New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1911-02-04
THE REAL CAUSE OF AVA
TOR HOXSEY'S DEATH.

IN presenting ~ wv '"''''
photograph of Archie lloNScN Il
his Wright biplane taken lnN' ne
fore the machine struck th'
ground at Los Angeles on Dccrm
Der 3lst. we wish to give some
information on the probable ra'lS'
of this accident which. rs related
in our last issue, resulted IN th'
deuolishmcni Of the acroplan'
end the instant death of the ava
tor.
The photograph shows the ma
chine descending at very sharI
angle in its last dive Of 36o Zee,
Uoxsey descended from height
of over 7 900 feet in less than tire,
minutes. and it is our bellrf that
this rapid descent. which was at
first voluntary. caused the aviator
10 be attacked by form of noun
tain sickness such as was cXper-
fenced by Moranc and by DrcXel
under similar circumstances. This
sickness may have caused lloXsey
to become unconscious. and the
weight of his body upon the levers
may have moved them sufficiently
to make the machine dive at a
much sleeper angle until 1t fin
ally struck the ground.
Hubert Latham. the well
known pilot of the Antoinette
monOplane is of the opinion thai
the mountain sickness just des-
cribed was the cause of Hoxsey's
death. Morane told Latham that
when he was stricken by an al
tack Of this Illness as a result Of
makig too rapid a descent. he lost
control of his machine complete
and was saved only by miracle
The sickness consists Of a nau-
seated feeling accompanied by a.
swimming sensation in the head
and, perhaps. lapse into Uncon-
seriousness. The turning of sharp
circles while descending. such as
was Hoxsey's wont, would also
have a tendency to cause a swim
ming of the head and dizziness.
Orville Wright has been troubled
with such dizziness as a result OF
making numerous short turns such
PC tombstone and IIoxsey were ac-
customed to execute.
Prof. r. Mbulinir a short time
ago made an interesting report on
the increase in blood pressure of
aviators afr ascending to heights
Of 1000 to 1000 meters 1897 to
6.561 feet. The blood pressure is
invariably increased during such
n flight and there is often a slight |
headache. together with tend
ency to sleep. experienced some
times even during the flight. In
one instance before a flight the
constant blood pressure in the rad
zeal artery of an aviator was
found to be 9 centimeters 1854
inches) Of mercury and the max
imum pressure 1S centimeters
Cos inches) as measured on a
Pachon sphygmometer; the pulse
was 20. After a twenty-fivc-min-
ute flight during which. at the
twentieth minute. a height of 100
meters $1,000 feet was reached.
the constant pressure was II cent
(472 inches) of mercury
and the maximum 10 GAS inch
cs) the pulse had risen to so. The
aviators in this case were athletes
in full training. The rise in pres
sure was less marked in aviators
who were fatigued, but these
showed palpitation of the heart
md marked acceleration of the L
pulse (I0S.) In one ease if an av- L
ator who. during flight of an {
hour. had reached a height of J
900 meters, tachycardia was {
manifested. This heart trouble is a
'sused by functional insufiiciency l
# the heart and vertigirous I
No rise in fleet !
,ressure was noted in aviators who a
lew at low attitudes not exceed s
ng 500 feet. The cause of the o
Use in blood pressure, according g
0 Prof. Moul,nier, was probably &
lue to the sudden descent to earth :
n four or five minutes from a