The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-07-03
DANGERS OF FLYING
IN HEAVY CLOUDS
Storm Tossed While Ascending 10000
Feet i'm Height.


London, June 4.--tCorrespondence)-
Dangers Of flying in heavy clouds when
II is impossible to keep the airplane on
even keel and the aviator has only his
compass to depend upon were describ-
ed by Captain B. c. Hucks, of the Royal
Flying Corps. in an address on Mod
ern Airmanship" which he recently de
livered before the Aeronautical Society.
Describing an experience of his own he
said his airplaine "tumbled about" in
the cloud and that he emerged from it
flying nearly upside down. Captain
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 test climb to 10000 feet on
a late type two-seater. On reaching
1900 feet we got into dense rain cloud.
but carried on beyond 5000 feet, still in
the cloud, when the compass appar-
emily began to swing although actually.
it is the machine that begins to swing,
not the compass. Efforts to check the
compass had the effect of causing II to
swing more violently in the other d.
rection. The air speed then rushed up
far beyond normal flying speed. All ef-
forts 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 be-
ing 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
unavailaing, until we emerged from the
cloud very nearly upside down.
No Fixed Point Visible.
"A few days ago a squadron comman-
der told me that on one occasion when
in France everything loose in his ma
chine fell out while in a cloud. A week
or so ago. on the south coast, ma
chine disintegrated itself in cloud and
the main planes landed half mile from
the fuselage. In a cloud you can 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 d.
rection horizontally, your air speed your
direction vertically
Before your compass starts to move
your machine has already started to
turn. You rudder the opposite way to
check it, over-correct II, and turn sharp
er the other way on a bank turn; then
the nose drops and speed goes up. Pull
4s.rr Ho al 81,
or no effect, for If you banked above
an angle OF degrees the elevator be-
comes the rudder. All this occurs with
out the pilot being in the Least aware
of the position his machine is taking
relative to the ground"
Improvement Rapid.
Captain Hucks said the rate Of i'm
2rovement In aircraft was so alarming
ly rapid that manufacturers could
scarcely keep pace. Comparing the av-
erage performance of five different
types Of machines used at the begin.
ming OF the war with others of late pat
terms he said that maximum speed for
level flying had nearly doubled. Horse
power was more than doubled
Airmanship had advanced more than
1t would have done in eight or ten years
of peace conditions and the advance
seemed to have been along what might
be called conventional lines-that is.
Improvement on standard designs, and
no good results had been obtained from
any departure from that standard. To
his mind improvements in engines were
responsible for present-day perform |
ances to far greater extent than i'm
provement in machines.
He said the most marked development
in the modern machine is its capacity |
for climbing. At the beginning OF the |
war, he said, the average height flown |
on active service was 1000 to 5000 feet. |
Today a height Of 10000 feet -four miles,
is reached and If progress continues
heights great deal beyond this figure
VIII be reached, as a usual thing.