Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1920-10-28
FlCITTING ST0Rs1
HIGH UP IN AIR
Navigator in Pane Tells of Thrill
ing Experience During a
Fierce Cyclone.
BREAKS WITHOUT vVARAInG
Hail and Fam Lash Machine Meroi-
Iessiy, Making 1t Toss From One
Side to the Other Like Cork
on Surface OF Sea.

New YORK An observer In an air
plane describing an experience in
storm thousands OF feet above the
earth writes:
THE sky was strewn with the rem
nants Of morning cirrus as the
climb WAS made carefully but swiftly
on the wings Of warm wind. Eight
thousand feet was reached with the
merest effort. The salient features OF
the countryside could be picked out
without glasses. The air had milky
tinge hui it was such rs the eye conlti
speak through. and it gave no i'm
preston Of Il 9 moisture with which 1t
must have been heavy. 1t seemed
warm and brilliant, and MS the ma
chine throbhed its way through II two
warm slip streams flowed back over
the wind screen.
Ccraes unhecalded.
"Some time must have elapsed be-
fore the pilot, in twisting the craft
round to a new direction. caught
glimpse of iivid pUrpse-gcay 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 a prema-
ture descent. Even the growing rumble
OF thunder at great distance, which
came at last, failed to discomfort. and
the airplane scared on with braring
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 it toss from one side to the other
like cork on the surface of the sea.
In steamlng 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 1000 feet up It would be
suicidal to descend into the unknown
and unseen. Which was snfer-alr or
land? To the pilot, anxious almost
beyond endurance, came the thought.
common to every flying man. of fire
In the air and as if to confirm this
horror flash in moment illnni.
mated the whole machine as though II
We're caught In the probing beam of
a searchlght 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.
ut seemed the last moment: but II
passed, and still the machine was air.
worthy. The hail still tore fiercelv at
the fabric OF the planes; the machine
was becoming more and more I'M
stable; but 1t still hummed on. Down
below cloud of vapor made 1t i'm
possible to see the earth or to sight
stretch of ground wherein to land.
The thunder broke with inhabited fury
at regular intervals, and Mt each on
slaught the machine qulvered like q
wounded bird.
"If the pilot continued to fly on 1t
could only be matter of moments
before all control of the craft would
be wrenched from his hands IT was
equally hazardous TO plunge down into
the sea of mist In total ignorance of
the lie of the land beneath. But to
the latter course only could a shred
of hope cling The engine therefore
was suddenly shut off and the nose OF
the machine dropped.
by the altimeter, watched feverIsh-
ly, the descent OF a few thousand feet
seemed to take many minutes. In the
thick of swiring mist a sudden and
violent contact with the earth was mo-
mentarily expected. But down--down:
until al what seemed the critical sec
ond there came sudden thrush OF
steady, grateful air from a region of
smiling content and peacefulness. with
| the earth thousand feet below There
was no sunshine, but there was also
no storm. II had been u cyclone OF
/ the upper regions only"