The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-06-08

gets into a tail spin accidentally. Or he may
Intentionally take his machine into one, before
he has had the usual instruction, out of the spirit
of adventure. or even the kiddish desire to con-
vince himself Of his daring or exhibit it to his
fellow students. But, whatever the cause, it is
the opinion of flying field aviators that getting
into u tail spin, purposely or accidentally, without
being able to manage 1t properly. is the cause Of
a large proportion of fatal accidents at the fly
ing fields.
The same perverse, unconscious influence Of
the mind over the muscles which forces the
bicycle learner straight toward the object he is
trying to avoid Is responsible for many of the
fatal accidents due to collisions. Even the most
expert of flyers may be unable to avert a serious
accident when he sees approaching him a plane
driven by q cadet who is doing his level best to
keep his machine out of the others way. How
serious and ever present is this danger In flying
fields is proved by Capt. Vernon Castles death.
In flying there are certain blind angles in
which collisions are possible through no fault OF
the driver of either plane. The sections of space
covered by the wings of his ship are invisible to
the pilot, and If such a section comedies with
the space concealed from the eyes of another
pilot approaching from below or at one side. a
sudden crash Is likely to be the first that either
knows of the other plane. This blind angle"
may be the cause of an occasional serious acct
dent, but ~aviators do not think that such collisions
are of frequent occurrence.
Engine trouble causes many unimportant acci-
dents, but, ~aviators say, should never offer any
serious difficulty to a man who has learned how
to manage his plane, If he is in a region where
1t is possible for him to come down safely. And
for engine trouble there are as many possible and
legitimate causes as there are reasons for an
automobile to balk.
In a few cases a broken propeller has caused
a pilot to make a forced landing, with injury to
his plane, but, up to the present time, never with
serious result to himself. The accompanying pic
ture shows what happened to a pilot when his
propeller weakened, cracked and broke over the
grounds of a high school in the environs of Hous-
ton, Tex. He brought his ship down with some
damage to it, but none to himself, and greatly to
the delight of the inhabitants of the region.
Various causes may result in the breaking of
the propeller. 1t may have been injured in some
previous nose dive to the ground; or a bird may
have got entangled in its blades. Cadets are for
hidden to chase birds because of the possibility
of such a result and the sure smashing of the
propeller. Nevertheless, they do it sometimes,
when the instinct of the chase is strong in their
blood. And it would be quite possible for a bird
to fly against his propeller, to the undolng of both
bird and propeller, and the pilot to be ignorant
of what had happened.
The men who by hard work and steady prac-
tice have earned the right to the title of "bird-
men, believe that with both students and skilled
aviators one cause of fatal accidents is the fail
ure of the nervous system to respond Immediately
$4,000
Anything which causes nervous fatigue may bring
about that physical state-dissipation, nerve
strain, physical WEAKNESS, lack of sleep. The
flyer must be so alert, his grasp upon every stu
htion which may confront him so instant. and his
action to meet and control 1t so prompt that the
fraction of a second In the movement Of his hand
upon the controls of his machine may mean the
difference between life and death.
And anything which slows by ever SO little the
action of the brain in an emergency, or the fash
ing of Its mmand along the nerves, or the in
slant obedience of the motor nerves may send
him crashing to the earth. The cadets before
they have become what they call 'instinctive
flyers" are especially liable TO this danger. al
though even those who are skilled in the air are
not free from its menace. Birdmen who are
skilled In one, or another. or several forms of
athletics say that in nothing else have they felt
so much the necessity of this instant and COM
plete response of the nerves to the demand upon
them.
The cadets quickly discover, so they say. that
lack of plenty of sleep soon results In a physical