The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1909-07-09
MACHINE
MEETS AN ACCIDENT
At Fl. MEYERS
oRvILLE WRIGHT MISTAKES SAP
LING FOR BUSH WITH olsAs-
TRoUs RESULTS.
ENGINE WORKED IMPERfEC LY
The First Trip Was Successful, But
Accident Occurs in Second Flight.
orville Not njured-Landed HeaV-
lily on Ground.


lily on Ground.
WASHINGTON. July S.-orvill'
Wright flew down the west side o
the drill ground at Fl. Myer in hi'
aeroplane Friday forty miles or more
an hour and a hundred feet in the air
His engine coughed and skepped its
regular explosions. The aluminium
colored propellers jerked about in un
even fashion as the machine sped on
ward. floating gracefully, but evident
ly in trouble. At the end of the field
the aeroplane curved to the left, as II
had done before and as it should. The
noise of the engine became more and
more irregular and suddenly stopped
altogether. The machine dipped, drop
ping fifteen, maybe twenty feet, and
then glided at an angle toward the
earth. The speed was reduced by this
time to thirty miles an hour, accord
ing to Orville Wright's own estimate,
and then the aeroplane rushed earth
ward.
The right plane struck young sap
ling, six or seven feet in height, which
Orville, looking downward from a
hundred feet in the air, thought was
small brush The whole car swung
viciously and sharply to the right
landing with great force on the
ground. The runners beneath the car
smashed to pieces and the Wright
aeroplane landed heavily on earth and
sent up a cloud of dust from the
grass-covered soil, which it cut and
tore. Orville was unhurt, but his es-
cape was a narrow one and the won
derful car cruelty damaged.
The right end of the lower canvas
covered plane was torn and bruised in
such fashion that it will take days TO
repair The skids or runners under
meath the machine, put there to make
landings safely and without too much
jar, were bent and broken, but other
wise the machine had apparently not
suffered much from the battering 1t
received. The extent of the accident
was not known to the crowd. Orville
sailed along with his machine under
perfect control, and when the engine
and he scared earthward peo-
pie thought he was doing a trick OF
the trade, something that had been
done before by Wilbur in Europe,
stopping the engine in midair and
floating to the ground. That is what
he did try to do, but he failed to es-
innate the size of the young tree,
which he discovered to be a dangerous
obstacle until he was sailing into it.
He made a frantic effort to elevate
his planes and send the machine sail
ing over the sapling to some open and
safe landing place, but he was too
late, and with a crash, the plane went
into the tree and cut the sharp circuit
downward which brought operator and
car to earth with a smash.
Orville climbed from his seat almost
after the machine alight- |
ed, and there was nothing but slow
moving actions to indicate that the |
wonderful craft had come to grief. |
There was a decided thrill in the ac-
ton of the machine in mid-air, but |
this was thought by spectators to be
a part of the method of landing with
out power. The Wrights were feel |
ing pretty blue when it was all over
and their bruised pet was taken back |
to the aeroplane shed, but they put on
a cheerful front and said that as far
as they had been able to learn from /
a cursory examination the machine .
could soon be repaired. Orville said
that it would probably take more time .
to get the proper kind of canvas for .
recovering the plane than for any
thing else. They have kind of can
vas out in Dayton and must send for
It. Wilbur, more optimistic, said that .
maybe they could sew up the torn
places and proceed with their work.
The engine was APPARENTLY uninjured
by the fall, but there was something
The matter with it while in the air.