Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-16
BY DON BROWN.

NEWARK ELIzABETH AIRPORT
My 1o-hour flying course has been COM
pleted with a 40-minute hop, my Sec
ond solo flight.
In concluding this course and this
eeries of articles. l wish to give the
aviation fan or the prospective flying
student an idea of just how much can
be learned during this period and how
much he may expect from a bona fide
flying school.
In the first place, 1t is not even pos
sible to get a private pilots license with
this amount of training. You must
have. under the new Department Of
Commerce regulations, at least 10 hours
of solo work in addition to your first
hours of dual instruction, in which the
instructor rides with you to correct
your mistakes and give you advice. And
the average school is in no hurry at
all to start you on solo. They value
their planes too highly to risk having
them smashed by half-trained student.
Training Is Elemental.
What you learn during this period
seems to be great deal against your
former ignorance and lack of skill. but
compared to the knowledge and tech
nique Of, say a licensed transport pilot.
It is as a kindergarten compared to
oxford or Harvard. But If you want
TO learn to fly, you have to go through
this elemental training, just as any
great war ace or present day air hero
did.
Unless you are a genius OF aviation,
you are apt to come out of 1t with little
more than just enough confidence to
take you onto the next training.
Passing over the qualifications of
good eyesight. strong heart and steady
nerves, I can suggest that the most
necessary thing in learning to be a pilot
E strong love for flying.
II you have this, even though you
may get yourself into places where you
will be genuinely scared for a while,
you will come out feeling more and
more confident of yourself and your
ability to learn to fly.
The most important thing, of course,
Is to be careful in selecting your flying
school. There are plenty of them in
the country now which guarantee to do
all sorts of wonders for you.
In some of the cheaper magazines
you will find extensively illustrated ad-
vertisements promising to have you safe
on the road to fame and fortune via
the air in from 20 to 40 days. You
will be almost treading on Mr.. Lind
bergh's heels. they intimate, within a
few hours after you step into one of
their magic planes flown by one of
their superhuman instructors.
No Royal Road to Flying.
To a person with common sense
enough to learn to fly, the extravaganza
Of such promises will show up the
promisers as the fakes they are.
The majority of schools are making
q sincere effort to give their students
honest training, and most of them
promise nothing in the way OF solos or
other achievements.
The best thing to do, If you have no
friends who are already in the flying
game. is to make a quiet but thorough
investigation of the school you plan to |
sign up with.
II they have been doing good work
in the past, and their present students
seem satisfied with the treatment they
are receiving. you can be reasonably
safe in tying up with them If there
is something wrong. the students who
have paid their money and who have
not got what they consider square
dealing. will be quick to tell you.
Once you get started flying with the
right sort of school, though, I can
promise you this. you won't regret a
minute of the time you've spent in
learning to fly. It's worthy every dollar
of the money it will cost YOU
Aviation is great game and those
who love it have plenty of reward for
all the trouble, the hardships and the
dangers which every flyer must face.
tCopyright. 1898. in all countries by the
North American Newspaper Alliance.l