The Jasper news. [volume] (Jasper, Missouri) 1898-1924, 1920-08-26
Navigator In Plane Tells Of Thrill
ING Experience During a
4 Fierce Cyclone.
BREAKS WITHOUT WARNING
Mall and Rain Lash Machine Msrol-
iessly, Making II Toss From One
I, Side to the Other Like Cork
on Surface Of Sea,

Il New York.-An observer In an air
plane describing van experience In a
storm thousands of feet above the
earth writes:
.''The sky was stFe@n with the rem
nants Of Q mornInGIl cirrus, as the
cBmb was made carefully but swiftly
on the wings Of a warm wind. Eight
thousand feet was reached with the
Iherest effort. Tho, salient features of
tie countryside could be picked out
Without glasses. The air hud a milky
tlnge, but 1t was such as the eye could
speak through, and II gave no Inn
preston Of the moisture with which II
must have been heavy. 1t seemed
warm and brilliant. and as the ma
chine throbbed It's way through II two
warm slip streams flowed back over
the wind screen.
"Some time must have ELAPSED be-
fore the pilot, in twisting the craft
round to a new direction, caught
glimpse of a livid purple-gray bank Of
clouds which had crept up from the
south. 1t had come quite unheralded
by thunder, but although the sight was
not attractive there seemed neither
cause for alarm nor need for prema.
ture descent. Even the growing rumble
of thunder at a great distance, which
came at last, failed to discomfort, and
the airplane scared on with bracing
wires singing and the engine In deep,
full-throated roar.
"Then, without further warning. the
storm broke in full fury. A mighty
crash Of thunder, which seemed to
deafen and almost shake the machine
out Of the skies, was accompanied by
a Wild burst Of hail and rain which
dashed the machine mercilessly and
made 1t toss from one side to the other
like cork on the surface of the sea.
In steaming cloak of rain and mist
1t was impossible for the eye to see
the ground.
Peal after peal of thunder followed
In swift succession between vivid
flashes Of furious summer lightning.
The heavens had opened to pour forth
the accumulated passion of centuries.
AT nearly 1900 feet up II would be
suicidal to descend into the unknown
and unseen. Which was safer-air or
land2 To the pilot. anxious almost
beyond endurance, came the thought.
common to every flying man, of FIRE
in the air. and as II to confirm this
horror a fash in moment illumi-
mated the whole machine as though II
were caught In the probing beam Of
a searchlight at night. The sky was
rent from vault to horizon by a vivid
streak of electric fire. The indicating
fingers on the navigation instruments
Oscillated wildly.
Like Wounded Bird.
at seemed the last moment; but II
passed, and still the machine was air
worthy. The hail still tore fiercely at
the fabric Of the planes; the machine
was becoming more and more un-
stable; but 1t still hummed on. Down
below a cloud Of vapor made 1t i'm
possible to see the earth or to sight
a stretch of ground wherein to land.
! The thunder broke with undated fury
! at regular intervals, and at each on
/. slaught the machine Quivered like a
i wounded bird.
IF the pilot continued to fly on II
J could only be a matter of moments
before all control of the craft would