Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-07-24
COMING MASTERY OF The air
Aviator Hamilton Draws a Rainbow
Picture Of the Future.
INCREASING FACTORS OF SAFETY
Air Travel 20 lie More Popular
and safer Than Autoing on
Land - some Airy
Problems,

Eventually / believe travel will be as
safe in the air a. with the auto On land "
Is the guarded opinion OF bis profession
expressed by Charles n. Hamilton in the
Columbian Magazine
MIR. Hamilton is one OF the daring ayi-
ators OF the present time. prize winner in
the flight from New York to Philadelphia
and return. q pupil Of Glenn Curtiss and a
thriller Of the Paulhan class.
The factor Of safety, Mr. Hamilton con-
tends, lies in the increasing control of air
craft and the improvements that expert
ence will develop. Air travel will be ex-
tremely popular, too, because there will be
no danger from collisions OF vehicles and
no bad roads to retard speed. Mr. Ham
iton continues:
The general public is under the impress
sion that when the aviator reaches high
altitude he is in great danger and may be
dashed TO the ground at any moment The
opposite is the fact. The higher one sails
In an aeroplane the safer ne u.s. for he has
the chance, in case HE motor fails, OF pick
ing out his landing place and gliding to-
ward it. on the other hand. | viii guar
antee TO sail from tho Battery to Harlem
and return without going higher than
thirty feet from the ground
Another fallacy ia the public mind is
that the aviator is continually fighting all
current Experience has taught the aero
pianist that it is unnecessary TO struggle
against the currents. When they are
reached they are met much as a navigator
controls his vessel-in other words the all
pillows, so TO speak, are ridden, and the
craft allowed TO right itself, which It will
readily do, for if not forced It will find it,
own keel.
Speeding in Air and on Land.
In my opinion driving an aeroplane a
the speed of 100 miles an hour is not nearl.
so difficult as driving an automobile sixt.
miles an hour. In running an automobil,
at high speed the driver must be on tn,
job every second. There are constant op
portunities OF encountering obstacles. Fo
instance, a man can never tell at wha
moment he is TO encounter some vehicle
perhaps travelling in the opposite direction
Nothing but untiring vigilance can protec
him from this danger. Then there ar
turns in the road. bad stretches of pave
ment and other like difficulties. All thes
require the same attention.
But in an aeroplane It is an entirely diff
ferent proposition. once man become
accustomed TO aeroplaning It becomes
matter of unconscious attention. He ha
no obstacles 10 encounter except cross cur
rents Of air. Air and wind are niue
quicker than a man can think and put hi
thought into action. Unless experience ha
taught the aviator to maintain his ecu
librium instinctively he is sure TO come {
grief. Why, when / am travelling at tn
rate OF sixty or eighty miles an hour
thousand or more feet above the groun
my thoughts usually run on subjects unr'
lated to aeroplaning. SO far as the a
currents are concerned, rely entirely Q
this instructive action; but my ear is alwaS
on the alert. The danger signal of Il
aviator is when he hears his motor mis-
Then he knows that troubles are in stor
Sometimes he can speed up, just as q
automobile driver does. and get II to rene
it's normal action. But II he fails in tn
and the motor stops, he must dip his d.
flecting planes and try TO negotiate a lant