.

From a purely practical standpoint, this sequence represents the order of increasing difficulty. It is in the later stages of a project that the major problems of team management and of organisation arise. Indeed, many groups, having designed and built a machine, have encountered the utmost difficulty in flying with any regularity. As a result, relatively little has been recorded on the matters of operating methods or handling characteristics, although there has been much discussion on the theoretical aspects of flight under human muscle-power.