The Washington times., 1917-04-02
AVIATOR ACCUSED
BECAUSE OF DARING
Capt. A. w. Briggs, Instructor
Cited for Dismissal From
the Service.

NEW YORK, April 2.-Reckless
driving in the air by an instructor
for the Government flying school at
Mineola, l. l., brought swift punish
ment when Capt. A w. Briggs, form
erly Of the British Royal Flying
Corps, was cited In charges for dis
missaI from the service. The action
was taken by Captain Kilner, the
commanding officer, Immediately az
ter a flight In which Captain Briggs
had endangered the lives Of scores
Of spectators and ended In thrilling
smashup on the field.
Saturday is usually given over at
the Mineola school for reconnoitrins
and combat problems by the more
advanced students. Yesterday large
number of guests, composed for the
most part of army officers from coast
defenses around New York interested
In the aerial defense of the city were
on the field to watch the maneuvers.
A number OF the pilots were aloft
when Captain Briggs climbed into
one Of tho Curtiss training machines
and flew from the hangers at the far
emo OF the nelQt bOluo oAohoA~O e"es
from the main street Of hangers and
headquarters buildings.
Neither Captain Kilner nor his sec
ond In command, Captain Butts, knew
that the instructor had gone aloft
until Captain Briggs, after circling
the field at low altitude, suddenly
aimed the nose OF his plane straight
into the thick knot Of watchers clus-
tered in front Of the main hangers.
He was then flying not more than ten
feet above the ground, In itself q
perilous stunt ..--
Misses Crowd By Few Inches
The officers and their friends, many
Of them women, drew back in fright
as the machine came. toward them at
a speed OF over seventy miles an hour.
At the last possible second Captain
Briggs suddenly twisted his controls
until the nose OF his machine pointed
almost straight upward. He veered
over the heads OF the people with bare
clearance space and then shot over
the hangers, the wheels Of his land
ing gear almost scraping the roof.
Captain Kliner, sitting in his office
at headquarters, saw the stunt He
Immediately dropped the work he was
doing, called a stenographer and or
dered charges preferred against the
pilot, whom he recognised by the
number on his machine.
Meanwhile Captain Briggs went
ahead in his fight. He circled the
field again at low altitude, barely
clearing headquarters itself as he few
over. Then, in the center of the field,
he rose to a height of 1000 feet and
began spiraling. His machine was
banked in the swift convolutions until
its wings seemed absolutely perpen-
dicular to the ground, so that only
the pull of the propeller and the speed
of the machine kept 1t from slipping
to earth.
When he had spiraled almost to the
ground the pilot straightened out
again and started across the field, ca
reening his machine as q man rocks
a rowboat- Once out over the Old
Country road he swerved back again,
and, satisfied, planed. down for land
ing.
Feared Aviator Was Killed.
But instead of keeping his machine
on an even keel, with tail low, Cap
tain Briggs kept on tilting his plane
from one side to another until II
rocked in drunken fashion. At last
the landing guard of his right lower
plane scraped the hard packed earth,
tearing a hole in the turf for q cou-
pie of feet. The impact threw the
machine in its pendulum motion over
onto the other side. The left wing,
smashing into the ground, crumpled
like cardboard, the propeller splinter
ed, and the entire wing surface buck
led.
Everybody on the field believed
Captain Briggs had surely been killed
in the fall. The school ambulance
rushed out to the spot with mechan-
les and helpers afoot, while sentries
kept back the visitors. From the
midst of the pile OF wreckage Cap
tain Briggs stepped out unharmed.
He had gone but q few yards, how
ever, before Captain Butts stepped up
to him with a typewritten notification
that charges were preferred against
him. The work had been done in the |
short time between the Instructors
first daring feat and his final disas-
ter.
ANY Instructor who is caught try
ing perilous tricks in the air out of
bravado is going to be dismissed"
declared Captain Kilner emphatically
later in referring to his action. "If
he wants to risk his own neck don't
care one little bit, but do not pro-
pose to have students intrust them
selves to the care of such a man, nor
do intend to have the lives OF spec
tators endangered.
Filler Cautioned Once Before.
Captain Briggs Is an excellent pilot. but |
1 have had to caution him before about |
his lack OF proper care in flying. It es-
tablishes a bad example for students, |
it is against the desIres OF the United |
States Government, II gives the school |
a bad record and It encourages a gen.
eral belief that aviation Is more danger