Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-26

]. ARMSTRONG DREXEL.

Well I said, as l turned away. Il
am going to try to beat that"
/ started of in wide circles and the
first two times I passed over the head
red flag. the signal for the officer with
the sextant to take my height. Higher
and higher I went, but l was surprised
not to see the flag wave after that and
j came to earth again.
How much did l do?" asked the navy
officer.
Ten hundred and forty feet he re-
piled. You have broken the English
altitude record and / believe YOU went
twice as high as that. but unfortunately
the man who was to signal me with tn.
flag got mixed up somehow and only
took your height on your first and sec
ond circles"
This love of altitude work has been
my constant passion ever since. Merely
to get into an aeroplane and fly no long
err has any fascination for me. I wan
to climb. I want to keep going up until
/ am sure that I am higher than any
man has ever been before in a heavier
than air machine. and, though not long
ago I almost deteymined tn give up aero
plane work. ] now feel the desire grow
ing stronger upon me and IL would not
surprise me if ] tried for another record
this spring.
When i compare my beginnings with
the beginnings of other men who are
flying | am forced to admit that I have
been more than usually fortunate. |
know of several cases where the would
be aviator has spent nearly a month do
ing little more than making short hops
from the ground and often smashing 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 steering 10
right and left.
After that. they spend another month
barely rising off the earth and coming
down again as softly as POSSIBLE, and
then another month circling low around
the field. Not until then are they con
sidered competent to do any really free
work or TO try for an aviator's certificate
When Paulhan sold his Farman ma
chine to Clifford b. Harmon OF New
York he gave this outline as the one
that Harmon should follow I'm learning
to fly. The New York amateur started
to carry out his instructions i'm all good
faith, but he became impatient at the
slowness of the method and one day. in
spite of the advice of his French me-
went into the air; nor was he satisfied to
come down until he had circled the field
at Mineola. l.. l., number Of times.
But for the average novice / should
not advise such haste as Harmon and |
made. The air is SO full of pitfalls and
of surprises that every motion made for
the guidance of the aeroplane should be
so we'll practiced as to have become an
instinct. There is no time to think of
what to do when contrary gust OF
wind strikes the end OF plane. The
moment that is taken for thought is all
that is required to get the machine be-
yond the critical angle and after that
nothing that the aviator can do can
save il.
Eternal practice and unfailing patience
are necessary when the average man
takes to flying. Day after day he must
go outs grass cutting as they say At
Mineo3 when the novices roll along the
ground take only short low jumps
into the air This is not exciting and il
will seem to the would-be pilot that he
is making slow progress. but. as mat
ter Of fact, he is training his mind and
his muscles to work in unison and by in
stinct, and this faculty alone is worth
all the trouble it takes TO acquire il once
it is called into play in a bad spot high
above the earth. 1t may not be needed
very often, but. like gun in Arkansas.
when it is needed 1t is needed badly.
Copyright 1911 by Henry VI Nicely. Copyright
in Great Britain and Canada. All rights re-
seryed.b