El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-07-30
The Aeroplane In Peace and War

By Charles K. Hamilton.

= vENTUALLY I believe travel will
- be as safe in the air as with the
| H. auto on land. We are gaining
greater control over the aircraft every
| day. Air travel will be extremely popu-
| lar, too. for you will never be troubled
with bad roads. and you will be in no
danger of collisions. 1 believe that the
aeroplane will reach the practical stage
before long. With a perfect motor TO
develop greater horsepower. the length
of flight will only be limited by the
lifting power of the machine, and the
larger the aerial surface resisted the
greater Win be the lifting power 1t is
only a question of time before the per-
, feet aeroplane motor will be found
The general public is under the i'm
preston that when the aviator reaches
a 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 he is, for he has the chance.
in case his motor fails, of picking out
his landing place and gliding TOWARD
it. On the other hand, l will guaran-
tee to sail from the Battery to Harlem
and return without gong higher than
80 feet from the ground.
Another faIlacy in the public mind is
that the aviator is continually fighting
air currents. Experience has taught the
aeroplanist 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 air pillows, so TO speak,
are ridden, and the craft allowed to
right itself. which it will readily do, for
Il not forced it will find its own keel.
OF course, the practicability of the
various air craft differs materially. For
- L til
and carries a great surface, while the
aeroplane that / use is of much smaller
surface and is built for speed. While
the former may attain greater heights,
L rarely go above 1900 feet.
Driving AeropIane Is Easy.
In my opinion driving an aeroplane at
the speed of 120 miles an hour is moi
nearly so difficult as driving an auto
mobile 60 miles an hour. In running an
automobile at high speed the driver
must be on the job every second. There
are constant opportunities of encoun-
tering obstacles. For instance, a man
can never tell at what moment he is to
encounter some vehicle, perhaps travel
ing in the opposite direction. Nothing
but untiring vigilance can protect him
from this danger. Then there are turns
in the road, bayt~stretches of pavement,
and other like difficulties. All these
require the same attention.
But in an aeroplane ii is an entirely
different proposition. Once man be-
comes accustomed to aeroplaning It be-
comes a matter of unconscious attention.
He has no obstacles to encounter eX-
cept cross currents of air Air and wind
are much quicker than a man can think
and put his thought into action. Tn
less experience has taught the aviator
to maintain his equilibrium instinct
lively he is sure to come to grief. Why
when I am travelling at the rate of so
or so miles an hour thousand or more
feet above the ground my thoughts
usually run on subjects unrelated to
aeroplaning. So far as the air currents
are concerned, I rely entirely on this in
stinctive action: but my, ear is ALWAYS
on the alert. The danger signal of the
aviator is when he hears his motor miss