The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-10-30
TRIOOF AERONAUTS
NARROWLY ESCAPE
DEATH IN WATER
Report of Incident Re
ceived From Commander
Of Philippine Station.

Floating In Manila Bay for over
two hours In an almost submerged
basket with q half-innated balloon
acting ne q sail and dragging the
basket through the water az the
rate OF about ten miles an hour was
the exciting experience OF q party
Of three aeronauts who attempted =
free balloon flight from Corregidor
Islands To Manila on August 10 last.
An interesting report covering
this flight has just been receives
from Lieut.. W. A. Gray. command
ing officer OF the Twenty-seventh
Balloon Company, stationed At
Kindley Field. Fort Mills. p. l.. who
was the pilot Of this balloon.
Balloon Was Lesky.
The equipment used for this flight
was an old lsaky Type r. balloon.
which had been condemned as un-
servicesble for observation pur-
poses, and a basket equipped with
Kapok Rotation rings. The purpose
Of the free balloon night was TO
give the observers practice both in
handling and landing q cacquot
type balloon in case of an scciden-
tai breaking OF the cable.
In about a ten-mile breeze blow
ing towards Manila City, the bal
saxrraf - 0.oE
with twelve bags Of ballast. the
crew. in addition TO Lieut. Gray.
the pilot being Warrant OFFICER r.
E. Lassiter. aide. and Capt. I. n.
Edwards. Second Aero Squadron,
passenger. when about i've miles
from Corregidor the wind died down
entirely and numerous clouds were
encountered at an altitude Of 1000
feet.
Would Descend Rapidly.
Whenever a cloud would pass
over the bag" and cool the gas
In addition. the cooling effect Of the
water at an altitude Of 500 feet had
also to be CONFERENCE.-The balloon
would then descend rapidly, neces-
stating using ballast. Approx
mately, after 1--WE minutes Of a cloud
the sun would appear and the bal
loon would then ascend rapidly un-
til the automatic valve would func-
ton, thus causing the bag to
again descend TO where some other
clouds would be encountered. caus-
ing further descent II seemed i'm
possible TO get and maintain an
equilibrium. which was possibly
due to weather conditions. the au-
tomato valving and the porous fab
ric of the balloon. In addition TO
this. more ballast was used than
actually necessary, due 10 the fact
that the only instrument used was
an altimeter. which was at least
200 feet slow in registering.
Ballast Was Giving out.
About an hour and a half after
the beginning of the flight the bal
loon was in the middle OF Manila
Bay. some eight miles north of Cor
regidor. and IL was seen that the
ballast would not hold out much
longer. Preparations were there
fore made for coming down in the
Bay. The inside lining Of the bas-
ket was ripped out. In order that
when landing the water would not
force II up and throw the passengers
out. Meanwhile. the occupants Of
the balloon undressed. After two
hours and fifteen minutes in the air
and with only one bag OF ballast
remaining, the balloon solwly de-
scended and the basket landed in
the water. The drag rope. weigh
ing about sixty pounds. was SIN
rolled up and tied TO the basket. but
IS soon as the basket hit the water
IL was cut of altogether. No SOON
er was this done than the balloon
began 70 ASCEND again.