The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1911-01-26
THE DEATH ROLL OF THE AERO
PLANE.

FLAME.
The shocking list of fatalities TO airrnen,
ending with the tragic death of Hoxsey
and Mosant at the very close of the year,
has sent a thrill of horror throughout the
civilized world Doubtless it will lead
many people to ask whether the risks of
the new and fascinating art are not SO
great as to raise doubts both as to its util-
ity and permanence For ourselves, we be-
lieve that nothing has occurred that war
rants our losing faith, either in the useful
hold upon public sympathy and interest.
The thirty or more deaths which have
occurred, considered by themselves, rep
resent terrible toll taken by the laws of
Nature on those who have so boldly ven
tured into the hitherto inaccessible ocean
of the air. Yet, we must not forget that
if the increase in the number of acct
dents has been great, it is not out of
proportion to the great increase which has
taken place in the ranks of the practical
aviators. Indeed, an estimate that has
been made in one of the French papers
devoted to aviation shows that the ratio
of accidents to the number of people
engaged in flying, was considerably less
this year than it was in the year proceed
ing.
AS regards the future, we believe thai
the proportion of accidents will materially
decrease, and this for several reasons. In
the first place. the builders and users of
aeroplanes make every effort to ascertain
the details of all serious accidents that
occur and determine their causes, whether
they lay in the faulty construction of the
machine, or in the lack of skill or the over
daring of its manipulator. 1t is probable
that every accidents yields its quota of
valuable lessons for guidance in future
construction and future handling.
The same French authority, after max
ing a careful investigation of the acct
dents of last year, has concluded that only
a small percentage was due to defects in
the machine-an opinion in which we are
inclined to concure. AT the same time,
there is no doubt whatever that with
few exceptions the majority of aeroplanes
are built with too slight margin of SAT-
civ of strength in their various parts.
We pointed out recently, in our article on
The Racing Acroplane of the Future"
that by the use of high-grade steel alloys,
of high elastic strength and great tough
ness, it would be possible, without any
increase of weights, to build flying ma
chine that would be strong enough to
resist, not merely flying but the abnormal
stresses towhich the machine is subjected
in stormy weather, and when the aviator
is making those spectacular dives and othe-
er attractive maneuvers which have be-
come so popular with the race going pub
lic
With a few exceptions, the machines
which are in use at the present time can
not be said to have been designed by men
who possess the theoretical knowledge
which is necessaryein the planning and
mechanisms The new art however, has
now reached stage of popularity at which
it has become commercially attractive.
Capital is not only available, but is pos
itively earger to lend itself to the ex
ploitation Of the flying machine; and skill
ed engineers are being attracted in in
creasing numbers to the new industry,
which is at the stage where it can afford
to employ the best engineering talent.
A disconcerting feature of last years
death roll is that it includes SO many of
the most skilled among the airmen. This
fact might seem to suggest that we have
not advanced so far as was supposed in
our understanding of the conditions that
govern the hght of heayier-than-air ma
chimes. On the other hand, it should be
remembered that many if not most of
the accidents have occurred when the air
men were attempting spectacular perform-
ances for the entertainment of the race
going public or to win large money prizes.
There can be no doubt that this spirit of
daring has been carried altogether too far;
and it is to be hoped that the lesson of
caution which has been taught with such
tragic significance will not be lost.
Although the consensus of opinion among
aviators seems, at the present writing, to
be against the use of automatic control,
we still believe that the perfected machine
of the future will embody this feature,
and that it will be of such flexible char
acter as to leave the operator with manual
control of his machine at all times, and
yet De capable OF preventing SUCH CoinplCe
loss of equilibrium as seems to have oc-
Cured in the case of tombstone, Moxsey
and Moisant. We are inclined TO think
that the combined use of the dihedral
angle in the main surface and the gyro-
scope will provide the aeroplane of the
future with a self-righting ability similar
to that shown by the birds of the air,
when they are accidentally capsized.-Sci-
entihc American.