Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1919-06-05

"froze the CONTROLS" as they say in the
arny-that is, lost his head and failed
to manipulate the controls as his in
structor told him. thus sacrificing the
lives of both of them. When Il pros
pcctive flyer has gone through all
the motions of controlling few hun
dred times in the ground machine any
tendency he may have to freeze the
controls is pretty sure to have been
eliminated.
The old method OF testing the adapt.
ability of n man to flying by
whirling him In II revolving chair ten
or more times is entirely obviated by
this scientific method of finding out
whether or not a man Is fitted to be-
come Il pilot.
Owing To the urgent demand for pi-
lots during the war 1t was then al
most impossible to give much atten-
tion to the Improvement of the method
of training aviators. But now that
peace has come the aerOnautic diyi-
sion of the war department is concen.
trating on the development of better
methods In TINS all important mill
tary branch. The adoption of the Rug
giles machine Is the first step In that
direction.
"The training Of the aviator is in its
infancy" declared Maj. F. j. Martel,
one of the enthusiastic supporters OF
the new method and former flyer
in the British royal air force. 1--WE
have not been training enough pilots
to evolve a scientifically correct way
of putting man in the air and know
ing that he will conduct" himself as
he should under all emergencies. What
pilots we have trained-mOre than
S,OO0-were trained during an urgent
demand and our perspective of train
ing was kept out Of focus. There has
been practically no concentration oD
the problem and what practical sys.
tens were evolved were the work OF
instructors on the field, whose one
concern was the turning out of pilots
in numbers.
Can't Turn 'Em Loose in Air.
"Now that the demand for the pilots
has been reduced to the minimum, II
is time to survey the subject of train
ing with the idea of launching sys-
TEN by which an aviator may be train
ed, not only safely from a prac'
tical standpoint, but scientifically as
well. The time has passed when we
can allow cadet to take few hours
grouad instructions, a few hours dual
instruction, and then turn him loose
In the air.
"The pupil under the old system al
no time during his ground school in.
struction actually used airplane con-
trolls, nor did he experience the effect
flying had on his natural upright po-
sition. Experience is not transferable.
A pupil could be told thousand times
how to handle the controls in a plane.
and yet be completely confused the
minute he was seated in one and act.
ually controlling. The pupil is taken
from the ground school and suddenly
placed in an airplane and asked to
fly. He is asked to apply himself in
a most attentive manner at time
when his mind and senses are practi-
cally paralyzed with apprehension and
the mental effort to adjust himself to
an absolutely foreign environment.
Mature did not intend that man
should fly, nor that man in his pres
ent development should have to think
and act with perfect coordination
when suddenly suspended head down.
1t takes time to learn perfect self
control under extraordinary conditions,
and a cadet cannot be expected to be-
come adjusted to these things on his
first hop If he. has never had the
sensations before going up. This Is
where the Ruggles orientator helps the
pupil and prepares him for his stunt
ing work. One hour 'stunting' in the
orientator gives the pupil as much
practice as he would probably get In
20 hours flying. This is great saw
ing of time and tremendous saving
Of equipment. This new device seems
to be the logical progressive step from