The Alaska citizen., 1911-04-03
CLOSE CALLS IN FLYING
Moments of Danger That Come to All Avia- tors Graphically Described by
 Armstrong Drexe


 comes the moment when a hairs breaith one way or the other means life or death. To some these mo mtnts come more frequently than to others: to those who are con stantly pushing their machines to the utmost in the rivalry for public approval they arc of almost daily oc- Currence But 10 every man who flies they come sooner or later.
 know of nothing in human ex- perience which can leave so indelible an impression in so short a space of time. With the aeroplane as it is built today these critical moments are really only the infnitesimal frac- tion of a moment. The danger Is reached and in a flash 1t Is passed. safely or otherwise. There is nc time for thinking. Everythin.; must be done by instinct.
 True. We do make voluntary and logical movements when We get into these sCrapes. but believe that these movements are always made too late 10 do any real good and that the first instinCtive motion, without thought. i" what decides the outcome of the moment.
 Sometimes We have a warning of what IS coming and in such ins anCes We can prepare ourselves and meet the danger with a plan of action logically thought out and calculated to meet the emergency in the best way. At other times the danger comes and is past before We really recognize what is happening, and in these instances it is only the In stinct that comes with long training in flying that pulls us through in safety
 have personally had many thrill ing experiences in the air but there are two instances that have left upon my memory stronger impressions than all the others. l regard them as my closest calls. They illustrate the two kinds of critical moments have spoken of, the enc that hap pens without warning and the other than is foreseen by the aviator and guarded against to the best of his ability.
 On my flight in Philadelphia, in which I made what was then the altitude record of 9.S97 feet, 1 was three times on the verge of collapse. Once on the way up l found myself laughing aloud like a crazy man, and twice coming down l mOmentari- ly lost consciousness.
 On tneso three occasions l was so numbed mentally that did not fully realize the position l was in. h. stinct forced me to get hold of my self and pull myself through. It has only been since that flight that l have been able to figure cut calmly Just how near death l was.
 It was this very numbness of mind, thlnk, that kept me from getting into a panic; l was able to do the right things instinctively without making mistakes through excitement. They were near enough calls, to be sure, but twice before I was really nearer to death because in those oc- casions my mind was keen; l realiz- ed fully the danger of my position and L.. necessity of instant action; there was all the chance for a fatal pane and the aw'ul chances I was taking were perfectly clear to me.
 Both of these thrilling moments came 10 ne while I was flying for practice at my school at Beaulieu, near Southampton, England My partner, MacArdle, and have an ideal flying ground there. It is seven miles from the railroad sta ticn with perfectly flat country, smooth and clear except for one line of te.egraph wires and here and there low tree or clump of shrub bery. These mpediments are very far apart and not interfere in any way with our work.
 My closest call came to me in a most undramatic way. There were no spectators save Cnly MacArdle and our mechanics and l think that Mac was the only one of them who really saw my danger and knew that he was near to losing a partner.
 was flying low with the Bleriot XI., with the antiquated type of wings. started to circle the place in wide, easy curves, without any definite object in view. I found the machine was banking well at the turns and l became curious to see just how small a loop l could make with her, so l gradually narrowed the circle in which l was flying.
 Closer and closer to the center l came, and the Bleriot did all l could have expected of her. There seemed no limit to her possibilities; felt as though I could turn her on her beam ends if I wanted to, and so without the slightest thought of danger I kept drawing closer and closer about the center, flying at a great angle all the time because the circle had become so small that there was no straightaway flight. It was a case of jam the rudder over hard ana see how close she would come about.
 It may be we'll to explain that the Bleriot banks automatically when go- ing about turn, that is the far side rises and the near side falls until the machine is frequently tilt ed at an angle of forty-fve degrees. This can of course be prevented by warping the wings and keeping her on a more even keel, but to do this puts so severe stra,n on the planes that 1t is extremely dangerous. while at the saMe time it loses ground by causing the aeroplane to slip or skid wide of the turn on account of the momentum.
 think on this day l speak of that was turning the machine in her own length or even shorter. was paying not the slightest atten- tion to the angle at which I was fly ing; all my thoughts were on the lit tie circles I was rutting through the air when suddenly I felt myself slip ping cn my seat and I realized in a Aoch that p1anos woro daDporOuS-