The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-30
Aviator Fights Almost 10 Exhaustion to Prevent
 Being Killed
DESCENT ID EARTH IS
  EXTREMELY DANGEROUS
Moisant Plans to Make q Flight for the MicheIin Cup in Which He Must Fly Nearly Four
 Hundred Miles

New Orleans, December 29.-The sud- den approach this afternoon of the gulf hurricane, forecasted by the wealth CT bureau, found John B. Moisant 1000 feet above the earth in the thick of the lowering clouds and for 10 min V utes he battled against wind esti- mated at 50 miles an hour with his life despaired of by spectators at the fCity park field. When he landed he was lifted from his Bleriot monoplane almost exhausted.
 The anemometer on top of the grand i stand showed the wind to be AZ miles an hour, while the scurrying clouds, which, at times, obscured the machine and Moisant from view, showed that the velocity was much greater in the higher attitudes.
 Moisant when flying with the wind made, according to estimates of avia- tors and officials, not less than 100 miles an hour. but when facing the gale his machine, at times, would stand perfectly still
 He was gauged by the corner of tn grand stand at one time and for a period of three minutes the machine was stationary against the wind. It : was feared at this time that Moisant would not be able to reach the avia- ton field at all, as the black clouds in the southwest showed plainly that greater wind was to be expected with in few minutes
 Moisant Starts Down After being in the air 21 minutes 40 1-5 seconds Moisant got lull and ba of iu The wind made a rapid descent im- possible. fhowever. as the aviator did not dare Incline his planes too sharp ly. The landing was easy and grace ful, however, and the aviators who had watched the remarkable performance , rushed out and lifted the intrepid Moi sant bodily from his machine, con- graduating him on "the most wonder ful flight ever made in the history of aviation"
 Ut was pretty brisk up there" re- marked Moisant in answer to a query as to how he found 1t. T believe I could have ridden that wind to high altitude but I don't know how I would have gotten back down. Anyway. it's the most terrific wind I ever rode my machine in" And the aviators and of- ficials agreed that no airman had ever before dared such a gale in fragile 50-horsepower Bleriot monoplane. There were no other flights.
 Moisant VIII Try for Cup
 It was announced here this morning that John B. Moisant. will try either on Friday or Saturday of this week for the Michelin cup and $4OO0 in cash. This trophy is awarded annually to the avi- ator who each calendar year covers the greatest distance in continuous flight ' around closed circuit of any length, but whose every part is visible to the of- flcial observers. At present Legagneux, the French airman. has the best grip on the cup, with a credit of 320s miles. made about 10 days ago. A 50-horse power Bleriot monoplane will be used by Mois- ant here.
 A five-mile hexagonal course has been laid out and officially surveyed for Moisant's attempt to bring the famous trophy to the United States. Moisant is the first American airman to try for Michelin trophy in this country Will bur Wright won it once with flight of a little over A miles. but his cup-lifting journey was undertaken in France Should Moisant be successful he will have
 
 continuously.
 Machine to Be Used
 The machine he will use in the Mioh- ein cup flight will be the same mono plane that he used at Belmont park when he landed second place for the United States In the international cup prize race after Drexel Brookins and Hamilton had all failed either to quail fly or to do anything that assured the United States place winner in the con- test.
 A special gasoline tank of 40 gallons ca pacity has been attached to the interna- tional cup racer. and Moisant hopes to fly $50 miles without effecting land ing. The course that has been estab- ljshed for the trial is over the salt mead ows in the west section of the city, an extremely windy locality and one which promises little in the way of comfortable driving for the arman. Moisant last night told c. F. Campbell-Wood, the of- ficial observer of the Aero Club of Amer lea, who was sent here to observe the flight for the Mechelin cup, that he felt very sanguine about lifting the cup, and would if the atmosphere and mechan- fcal conditions were favorable, try to fly 400 miles without alighting
 At o'clock this evening the gulf storm predicted by the weather bureau showed a lull and by o'vlocl the wind had dropped The bureau anticipates no further high wind for New Orleans and vicinity. This makes 1t look like trial for the Michelin cup and prize might be possible for Mosant tomorrow.
 Flight With Passenger