Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-19
BY DON BROWN.

NEWARK ELIZABETH AIRPORT.
Its ar experience worth working for,
the thrill Of learning to control an
airplane yourself
After the frSt uncertain hours ot
dual instruction you suddenly realize
that you can guide this roaring, dy-
manic continuance of metal wood and
! silrered cloth through the tracSless air
and around turns and figure-eights in
a fashion not too wobblv.
I am now at this point, and I have
+ found II worth the previous flying hours
! of uncertainty and confusion. when
/ there was only shrieking and clatter
in my ears and no clear thoughts in
my head as I held on to the control
stick while We reared about over the
New Jersey meadows.
Things are getting more comfortable
up there for both me and the instructor,
In a way flying is like learning to
write on a typewriter or getting the
signals on a foot ball team. 1t comes
awkwardly enough at first and YOU have
to do a lot of slow. heavy thinking.
But after you get enough practice the
words you think before typewriter
SEEM 10 run tIuUuAIi NOuA LiAtSCic anu
onto the sheet without any effort on
your part. Or, if 1t is foot ball the
strange groups Of numbers. which you
formerly had to think about hard, have
a clear meaning to you the instant
they are uttered.
The parallel is pretty close In learn
ing to fy. except that flying IL compll-
Gated by the fact that mistakes In the
air may have much more serious re-
suits.
Horizon Guides Pilots.
In your first instruction in plane
you hardly feel that you are sliding
over this way or that. or that the ma
chine is nosing over into what would
be a fatal dive If il were not corrected.
The plane seems to be steady at all
times It appears that only the earth
is swinging about You have to gather
from the way the horizon behaves just
what the plane is doing. After you
figure that out you have to think which
way you must move the stick and rud-
der bars TO correct it. But as you get
a little practice all this thinking be-
comes automatic and you begin to do
what is needed smoothly and quickly
The plane feels really alive under
your touch. You have time to look out
past the shining silver wings and down
on the clear-cut, brightly -colored patch
work landscape below, and you're not
sorry you started to learn to fly.
After a certain number of mistakes
YOU learn to keep the nose of an air.
plane level on the turns, so that you
are neither climbing nor diving You
learn this provided you make the first
mistakes while you have enough alti-
tude. If YOU make them too low flying
and other worldly matters may cease
to interest you.
Climb Higher.
The instructor having decided / had
enough Of straight flying on clear days.
We climbed up to where could see
little Of the horizon because of a haze.
which formed great circle about U.S.
The student flyer depends greatly on
the horizon as line by which he can
balance the plane. both sidewise and
III the direction of fight On account
Of the way the plane we are using in
training is designed. can keep II level
by holding the nose exactly on the
horizon. II the horizon line seems to
rise above the nose. I know the plane
is pointing down for dive. and II the
horizon drops below the nose / know
we are climbing.
In the same way. if the horizon seems
to rise only on the right until it is
eclipsed by the top of my right wing
I know that wing is low and swing 1t
back
Another way Of telling how your plane
is behaving is by the way the air
presses against you. As we climbed high
enough for the haze to obscure the
horizon I pulled the stick back gradu-
ally and climbed the plane sleeper and
sleeper without being aware of it.