The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-07-03
A8rOpIane Travels Better Than Ever In Tests But One
 Wing Is Broken
MOTOR STOPS lT WRONG
 TIME AND AIRSH|P FALLS
orvilIe Wright Is Not Injured By the Fall, But 1t Will Be Several Days Before the Trials Can Be
 Again Taken Up.

Washington July 2-Resembling giant bird sweeping down upon It's prey the Wright aeroplane, after the motor. which .propels it. had come suddenly to standstil glided gracefully to earth today, after having made two success ful flights.
 The machine was on it's way around the For Myer drill grounds for the ninth time In it's second flight when the motor stopped 50 feet feet above the earth and exactly in the same place where the propeller blade broke last September which resulted in the accident that termi- hated the trials at that time. In glid- ing to earth the machine struck a tree and swerved around with such force that the skids were broken and the right wing badly ripped. MT. Wright was not hurt
 The two flights today were the most successful that Orville Wright has made at Fort Myer since his return to com- plete the government trial. On the first attempt he flew about the field 12 times in Il minutes and 30 seconds and on the second trial he had gone around eight and one-half times when the flight was terminated by a mishap
 He had been in the air for little more than eight minutes During his flights MT. Wright went higher and faster than in the trial of the previous days. It was estimated that his speed was about g miles an hour on an average, though the machine probably exceeded 40 miles when flying with the light breeze blow ing from the south
 Beautiful Glide.
 The glide which covered a distance of perhaps 300 feet was beautiful to be- hold. but there were few in the crowd of a thousand or more spectators who did not fear for a moment that they were about to witness a repetition of last years accident Orville and Wilbur inspected the machine closely to see what caused the motor to stop. They did not an- nounce the result of their Investigations, but said the aeroplane would not be ready for another flight before Thursday at the earliest because it would be necessary to send to their Dayton shop for cloth with which to repair the damage to the planes.
 My motor stopped just as I was about over the aeroplane she'd" said Orville Wright after the machine had been re- turned to the shed. When you are over bushes and trees you can't see their height and 1t was due to a miscalculation on my part that the wing hit the tree and swung the machine around causing 1t to land sidewise on the skids. If it had not been for the trees I would have landed safely. It was too'sbad the &C., nid toa !, ,f,,a going fine today. It was making better speed than yesterday and more than the machine that I used last year. I should judge that the machine was going over 40 miles an hour at certain times."
 Machine Goes Faster.
 A wind of a velocity of about three miles an hour was blowing when Orville was making his flights, making the ma chine travel six miles faster on the stretch along the eastern border of tho field than along the western border. Like last year, Orville is making circular flights with the left side of the machine on the inside of the field.
 Glenn H. Curtiss. the Hammondsport aviator. who is to make flight in his aeroplane in New York tomorrow. wit messed MT. Wrights performances to- day
 The motor on the aeroplane had been missing explosions for some time be- fore 1t finally stopped. Otherwise tho machine had acted much better than on previous tests. A few little diff- culties, which Orville had experienced yesterday, such as the tiring of his arm, due to the moving of the lever controlling the planes were sur mounted this morning. The lever was fixed so that he could get better grasp on it. Evidently some changes had been made either in the sparker or the motor, as it was evident that 1t was developing more power than on the trials of the previous days. A thor ough test of the motor was made be- fore the machine was brought out to the starting track.
 The First Trial.
 Orville got away In splendid shape on the first trial at 6:15, with hardly a breath of air on the surface but ap- parently a slight breeze in the air. This was noticeable through the lifting of the right plane when the machine turned to the southern end of the field and through the apparent skidding when the turn was made at right an gles to the wind at the northern end The machine travelled with greater equilibrium and more on an even plane than during the fights yesterday. Or vile on the first flight landed within 200 feet Of the starting tower.
 After the fight, Wilbur and Orville walked down the field together, ap- parently deep in the discussion of the flight and the impre ssions each had gained from the machines performance. The fact that the brothers examined the nature of the ground in the vicinity of the place where the mach inc landed suggested to some that the glide might have been made purposely. This pro- ceedure would have been in line with the precautions which the Wrights al.
 fCONTTNUED ON pACU aA