The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-09-12
PER|LS OF AVIATION
Some of the Dangers the Man In
the Air Must Boldly Face.
LANDING IS A SERIOUS TASK.

For the Beginner 1t Is Not only D,f-
ficuit, but Frausht With Deadly Pos
sibiIities-collisions Caused by Air
Suction-The Fear Of Fire.
Perhaps those who have watched
aeroplanes at work have wondered
why an aviator almost always cuts q
spiral course as he approaches the
earth. There are two reasons for this:
In the first place., be is maneuvering
SO as to land against the wind. In
the second place. he is accustoming
his eye to the ground-recovering his
Judgment of distance. After one has
been up for an hour or so at anything
like respectable height he loses his
sense of altitude. He cannot tell by
the eye whether he is fifty feet or
200 feet from the ground. 1t is neces-
sary always to train his eye for dis
tance again, just as q baby trains 1t.
This takes only q few moments. but 1t
Is absolutely necessary.
Landing is the most difficult and the
most important department Of avia-
ton. Half or three-quarters of the
accidents occur because the aviator has
made a bad contact. 1t used to be
noticed in the early days Of aviation
that most Of the accidents occurred
near the ground. People supposed that
this was because the lower air cur
rents are the most treacherous.
That is not true. am inclined to
think that, with the exception Of
..holes," air currents have little to do
with aviation accidents. 1t was be-
cause aviators did not know how to
land. You must shut off your engine,
catch the air and volplane down
against the wind. This is most impor-
tant If you land with the wind, even
the lightest breeze, you are likely to
turn somersault and bring up smash
ed under your own engine.
But volplaning down and facing the
wind are not enough. Just before
anghting you must make an upward
turn, so that the machine at the mo-
ment of contact is travelling parallel
with the ground. 1t is beautiful to see
how real master drops as lightly as
feather. If you fail to make that lit
tie upward turn at the right moment
you will strike with a force that will
either wrench your machine or smash
it, according to how fast you are going
and the nature Of the ground.
You must. as have said, land facing
the wind. That is the first principle
knocked into you in the schools. When
flying low an aviator dislikes to skirt
any obstacle like tree or building
on its windward-and his leeward-
side, for if he is steering by compass
or even by sense of direction be is very
likely to fool himself and edge over
with the wind toward the obstacle.
The French call this travelling en-
crabe. a course set by the compass
when you have wind on the beam, Is
not straight course at all. The wind
is always siding you away from your
theoretical direction. driving you north
east by north when you think you are
pointing due north:
This accounts for collisions in the
air. an accident that happens some
times even to experienced aviators and
that is not uncommon in the schools
On my first day of instruction saw
one man killed and another crippled
for life by such collision. and it near
" took my nerve. They had started at
the same time on what they thought
were parallel courses. One of them
made allowance for the wind and drove
straight. The other did not. His ma
chine began sliding over en- crabe un-
til they came near each other, and sue
ton did the rest. AS every one prob
ably knows, that principle Of suction
accounts for great many marine dis
asters. Two ships run close to each
other, and suction brings them togeth-
er. It Is the same with aeroplanes.
only that in the nature Of things the
suction is hundred times more power
full.
One danger to the aviator, that from
fire. has never been eliminated. al
though it is not so great as it was be-
fore aeroplane engines reached the
present standard of excellence. The
trouble lies in the propeller. 1t is
moving faster than anything made by
man ever moved before The slightest
obstacle will break it. And if it breaks
sharp off the powerful intake of those
air cooled motors is sure to suck the
fame into the carburetor, when the
whole machine goes up in IRE like
tin of gasoline. Of course the aviator
stands no Show at all.
We are instructed from the first to
leave nothing loose about the machine
or about our clothing. Many man
has been killed because his cap blew
off, caught ir the propeller and broke
it. 1t is even dangerous to leave a
loose tool, such as monkey wrench.
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