El Nuevo mexicano., 1917-07-05
A|RMAN DESCRIBES
PER|[S Of FLYING
ON CLOUDY DAYS
Emerged From Clouds
Upside down. Says
Royal Aviator


London, July 3.-(Associated Press
correspondence -Dangers Of flying
in heavy clouds when it is impossible
to keep the airplane on even keel and
the aviator has only his compass to
depend upon were described by Cap
tain B.. G. Hucks, of the Royal flying
corps, in an address on Modern Air
manship" which he recently delivered
before the Aeronautical society. De-
scribing an experience of his own he
said his airplane 'tumbled about" In
the cloud and that he emerged from
1t flying nearly upside down. Cap
tain Hucks was emphasizing the need
Of an instrument that would show an
airman in the clouds whether he was
flying horizontally. He said:
Il set out on a very cloudy, windy
day to do a test climb to 10000 feet
on a late type two1seater. On reach
ing 1900 feet we got into a dense rain
cloud, but carried on beyond 5000 feet.
still in the cloud, when the compass
apparently began to swing although
actually it is the machine that begins
to swing, not the compass. Efforts to
check the compass had the effect CT
causing it to swing more violently in
the other direction. The air speed then
rushed up far beyond normal flying
speed. All efforts to pull her up
checked her only slightly. Then the
rudder was tried. Back went the air
speed to zero. There was an unusual
uncanny feeling of being detached
from the machine and ! knew her to
be literally tumbling about in the
clouds. All efforts to settle down
again to straight flying seemed to be
unavailing, until we emerged from
the cloud very nearly upside down.
"A few days ago a squadron COM
mander told me that on one occasion
when in France everything loose in
his machine fell out while in a cloud
A week OF so ago, on the south coast,
a machine disintegrated itself in 4
cloud and the main planes landed half
a mile from the fuselage. In a cloud
you a see nothing whatever but
your machine, There is no fixed point
visible.
''The only means by which you can
tell if you are flying in a straight
course is by your compass and your
air speed. The compass should give
you your direction horizontally, your
air speed, your direction vertically.
Before your compass starts to
move your machine has already start
ed to turn. You rudder the opposite
way to check it, over-correct it, ana
turn sharp the other way on a bank
than fba poca dronc ma apaad
goes up. Pulling back your elevator
has little or no effect, for If you
are banked above an angle of As de-
grees the elevator becomes the rud
der. All this occurs without the pilot
being in the least aware of the posi-
ton his machine is taking relative to
The ground.
Captain iHucks said the rate of i'm
provement in aircraft was so alarm
Ingly rapid that manufacturers could
scarcely keep pace. Comparing the
average performances Of five differ
ant types of machines used at the be-|
of the war with others of late
patterns he said that maximum speed
'or level flying had nearly doubled
Horse power was more than doubled.
Airmanship had advanced more
han it would have done in eight or
EN- years of peace conditions and the
advance seemed to have been along
What might be called conventional
ines-that is, Improvement on stand
lrd designs, and no good results had
been obtained from any departure
rom standard. To his mind improved
nents in engines we're responsible for
,resent-day performances to a far
extent than improvement in
machines.
He said the most marked develop
nent in the modern machine is its
for climbing. At the begin
ling of the war, he said, the average
leight flown on active service was
900 to 5000 feet. Today a height Of
$1,000 feet is reached and il progress
continues heights a great deal beyond
figure will be reached as a usual
hing.