Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1911-01-04
1T WILL GET US ALL
Said JOhnstOne The AerOnant
Who Was KilIed--A Recent
Reminder OF His Fatal
Words
DANGER TO AVIATORS TODAY
Public Wants Thrills Sheds No Tears
IL Seldom Needs Strike Second
Time"

at Denver on November II, predicted
his death and that of John B. Moi
SAINT in an article written by himself
shortly before he lost his life. The
story is given below
have been asked to tell why Il
defy death to conquer the air - l fly
to live. If / didn't have to, l
wouldn't. It's going to get me some
dy. Sooner or later it's going to get
US all.
! Ours is the most hazardous occupa-
tion a man can follow. No profess
sional aviator does it for the ad-
vancement of science--the men who
advance the science are those who
stay on the ground and when we
fall and are killed figure out the
weak point in the scheme that killed
US. We, the most of US, fly for
money. De .Lesseps- has made a
! fortune, so has Grahame- White, so
have half dozen others.
Some of US fly in the line of duty
to give, as | say, the man on the
ground chance to figure out where
the calculations have been wrong
when we drop a thousand feet or so.
That's the way most of the Germans
have died. And some fly for fame,
for sporting chance at records
like poor Rolls, who crossed and
recrossed the channel, and poor
Chavaz, who crossed the Alps and
died from a fiyfty-foot fall.
] am a fatalist. | believe that
! every mans time is marked out
for him, only those of US who are
drawn for the air game have their
time black-inked we'll up toward
the head of the list. The only way
to cheat it is to quit. But if you're
marked down to stay, then you can't
quit til lit gets you. Unless DeLes-
seps quits, it will get him, and it
will get Moisant and Grahame- White
and little Hoxey and Latham and me
all of US sooner or later.
say 1T, and not death, because
that's the way / always think of what
may happen. The minute you leave
the ground it's close about you. 1t
may get you when you're only few
feet up. 1t may stop your motor or
crumple one of your planes when you
are couple of thousand feet up. 1t
may snap warping wire or break a
propeller blade. 1t comes unexpected
ly; not one chance in aIhundred have
you to meet it, and it seldom eeds
to strike second time. When you
get into the air, then comes the
intoxication of flying. No man can
help feeling this. The easy motion,
the sense of freedom, the birdike
facility of tlight-these lead a man
into calmness that is almost hyp-
motto. Then he begins to flirt with
it. tilt his planes into all sorts of
dangerous angles, dips and circles
and coasts. This feeling is one of the
traps it sets for US.
No part of an aeroplane is super
fuous. Every inch of wire, every
inch of canvas, every lever, every
screw, every individual part of toe
machine is put there for a purpose,
and not one of them may be dispensed
with. No part being superfuous, it
follows logically that no part can
fall and the mediterranean effective.
When the machine ceases to be
effective its rider dies. Everywhere
else one has a chance. The sailor has
water to fall into and a dozen means
of escape. The soldier may be hit
in dozen parts of his body and live.
Fireman and automoblist, the engi-
neer, the miner. the acrobat there
are thousand and one ways that in.
tervene to save them from death.
But there's nothing between clouds
| and the earth to save the aviator
once he begins to fall. He never
| flies again-not in this world, any
way.
Then the man on the ground
'dopes out" why we fell, and tries
to prevent the particular thing
from happening again. But does
that help those of US who have fall
en-? A thing they will have to dis
cover is how to keep a warpin wire
| from breaking. These wires are used
to counteract the effect of sudden
| gusts of wind which tilt one or the
other wings. When the wind causes
the right wing to rise, manipulation
of the warping wire causes the left
wing to rise, too, and thus main
/ ldluS the dlTSElp balance. II the
wire snaps, the airship and pilot are
at the mercy of the wind. He falls.
The rudder OF an aeropIane is far
more vital than that of a ship. If
the ships rudder goes by the board
it may not be possible to steer
the vessel, but there is little dan
ger. The ship will follow wind OF
tide. But with the aeroplane there
is no stopping.
But one could go over every part
of the machine and over every phase
of the air currents. There is danger
in all. That is to the aero of today.
The aero of today is really toy.
We are only demonstrators, who
pilot them because the danger is 81
great that we are paid better thar
any other class of men; that, or be
cause we love excitement and fame
of sort.
But don't think that our aim is th,
advancement of the science. Tha