Before confronting the problem of flight, Orville and Wilbur Wright had been bicycle enthusiasts and understood that cyclists lean into high-speed turns. In a flying machine, that same tilting movement is called banking, and at Huffman Prairie Flying Field the Wrights taught themselves how to bank their airship to make turns. Solving the mystery of banked turns by combining rudder movements with wing warping became one of their most important steps toward developing what they called a machine of practical utility. During a 1905 flight, while circling a honey locust tree about 50 feet above the ground, an unexpected gust of wind caused the machine to rise on one wing and head toward the tree, and as Orville Wright tried to reach the ground to avoid landing in the thorn tree, the left wing struck it and carried away several branches.