The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-07-26
MESTASCH TRACES PROGRESS Of FLYING
GAME SINCE INNOVATION SOME RECORDS
One Man in France Flew From Sunrise to Sunset With.
out Coming Down-Death Rate Abroad Less than in
United States-Not so Dangerous as Thought.
Discussing monoplane aviation

Discussing monoplane aviation as
compared with biplane aviation. Geo.
Mestasch, the hirdman who will make
nights in one of the single winged ma
chlnes at the Grand Forks fair next
week, and who has beer very success
ful i'm flights at Winnipeg and Fargo
during the past two weeks, has some
interesting things to say. AT Winnl-
peg. Mestasch was nearly killed when
he suddenly found himself over a
crowd of people and confronted by
distractions which necessitated his
taking a sudden dip owe a fence INTO
the race track. where his machine
was badly wrecked. The wamaGe,
however, vas repaired in two or three
days:
"since the Wright brothers first
operated a power-driven, heavier
than-air flying machine some seven
Years ago. no radical changes have
been evident in the type or design
OF these craft. if we except tho mono-
plane, which is not q departure from
the principle" says Mcstasch.
Given time, the Wrights themselves
would have evolved anything that has
since been demonstrated
For that matter. the Same might
truthfully be said in connection with
the late Prof. Iangley's machine.
which is now i'm the Smithsonian In
stltlitl0n. In addition TO evolving a
gas engine which could have done tho
work-given a practical flyer 10 op-
erato-TLaneley had antedated thom;
gwen tn" Wrights or another with
their particular genius. evolved
through painstaking practice to han
die 1T. Lansley's would have been the
first flying machine.
.Automatic, perfect stability, which
VIII give to air craft - margin q
safety akin to that possessed hy. the
modern steamship. is as far i'm In ,
loture as ever. say, tomorrow. or
next year or ncNt century.
Louis Bleriot and others have
: evolved monoplanes. that is to say.
nave boldly taken the bird instead
or the box kite AS their models and
their machines are more graceful.
more speedy and it is alleged and l
believe more hazardous to operate
man III" original biplane. Other ex-
perimenters lave seized upon the oh
vious idea of rising from and landin.
upon the water. and have solved an
ordinary mechanics problem Ivy the
ADDITION of pontoons to the under par IT
OF their machines. There arc n mum
Der OF automatic stabilizers, safety dc.
vices or preserNers of the center of
gravity, now being explointed. mono
of which. IT is needless to say. de-
'''' Aiit vs. IMMUNE
nent peril of death faced by every
aviator every time he leaves the
ground.
Men Cannot Fly Safely
Man can now fly; but he can not
ny In safety. but for the inevitable
improvements in gas engines that
nave been and will be in evidence. one
can safely say that the science of
Hight was exactly where il was seven
years gCn Thanrir3r l,l-- 500 .,l.-
now oXpound with a bold wealth of
detall concerning co-eftcients and
pressures and lifts and thrusts, their
Ideas of what should be done tn go
cure absolute safety in air flight.
these are of tho same type of scion
nsts, who hold Iracus and the Nriehts
and all other practical rresumptive
flyers mp to more or less mild darision
through all the worlds past history.
one OF them may Vet 6educe the sci
entlilc principle. that will put living
IN the safety class. When he does
'lt may be tomorrow) Union Pacihc
VIII slump 10 a lower level than it
ana IN the manic and that instantly.
"Meanwhile the farmer and his
wife will attend the fair to SEQ a man
HN the marvel of the ages. If thav
nave Seen it before they will so again
IN the not vain hope of seeing a tiy-
er die.
"A Young J~erseyite flies a machine
at school: ventures outside the
ground-dies. Miss Davis crosses the
chanhel as A passenger and after in
nnmerahle successful flights. falls
fifty feet and is killed. Hoyssv At
tains a world wide fame aud the
greatest altitude of his time ali in one
week. and is killed I'm the last dav
of the second Los Angeles meet.
taaTes crosses the Alps and is killed
in %alishting. N~edrin"s. the saturnine
dare devil French cross-country fly
er runner-up and winner in manv hig
European vents. falls and breaks his
bones. Parmalce was another who
Went the route.
Young and nd. man and woman
expert 'so-calledp and neophvte all
are simply the playthings OF chance
when off the ground. Let one at
tend a flying ground for but one sim
gle week and note the number of un-
recorded smash-ups and accidents
that take place. even under good CON
dltlons, and that person will never
re one-at a meet or a fair-to clam
or for q flight against the airman's
own judgment. Rather he will won
der that any person car be found 10
risk his person so for money or any
company 10 risk its capital In 50 un-
certain and expensive a game.
Have Staid i'm All All Day
"Nonderful flights have been made.
A Frenchman has flown 7oO kilomet-
ers between sunrise and sunset. and
another Frenchman has done better
than ten hours in continuous flight.
A oross-channel passenger service is
about to be inaueurated. and all over
the world a determined effort is be
ing made to bring flying machines 10
a practical basis. Hudson Maxim ad.
vocateS college courses in aviation
this should put football 10 the rear
and also calls upon the United States
government To properly equip the ar
my and navy with aeroplanes and a
competent corps of fNins men. And
in this last he is doins a patriotic
duty. In the belief of many. the
Wright brothers sank all the navies
and rendered obsolete the tactics of
all the worlds armies when they
made their first flight. And in 1872
seven years la1er-the United States
is spending $4,000 for thirteen aero
planes. while o u other countries in
Europe are spending over S14.000.-
600 for a25 machines. Meanwhile
Lee Hammond and others are teach
ing the Japanese to fly ~aeroplaneS.