The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-08-13
SANTOS DUMONT
TELLS OF FLYING
Famous Aeronaut Relates Some
of His Experiments
NEW WORLD is DISCLOSED
Earth DwelIers Have scant concep-
ton Of the Marvellous Sensations
That Thrill the Alrship
Captain In Space.
NEW WORLD is DISCLOSED

ure of my first balloon ascension, says
Santos-Dumont in the "Badminton
Magazine Though scarcely more than
a youth I had long dreamed of the adj
'venture-for In those days, before the
founding of the Aero club, it was an
adventure, even in Paris. Everything
was still In the hands of the professional
aeronauts; and 1t was with one of the
kindest and best of these, the late M.
Machuron. that l was to make my initia-
ton. Today even ladies of Paris society
like the young Duchess Dues think
nothing of starting off from the Pare de
Saint-Cioud for an afternoon floating over
the map of France.
1t was a beautiful morning in the late
spring. The basket rocked coquettishly
beneath the immense sphere. | stood in
my corner and heard the last word given
Let go alii'
The wind ceased. All seemed instantly
motionless around US. We were off,
without feeling it, at the speed of the
air current in which we must live and
move and have all our sensatfons-with-
out having any sensation of its existence
Infinitely gentle is the unfelt movement
upward and onward The Illusion is
complete; 1t seems to be not we who
move, but the earth itself that is sinking
down and away from us
Earth Seemed Changed.
In the emptiness that had already
opened 1900 yards below us almost be-
fore I could realize 1t, the earth looked
no longer the same No, 1t did not look
like an orange fattened at the poles-we
were not far enough away for that; but
by a phenomenon of refraction 1t showed
concaye like a bowl, the effect being to
iift up constantly to the aeronauts eye
the circle of the horizon. Villages and
woods, chateaux and gardens slip and
: glide far below Faint piercing sounds,
like locomotive whistles and the yelping
of stray dogs. are the only ones which
penetrate to us. The human voice cannot
mount up to those souitudes. Human be-
ings look like ants along white lines that
are highways
While my gaze was still held fascinated
a cloud masked the sun. 1t cooled and
contracted the gas of our balloon. which
obviously wrinkled and began descend
ing, gently at first and then with accel-
Grated speed, against whlcn we strug-
gled by throwing our ballast. l think
that | was frightened for a momentum
tomatically frightened. l did not feel
myself falling. but 1 could see the earth
> coming swiftly up 10 US, anu l. hHtW
: what that meant.
1t was an idle emotion. A few pounds
of ballast overheard not only stopped the
mad career of the earth in our direction,
but sent IL down, down, down again
away from us; and we found our equi-
ibrium this time above a plateau Of
clouds at about 5000 yards 1t was
wonderful sight. On the dazzling white
cloud screen below us the sun cast
chs Of ha -
magnifled to giant size; and in the exact
center of magnificent rainbow. As we
could no longer see the earth by reason
OF this cloud screen, all sight sensation,
even the movement ceased. We were
standing still? We were travelling at
storm speed? We knew nothing. To
learn the direction we were taking we
had to drop below the clouds.
launching Above the Clouds.
l had brought up a little pannier of
hard-boiled eggs, cold meats, cheese. ice
cream, fruits, cakes, champagne, coffee
and liquors; and / now experienced how
delightful 1t is to lunch above the clouds
in the nacelle of a spherical balloon No
earthly dining room could possibly have
such a decoration. The suns heat
sets the clouds III ebultion, making them
throw up rainbow Jets of frozen vapor
like fireworks all around the table. Lace
formation scatter themselves here and
there, appearing out of nothing; and
hlm-like fakes pop into existence under
our very eyes, in our very drinking
glassesi
Then suddenly all changed like a trick
in the pantomine. and somber drop
scene fell on the fairy setting of sunslight.
cloud pillows and azure. The barometer
rose rapidly five millimeters, showing a
sudden rupture of equilibrium and a
swift rupture. Doubtless the balloon had
become overweighted with some pounds
of snow, and 1t was certainly falling into
a cloud.
We passed into the dim darkness OF
the fog We still saw our basket, instru-
ments and the parts of the rigging near
est us; but the balloon had completely
disappeared. So we had the strange and
delightful sensation Of hanging in the
void without support either above or be-
low. of having lost our weight, OF being
nowhere! We slackened the fall. as
usual, by throwing out ballast, and came
to equilibrium far far below the clouds
at scarcely more than 800 yards altitude. i
A village fed beneath u.s. We were
scudding fast. We compared our route
map with the immense natural map UNI
folding beneath us, and soon we could
Identify roads. railways, villages and
forests-all hurrying toward us from the
horizon with the sw1ftness on the vino
itself
Marked a Change.
The storm which had sent US down
marked a change in the weather. Little
gusts pushed the balloon from one side
to the other and up and down Again
and again the guide rope. dangling 100
yards below our basket. touched cath.
and soon even the basket began to Craze
the tops Of trees
What is called guide roping' thus be-
gan for me- NJ. Machuron and l each
held a sack Of ballast, and when some
special obstacle rose in our path--a tree
or a house-one of us would throw out a
few handfuls of sand to make the bal
loon leap up and pass over 1T. More
than half the guide rope dragged behind
Us, and so we scudded comparatively
close to the earth at wonderfully even
altitude You see, the moment the
balloon begin descending more and
more of the guide rope rests upon the
earth and lightens the balloon that much
80 that the balloon rises just mat much
again: or II the balloon seeks to rises, It
lifts the guide rope from the earth. 1t is
automatic ballasting and unballasting.
watched my captains maneuvers. He
who would navigate an airship should
first practice landing in a spherical bal
loon. take my word for It. The wind