Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-04-06

Il. but he shook his head obviously.
"You are only a novice he said
you had better do Just enough today
to get your certificate and let your.
altitude work go until you are more
proficient"
1 would not be satisfied with this.
however. and so l sent for a navy of
ficer who was an expert in the use of
a sextant and when all was ready /,
mounted my machine. An official came
up to wish me good luc n just be-
fore my mechanics started the pro-
pellor, ] asked:
What is the English height record?"
.Paulhan has it," he replied. ut is,
977 feet"
WELL" l said! as I turned away, II.
am going to try to beat that"
l started off in wide circles and the.
first two times l passed over the heads
of the officials saw n of them wave
a red flag, the signal for the officer
with the sextant to take my height.
Higher and higher I went, but 1 was
surprised not to see the flag wave after
that and l came to the earth again.
"How much did l do?" / asked the
navy officer.
Ten hundred and 40 feet" he re-
piled. You have broken the English.
altitude record and 1 believe you went,
twice as high as that. but unfortu-'
nately the man who was to signal me-
with the flag got mixed up somehow.
anu i OILY lOOk YOUR IGlSII Oh your
first and second circles"
The love of altitude work has been
my constant passion ever since. Mere.
ly to get into an aeroplane and fly no
longer has any fascination for me. I
want to climb. I want to keep going,
up until 1 am sure that 1 am higher,
than any man has ever been before I'M
a heavier-than-air machine, and,
though not long ago I almost determ-
inc to Civ up aeroplane work, I now
feel the desire growing stronger upon
me and it would not surprise me if I
tried for another record this spring.
When I compare my beginnings with
the beginnings of other men who are
flying l am forced to admit that / have
been more than usually fortunate. I
know of several cases where the would
be aviator has spent nearly a month
doing little more than making short
hops from the ground and often smash
ing up on landing. In fact, so general
is this experience that most European
schools compel their pupils to spend the
first three or four weeks doing nothing
but rolling along the ground and steer
ing to right and left.
After that, they spend another month
barely rising off of the earth and COM
ing down again as softly as possible,
and then another month circling low
around the field. Not until hen are
they considered competent to do any
really free work or to try for an avia-
tors certificate.
When Paulham old his Farman ma
chine to Clifford B. Harmon, Of New
York. he gave this outline as the one
n a Harmon should follow in learning
to fly. The New York amateur start
ed to carry out his Instructions in all
good faith, but he became impatient at
the slowness Of the method and one
day in spite of the advice of his French
mechanics, he tilted his elevating plane
and went into tho DIV. ~x0r H..
satisfied to come Town until he had
circled the field at Mineola, l.. l., u
number of times.
But for the average novice I should
not advise such haste as Harmon and
I made. The air is so full of pitfalls
and Of surprises that every motion
mad for the guidance of the %aeroplane
should be we'll practiced as to have be-
come an instinct. There is no time to
think of what to do when a contrary
gust OF wind strikes the end of the
plane. The m that is taken for
thought is all that is required to get the
machine beyond the critical angle and
after that nothing that the aviator can
do can a v it.
Eternal practice Inc unfailing pa
thence are necessary when the average
man takes to flying. Day after day he
must go out grass cutting as they
say at MineOla when the novices roll
along the ground or take only short, low
jumps into the air. This is not excit-
ing n it will seem to the would-be
pilot that he is making slow progress,
but, as a matter Of fact. he is training
his nina and his muscles to work in
unison and by instinct, and this faculty
alone is worth all the trouble it takes
to acquire it once it is called into play
in a bad spot high above the earth.
1t may not be needed very often, but
Ike a gun in Arkansas, when it is
needed 1T is needed badly.
copyrighted 1911. by Henry M. Nicely.
Copyright in Great Britain and
Canada. All rights reserved.)
Liberal and Tolerant West.
From COllier'S