New-York tribune., 1909-10-24
WRIGHT JOY RIDING
TRICKS WITH 4IRSHIP
Does Many Stunts" at High
Speed.
EFron The Tribune Bureau. l


gave an exhibition in his aeroplane to-
day at College Park of what is come
times described in automobile parlance
as Joy riding"
There We're a number Of flights early
in the morning for the weather was eX-
ceptionally good and the air still. Lieu
tenant Lahm was taken up for night
of eighteen minutes; Lieutenant Hum
phreys for seven minutes and forty sec
onds. Lieutenant Foulois, who made the
trip with Orville Wright from Fort Myer
to Alexandria and return. took his first
ride, which was of twelve minutes and
twenty seconds, and Lieutenant Lahm
was again taken up for eleven and half
minutes.
Then Mr.. Wright mounted the machine
alone and started off He made no prom.
ises as to what he would do, but before
he had been in the air minute he was
giving such an exhibition Of fancy flying
as has not been seen before in this coun-
try. He speeded the machine up to It's
utmost limit and dashed up and down
the field, cutting figures Of eight and de-
parting from his usual method of slowly
circling the field from east to west.
Then he paused for a while at the
upper end of the field and did stunts
in the way Of short turning. Possibly he
did not make the aeroplane turn in its
own length, but it looked like ii. He
dashed back and forth across the mar
row end of the field, circled and turned
and swooped up and down like trick
rider on a bicycle. He went over the
course he had circled some days before in
making his record Of nearly forty-six
miles an hour for the closed kilometrc
He did not quite equal this record, but
this was due apparently to the drag OF
the rear plane, which has been set to
steady the aeroplane in the air. He
said afterward that he was merely trying
out the speed OF the machine.
When asked If he intended to leave
the supplementary plane in place at the
back of the machine, he replied that
probably he would make some perma-
nent change in the way Of following
plane, but was not ready to say exactly
what it would be.
Mr. Wright was a luncheon guest this
afternoon at the Maryland Agricultural
College. Thomas F. Walsh, president of
the Washington Aero Club; w. F. GUIDE,
president Of the Washington Chamber
Of Commerce, and all the members of
the faculty of the college were present
When the published statement credit
ing Cortland Field Bishop the president
of the Aero Club OF America, with say
ing that the Wrights intended to monop-
olize the flying business of the world, as
was shown by their suits against Curtiss
and Souliere and a number Of the French
aviators was shown TO him 1dr. Wright
explained that the French suits were
not brought by the Wrights especially,
but by the syndicate to which they had
sold their foreign patents. He said:
My brother and perfected the idea
of flexible wings and made a practical
man-carrying machine. We thought GER
tainly we had covered our invention
thoroughly by patents Now, when an
other fellow comes along and uses your
ideas, it is certainly no fun"
HIGH FLIGHTS SAFE.
All the army officN~s who are being
trained at College Park are. much inter
ested in reports of the high fights made
by Orville Wright, in Berlin, and Count
de Lambert, who passed three hundred
feet over the top of the Eiffel Tower.
one OF these officers, when watching the
nlght OF the. aeroplane to-day, said:
II you put that machine fifteen hum
I dred feet in the air, going at the rate
she IS now making, she would be abso-
Iutely safe. If you hit her even with
shrapnel it would be a chance shot"
They believe that the high Higbts al
ready made by the Wright machine do
1nore than anything else to assure its
utility IN army scouting. One of the
arguments advanced against the use of
a flying machine for reconnaissance
work Is that it would be at the merov
OF hostile gunners. If the machine can
De no"n in safety beyond the range Of
accurate gunfire it will thoroughly de-
monstrate its utility for scouting.
Lieutenant Foulois, in -spea king Of tho
high flights, said that personally bo
should feel much safer at a consider
able distance from the ground than
when flying low. This was due to the
TACT that when the aeroplane is gliding
down from a height when the engine
stops it travels six feet horizontally to
every foot it falls, and this at height
OF five hundred feet would give a choice
of circle of almost a mile radius in
selecting landing space.
The whole question of flying over cities
has been discussed by Mr.. Wright and
the army officers at College Park and
it has been agreed that the English COM
mon law which now applies in cases Of
aerial trespass will have to be modified
in order TO fit the altered conditions
brought about through the use of flying
machines. Wilbur Wright says there is
more danger 10 the spectators in flying
over the heads of a crowd or passing
over a city than to the operator Of the
machine, and he thinks that ultimately
there will be laws governing the use of
roads in the air, as there now are OF
roads on the earth