The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-10-03
AEROPLANE DROPS
To GROUND AFTER
SUCCESSFUL START
Aviator Frank Kastory Jumps
From Biplane and Is
Uninjured.
is NOT ENOUGH ROOM
Aircraft Badly Damaged in
Eighth Accident in Which
Hungarian Has Figured.
is NOT ENOUGH ROOM

After Frank Kastory, driving a six
ty horsepower Curtiss biplane, had
made an impressive start on Reid
field, this morning, and had scared
over the west fence as gracefully as
a bird, rising to the height of not
more than fifty feet, the big aircraft
suddenly pointed it's nose earthward
and alighted on it's wheels with such
impact as to badly damage the ma
chine. The biplane came to earth in
a cornfield bordering College avenue,
and just a few yards from the west
fence of the Earlham athletic field.
The straps holding Kastory in his
seat broke under his desperate efforts
to keep the machine In the air and
just before 1t alighted he jumped and
escaped without a bruise. Inasmuch
as the machine dropped on it's wheels
he probably would not have been in
jured had he remained in his seat
The machine alighted on top of a corn
shock and it's nose was pointed south
The motor was running perfectly when
the machine so abruptly ended the air
voyage which was to have taken it
over the city and back to the starting
place.
AS result of the damage done to
the biplane this forenoon, it will be
impossible to make the scheduled
flight late this afternoon Yesterday
no flights were attempted because of
the stiff wind.
Field Too Small.
mot enough room to make a good
start in and that is the only cause for
this accident" laconically said Kastory
when the advance guard of the excited
crowd of spectators reached the scene
of the accident. expecting to find the
aviator killed or at least painfully in
jnred. He was leaning against the
seat Of the machine calmly surveying
the wreckage, the only perfectly self
possessed person in the crowd
Kastory then explained to newspaper
men that to make safe ascension it
was necessary to develop a speed of
40 miles an hour on the ground. Reid
field, he said, was entirely too small to
develop such speed and as a result
when he scared over the fence his big
engine was not developing enough
power to keep the machine in the air
Il knew I was taking a risk when
went up in tn machine" the aviator
stated. "Our booking agent made
mistake in contracting for me to make
a flight in such small field
Machine Damaged.
The damage done to the biplane con-
sisted of a broken steering gear,
broken airline plane, splintered pro-
peIler and many broken wires control
ling the propeller and the planes. The
plane above the engine was also badly
damaged.
There were several hundred people
at Reid field to witness the start of the
flight, the first one ever attempted in
Richmond or this locality. When the
big aircraft scared over the fence the
spectators gave voice to their pleased
astonishment, but when it was seen
to dart toward earth, cry of horror
went up and there was general exo-
dus, many men sprinting across the
field and climbing the high fence.
Kastory is a veteran aviator He is
a Hungarian and learned the aviator's
art in that country. When he came to
the United States he became a profess
sional aviator. He modestly admits
that he has been in seven serious acci-
dents but has always escaped with
minor injuries. His last accident was
at Wyoming, Pa, last spring, where
his machine was demolished.