Octave Chanute was regarded as the Father of Aviation, and Wilbur Wright said that if Chanute had not lived, the entire history of progress in flying would have been different. He encouraged the Wright Brothers to persevere in their experiments, carried on a great volume of private correspondence with experimenters in all parts of the world, gave his time freely to people no matter how humble, and was widely respected and loved for his patience and goodness of heart.