I agree that Santos Dumont is great and a wonderful role model but the way this story is (was?) taught in school in Brazil is misleading. I never even heard of the Wright brothers until I went to live abroad as an adult and was caught completely by surprise.
Also, the fact that many americans are completely unaware of him and sometimes hostile when I tell his story makes me a bit mad... His one of the reasons I am pretty proud of being Brazilian and I believe a more positive role model than most that are around on TV these days.