The Parma herald. (Parma, Idaho) 1903-1917, 1909-04-22

pilot is risking FIVE lives in addition to
his own.
Throwing overheard ballast is a sci
ence- Ballast is to a balloon what
steam is TO an engine And just as
steam once gone can never be recover
ed, just so ballast thrown overheard is
lost One man can get along, make
whole trip without losing more than
five bags Of ballast while another
spends twenty. The latter spends all
his time in travelling up and down,
making saw teeth, while the other sails
along in a comparatively straight line.
The pilot who is out with the beginner
makes careful notes and gives a full
report to the members of the Aero
club. He takes into consideration Just
how much iuctuating the learner does.
He assists the new man, but watches
him carefully to find out how much grip
he has on the science.
The dilettante IN search Of new sen
sation Is as dangerous as an sutomobIl-
ist with the speed mania. | hesitate
to make trip with a beginner who
says the danger is nothing, with the
man who says "Oh, I'm not afraid.
/ I've got the nerve" AS a matter of
fact when good sense is used, there is
no more danger than there is in an au-
tomobile trip. But there is much po-
tential danger. l am willing to make
the trip with beginner who says
.'Now I'm new at this, and want you
to take the rudder. | don't know it
all"
Another thing, balloons and all air
crafts will soon be equipped with wire
less telephone. An air craft in dis
tress can send a C. Q. D. message to
earth Just like a vessel at sea It
should be compulsory that equipment
for communications with the earth or
airships be installed A balloon in
trouble would simply telephone its 10
cation or general direction and rescue
balloons or automobiles could be sent
TO the rescue.
The U. S. army corps with which
have been connected has successfully
experimental with a DeForest instru-
ment, weighing less than 100 pounds
However, there is new sparkless and
wireless telephone of the radio variety
which weighs only 10 pounds and which
any balloonist can safely carry. The
radio sparkless attachment does away
with the danger of setting the gas bag
on fire. The weight Of the telephone
is so small that when the balloon lands
out in the country the operator can put
it under mis- arm and take it with him.
An old fashioned wireless telegraph is
impractical for the reason that it make:
a spark that may ignite the gas bag.
BaIlooning has advanced so far novT
that it is no longer experimental, but
is a science. The throwing out Of bal
last is a science 1t takes a long time
TO learn TO handle a balloon properly
Why, in the fitness Of things, should {
beginner, one who has nothing to urge
him on except curiosity and daredevil
try, be allowed to risk other lives7
u think the license to beginner
should be made reasonably hard to o0
tain. And further, the laws regulat
, ing the ballooning should be severe
Ballooning is matter Of public con
Germ, and when licenses are first issue
1 hope that they viii not be given s.
, promiscuously as licenses were givel
at first to auto drivers.
Letting an outsider take up bal
, loon is exactly like running a railroai
engine. A railroad train is half wal
between stations when its enginee
: dies The train is stopped. Some
J body asks, "Can anybody here run al
engine7" A young man steps up an
saws: eyes, I can" He takes tn
engine and may draw the train ter
miles without an accident and he ma.
get it safely into the station. But i
he a worthy engineer? No. On tn
. following day this same young maj
might wreck the train before he 90
out Of the switch yards.