The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1908-11-19
BACHELOR OF FLYING, NOW.
SKY PILOTS TO Be GRADUATED
FROM COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.
50 Far the Course Has Only One Student, WhQ
Bas the Faculty Of Aerial Navigation All
10 Hlmsel--But Some Day There
Nay Be a Rush Of Under
graduates 10 Elect.
Observation-Disclosures.

oeoeseeeeseeesees se essseeseeeseeeeesee ss
course in aeronnutics--the first
of its kind to be given IN an American
university--is the latest addition TO
Columbias curriculum. Although
only one student on Morningside
Heights is at present engaged IN stu
dying the new science of the air,
opinion was confidently expressed
among members of the teaching staff
to-day that in the near future here
would be many others anxious to take
up work along this line. The ulti.
mate establishment OF a school for
aoronauts, 1t was said. was receiving
serious consideration.
Grover Cleveland Looming, a stu
dent who received his. A. b. from Col
umbia last June, is the first to make
u study of airships in the laborator-
les, He returned to the university
this fall for graduate work, declaring
that he intended to take up the SUBJ
ject of aerial navigation along scien.
tic lines.
According to members of the de-
rartment of physics Loerng APP
peared to have theories on the sub
ject which they thought were worth
developing, and a course was conse-
quently arranged for him.
Under the supervision of DIR. Chas.
c. Trowbridge, of the physics depart
ment, who has spent much time in
investigating the matter of bird
flight, Looming has begun his work
for the degree of master of arts in
aeronautics. For the first half Of the
year he will devote himself to the
historical side of the subject. collect
ing all the important matter bearing
upon airships that has been written
thus far He will then turn to orig
lnal research in the Phoenix labora-
tory, where he intends to use models
Of airships for experimental purposes.
Loening's thesis will deal with
Automatic Stability Of Airships,"
and it will be along this line that he
expects to specialize. His theory, so
far as he is willing to discuss It, is
that one of the great problems con-
fronting the aeronaut to-day Is 20 in
vent a device that will warp" the
planes automatically; that ID, without
the aid of lovers, controlled by the
operator.
Looming will not give his attention
TO the dirigible balloon. but solely to
types of heavler-than-air machines.
Professor William Hallock. dean OF
the faculty of pure science, under
urft ifnp In,
given, said to-day that there was a
great field for further Investigations
of this nature, and declared that the
university was likely to establish q
course for those who intended to fol-
low up the subject. Professor Hal
lock said he had long been anxious to
induce the trustees to purchase
tract of land on Long Island where
practical experiments with airships
and other scientific devices could be
carried on.
"Such work as is being done here
he continued, "is of great value to
the science of aerial navigation.
Experiments in the laboratory
may be the means of discovering
short cut to many useful improve
ments in airship building. The art.
you might say, has only reached a
point where naval architecture would
be IL it had just succeeded in produc-
ing steel vessel that could float
Many problems of the eairship have
not been touched on yet. The won
ders that the Wright brothers have
been able to accomplish are largely
the result of experiment, and often
failure. Their machine, marvellous
as. it Is. is as far from perfection as,
for instance, the first electric genera
tor that Edison constructed many
years ago. / believe the aeronaut
has much to learn from the yachts
man about currents of the air Most
airships, for instance, have employed
nat surfaces for their planes-or at
any rate very nearly fiat surfaces
whereas every yachtsman knows the
advantage to be derived from a
curved SAIL
Professor Hallock was asked
whether he thought Columbia would
establish a school for acronauts even.
tually.
II would be not at all surprised,
he replied. Our first need, OF course,
would be a farm of some kind with
plenty OF open space for test flights
In fact, many experiments that we
should like to undertake in other
lines could be made to more advan.
tage out Of town. have long advo-
Gated the purchase by the university
of some tract on Long Island for this
purpose. 1t will be absolutely neces.
sary If we are to take up aeronautics
on large scale"
Looming VIII probably conduct his
experiments with airship models
somewhere outside of the city.-New
York Evening Post.