Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-26
BY n0N BROWN.

Ii learning 10 fly it seems inevitable
that YOU reach a stage OF overconddence
after five or six hours Of training.
During the first two or three hours
the roar Of the meteor, the propeller
batting the air Just ahead Of you at
terrific rate. the strange behavior Of
IL, earth hclow ana the unfamiliar feel
Of the controls contribute 10 an over
wheln1inS experience. You feel pretty
meek and arc rather surprised when
you survive,
Then the reaction sets in. You begin
n Get used To II all. IL about three
more hours YOU suddenly decide you're
pilot,
War Ace in Cockpit.
! have reached that stage. The fact
that in The front cockpit sat one OF the
leading American war aces. VINO mao
cqltfhaneuyelvd eight German flyers
enc shot them down during the World
war and that he could take charge
q the plane from his set az the dual
controls at any moment. may have
holstefe6 up my confidence.
Hold your controls lightly" he re-
ttersted as Nc started Feel how /
take the plane of When We get up 10
Hbou; 400 feet take charge, Climb up
e 1900 feet END Go any darn thing
you want to-
guess he forgot that he had put me-
into q stall at 1900 feet and showed
me how to pull out of it the other day.
After climbing the plane 70 about
that height I tried some figure eigats
and sl1arp turns. Since no comments
came back through the speaking tubes
7 decided had gotten away with them
al right.
NOW I'll try g stall" / thought
7 pulled the stick back and we began
e. climb steenly. felt the stick ierked
cur Of my hand and forward. The
instructor turned and looked 81 me.
Did you want to stall it,"
7 nodded
Wait TIL get my safety bell hooked,
Al right Co ahead
Plane Climbs Steeply.
7 pulled the stick back toward me.
This depressed the tail OF the machine
Until We were climbing sleeper and
sleeper. Suddenly the roar and scream
Of the wind about us and its push in
my face ceased. The instructor tnrot-
tied Gown the engine and there was an
ominous stiffness. I worked the controls
this way and that, but they tapped
idly
Push the stick forward" the in
gTuctor said
pushed il forward as far as II would
60 and we fell into dive Then
Strengthened ii out gradually. He
opened the throttle and re were fying
straight again
That was great, thought. Nov
III try stall and spin"
/ pulled the stick back. He took il
away from me again and called back
what move"
said. '-'''
Nc. You have about 1000 feet alti-
tuoe- II you go into a stall you NAV
fall 500 feet If you 20 into a spin
stter that you may lose another 500 or
800 feet. Add that up"
Warns Of Altitude.
added II UP and decided I would
practice some more straight flying. on
the ground. he said
Don't ever try stunts at less than
1000 feet. Stick 10 that rule and vouu
live longer" =
Having stalled the plane twice and
4 SUCCESSFULLY
WITHOUT help, then went into NV frst
spin. my Al o.
Flying along at between 2 o0o and
5000 feet, ] had q sudden burst of
commence and decided to throw the
pane INTO some sort Of stunt. lust tn
see l could find my wav out of i;
sno ger Strengthened out without the
instructor in the front cockpit having
70 come 10 my assistance with his sci
Of me dual controls. / pulled the con
roI stick back sharply to climb the
pane 1T such q steep angle that II
would lose flying speed end stall. The
instructor grabbed the stick and showed
Il forward
What's the matter?" he called back
/ notjoned up into the air In the gen.
ersi direction Of stall and he nodded
All right" he signaled
/ pulled the control stick back steer.
y Our tail dropped. the horizon ahead
q me sun. smoothing below the NOSE
OF the plane and disappeared. This
Iand which had been pounding at m,
lace died down 10 a calm That mean
Te had lost flying speed and the wing,
coulc no longer support LIS. For
second had hard time holding In,
STICK back 50 steepiy. / wasn't ouits
80 anxious 70 try stunt as had beer
a. first.
Determines IN 60 Limit.
Then ! made up my mind To 20 tn.
limit on it and drew 1t back the twt
o. three inches had to spare so ths
y rested IN my stomach held /
back there in such determined fashion
that ] oTerdld IT, To end the stall
should have moved il forward steepl,
II diving position so that the plan
Esf4H nd az -
speed 10 ny properly when eaSed j
Cut IF the dive
Instead Of that most eXtraordinsr'
thing happened The earth belog
wnirled about IN such dizzy va,
that dozen horizons began 70 inter
sect each other like an animated geon
efry problem complicated by patches o
blue cloud shadows, rivers failroa,
tracks. factories and houses / WASH
especially afraid / had TOO much con
fldencs IL the Instructor for that BIZ
thought / don't know what n d.
y cnne est IF this ] guess III &c
GOOD 5swlIng out / tried fe'
random movements If he controls hon
Ing J might hit upon q solution of III
problem but they didn't work
Then there came the quiet voice q
tae Instructor over the telephone n
founded Ike = professor talking 10 on
= MS students in Philosophy /. l. I
Told of MistsL@
without esen taxing the control
s@sY from me. he said You've goli
into spin because y0u hold the site
bsck tqo long instead 81 diving ate
goa stalled Put the st.ck forward an
een.Falze the rQdoeT" / did This an
N q second or 80 the plane was diyln
straight toward tne@varth and the Dir
ooncertina spin had stopped
how pull the stick back aud pu
F1ef cut easy. easy, easy--npt 100 fast
We Strengthened out With long swo0l
mink / learned more from this IL
s'ruct0r than ] would from the hare
boiled and eZcitable type Vho w0ll
have grabbed the controls away an
baRleo me- oUt before I could see III
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