The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-01-02

New York Post: 1t was with a def
mite sense for the dramatic hat Or
Vile Wright chose the tenth anniver-
sary Of the now famous flight OK
twelve seconds over the North Caro-
lima sand dunes to announce that the
real problem of the aeroplane today.
the question OF automatic stability, is
on the point Of being solved. I'm
~provcments In mechanical invention
do not always come from the hand OF
the original inventor. Yet it will seem
the eternal fitness of things If the
problem Of making flight in a heavier
than-air machine normally safe should
be solved by one of the men who made
flight in a heavier -than-air machine
normally possible. The achievements
OF the aeroplane need not be rehears-
ed in detail. We have travelled far
from the first successful experiments
at Kitty Hawk. The European seas
have beer forded by the ~aero2lane.
The land area Of Europe has been
criss crossed from north to south and
from the Atlantic to st. Petersburg.
The Alps have been surmounted, and
attitudes higher than the tallest of
Alpine peaks have been attained. The
aeroplane omnibus has carried nearly
a dozen men with safety. At the pres
ent moment an ambitious airman is
on his way from Paris to Australia by
way Of Indo-China and the East Indi-
an land bridges. The conquest of the
Atlantic Is predicted for the near flu
ture.
But it has been a process Of devel-
opment not devoid OF vicissitudes.
With continuous improvement in the
gasolene motor, the radius and lifting
power Of the aeroplane have advanced
rapidly. The element of safety has
not kept pace. 1t Is a regular feature
Of the days news that the story of
another triumph of airmanship in the
matter of distance covered or altitude
attained, of a difficult bit Of naviga-
ton accomplished, should be followed
by another of the disasters such as
have marked the present year. In
the public mind the question has re-
manned whether the achievements of
the aeroplane are not, after all, the
achievements of specially qualified or
exceptionally during navigators. This
suspicion Is justified. though only in
part. In reading the almost daily rec
ord of aeroplane mishaps, one must
keep percentage in mind. In rela-
ton to the number Of airmen now
plying their trade and the air-mileage
covered, it may probably be shown
that the ratio of accident is d~ecreas-
ing. Nevertheless the fact remains
that, because of defects in the aero
plane and because OF our ignorance
of the laws Of the medium 1t moves
in, the element of accident is always
present: and the expert is hardly
more immune than the novice. The
marvellous feats of a Pegoud are no
guarantee that disaster will not over
take him in the course OF a compare
lively simple flight.
In one respect, the aeroplane, lake
its rival, the %dirigible. has failed on
the whole to Justify the confident pre-
dictions Of the first glowing days OF
the conquest Of the air. And this is in
regard to the part that aeronautics
was to play in revolutioniZing a
fare. The idea Of aerial navies has
fascinated the public mind; and more
than the public. The zeal with which
the governments Of Europe have gone
in for airship construction would seem
to run counter to our statement.
Germany n France both claim the
supremacy Of the air, according as the
dirigible or the a~eroplane, on which
they have staked their respective
hopes. comes to the front in the news
Of the day. At the present moment
for instance, the succession of disas-
ters that has befallen Germany's
giant Zeppelins has created an unmis-
taxable reaction in favor of the heav-
ie~r-than-air machine. But it is to he
noted that the expert military parti-
sans of neither ~aeroplane nor dlrigi-
BILE are over-sanguine in their claims.
the popular conception of aerial Dread