Evening star., 1925-06-14
Great Airmen Have Cracking Up Skill
Through Crash Without Suffering Remarkable
Features of Development in Jseo of Planes

perched like an eagle. or risk the
danger of jumping overheard and
falling 100 feet or So
After they have reached the ground
with the aid of the rope it is a long,
tedious process TO find the way back
to camp, return with help, take the
wings of the plane while it is still in
the top of the tree, lower it in parts
to the ground and transport it back to
camp or to cleared spot, where it
can be set up again and repaired
The memory of this process, once
experienced. makes the pilots careful
to watch their gasoline supply and
test their engines thoroughly before
starting out.
One of the hardest propositions that
a pilot has to contend with occurs If
something happens to his plane when
he Is travelling at night. Often the
shiny spot below him, which looks in
the moonlight like a wheat field, is
actually a lake or a forest. Lieut.. w
T. Larson Of the Army Air Service,
now stationed at Balboa Heights, in
the Canal Zone, tells about an inter
esting experience he had one night.
His engine gave out suddenly and he
looked Immediately for some sign of a
possible landing place below him. He
finally saw what appeared to be an
irregularly shaped but cleared spot at
some distance, but he thought he
could navigate that far. 1t was very
dark, and the only way he had of
telling how near the ground he was
was by watching the skyline lift or
dip at the horizon. 1t isn't any too
reassuring a position to be in. He
dropped carefully down, hoping that
luck was with him, and made what
seemed an unusually bumpy landing.
But it was a landing. and he was on
the ground, with his machine and his
life. So he jumped out of the cockpit
to see what sort of place it was that
he had landed in.
Down he crashed, Instead of touch
ing the ground with his feet he kept
on dropping, and If he had had time
to think he would have wondered if
his plane had landed on a cloud and
stuck there. Something scratched him
as he fell, and he discovered that he
had landed in the top of a tree, stepped
out of the plane and fallen to the
ground! The plane, of course, was
cracked-up, but he was safe, except
for limp, and he had had an expert
ence that comes to few.
MARROW escapes from cracking-up
group of flyers gets together. There
is something fascinating about a close
call and escape from death. 1t ap-
peaIs to our love of safe DANGER 1t
is a universal instinct that Is used
with profit by makers of movie COM
edies when the director has the luck
less hero perform sundry stunts on a
high building when we know all the
time that the picture was actually
taken on the ground with no danger
at all to any one. In the same way
we like to hear about narrow escapes
in airplanes.
The Army aviators, like all pilots
who travel over dangerous ground
and at night, are used to flirting with
death Not long ago one of the Off
GERS stationed at Fort Sill, Lieut.. c. G
Pearcy, was going home after a late
party in Norman. Okla, about loo
miles away. 1t was journey that
usually takes a trifle over an hour
so he started out about midnight
hoping to get plenty Of sleep when
shining when he took-off. but before
long it began to rain, and soon he
had lost his way. This is considerably
different from losing your way on the
ground, for there you usually have
some one to ask. Up in the air you
just fly about until you see a spot
you recognize, and thus locate your
self. Lieut.. Pearcy flew low over sew
erar small towns, whose lights he
could see. but he couldn't recognize
them. After a time he realized that
his gasoline would not last forever
so he decided to land and wait fol
morning.
In making forced landing, espe
cially at night. the pilot always circles
spot several times before he tries
to land, and on this occasion all de
tails were followed out. He saw what
appeared to be level spot and landed
| without trouble. He discovered wher
the plane came to stop that he was
in an alfalfa field. Knowing that he
would be able to get a good start ir
the morning. he tried to rest, ignoran,
Of his peculiar situation. In the
! morning. he looked about, only to b<
dumsoua Pea BY the sight of a large