Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-10-25
MOISANT' s FLIGHT
IS THE STAR EVENT
OF AVIATION MEET
Steering Without Compass, He
Sweeps Up and Down in a
Thick Haze of Fog Unable
to See

NEW YORK, Oct. PA persistent,
fine rain, driven before wind that
held steadily out of the east at between
10 and II miles an hour thinned' to
sparse scattering the spectators of the
opening day Of the International aviation
meet at Belmont Park and brought out
six of the % aviators entered, but 1t
served to prove that airmen are no
longer creatures of needs and moments.
ana that an aviation program can go
through as scheduled, in the face of the
most dispiriting ckonditions.
An Englishman. Claude Grahame-
White, took first place in the distance
contest and in the totalization of dura-
ton, the lump sum of time that any
aviator has been aloft for the day; an
American, Hoxsey. of the Wright team,
scared highest into the scudsing mist and
another American, John B. Moisant of
Chicago, was the only contestant who
cared to take chances on a 2O-mile
cross-country flight, into the teeth Of
the wind and with the fog so thick
that he could not see the ground after
he rose $50 feet above the earth.
I STEERING BY COMPASS.
Mosant's fight was a second demon
stration-both his own-of the fact that
an airman, like seaman, can steer by
compass, without regard to the time of
! day or night, foul weather or fair. AS
| an his trip from Paris to London-and
he flew in the same machine-he steered
wholly by compass.
Il never bothered about my course to-
day." he said afterwards. Il knew ac-
curately the speed / was making and
where l ought to be. The only thing
/ that bothered me was my lack of a
barometer--I usually carry one. Unable
to see the earth, for the fog 1 was
afraid 1 might knock down a church
steeple or get caught in tangle of
wires, so every five minutes or so l had
to drop down to within eyesight of the
earth, then l would rise again and point
by the compass. When / thought l had
gone. about ten miles L came down and
began to look for the captive balloon
that marks the turn, but though l ranged
twice to the right and left ii was so
thick l could not pick 1t up, and when
satisfied by clump of trees described to
me for a landmark. that l had covered
the prescribed distance, 1 turned for
home"
NO RECORDS BROKEN.
In point of fact, Moisant, as observed
covered probably three miles more than
the course, although he is not credited
with the excess. No records were bro
ken today; it was sufficient triumph to
fly at all.
Grahame- White, in a steady Farman BIZ
plane, keeping close to the ground and
cutting the corners with workmanlike
precision. piled up 20 laps in two sue
cessive hours, flying for distance only. He
was just two hours in the air and the
official score credited him with 31.07 miles
for each hour. Moisant was second, with
IA laps for the first hour and 10 for the
second-respectively H.75 miles and 23.3
miles He started later and although he
gained in the straightaways, he lost at
the turns and In the first hour was pen
allied four laps for cutting corners in
side the pylons.
None of the Wright team tried for dis
tanee. Hoxsey and tombstone both went
up for altitude but tombstone had en-
CINE trouble and Hoxsey evidently found
the current up above the fog too wild,
for he quickly settled from a height OF
742 feet to more modest levels. Ely, of
the Curtiss team, also tried his luck at
height and took second place for the
first hour with 4O4 feet
Hoxsey tried ii again in the second
hour and did worse-67S feet this time.
Count de Lesseps made 62S feet. ]. Arm
strong Drexel, 519 feet. and Ely, in an
other trial, 20S feet.
none Of them liked it much up above
for they were soon down.
1t was o'clock and fast growing dark
with rising wind and even heavier
gusts of rain when Moisant came home
from his cross-country flight and the
meet ended for the day.
TWO TYPES OF MACHINE.
In the main it was a contest between
the monoplane and the bi-plane, with the
monoplane the swifter and the pi-plane
the steadier. None of the gnome revolv-
ing engines missed once during the day.
whereas the American vertical and
oblique thrust four and eight-cylnder
engines were all more or less troubled
with faulty ignition. The rain bothered
them but the whirling gnome kept itself
dry by centrifugal force.
The altitude. distance and duration fig
ures made today entitle the first, second
and third place won to daily cash prizes
and will count in the percentage distri-
button of the profits at the end of the
nine days meet.