Evening star., 1934-11-28
BY CAPT. F. E. KLEINSCHMIDT.
By wireless to The Evening Star.

-N ROUTE TO MINEOLA, Long
Island, November 28.-Yester-
day l told you about hopping
IL of from the little Hudson Bay
village and getting started
back to Ottawa. Today am forced
to tell you that we have encountered
the most serious difficulty of our
entire trip.
AS we we're speeding along this
morning I noticed that our plane was
acting queerly. 1t didn't respond to
the controls as 1t should. I got Mrs.
KleinSchmidt to take over the con-
trolls for a few moments while I made
very hurried investigation. I found
that one of the most important wires
had snapped, probably due to the in
tense cold and the great strain under
which the entire ship has been
throughout the trip.
There was only one thing to do
land as quickly and as easily as pos
sible l took over the controls again
and began looking for place to land.
And I want to say right here that
landing fields are not the most plenti-
1Ol llllllSo W DC AOhll0 AL IAllo
In fact there aren't any regular land
ing fields at all and if you have to
| come down you must pick the spot
that looks not the smoothest but the
| least rough.
After limping along for a bit I
sighted a fairly level plateau and
headed for it. The plane handled a
good bit like dead weight, for it Is
very heavy, loaded as it is. Somehow
I am not just sure how We man
aged to land without doing any Sc
rious damage, although the fabric on
| one wing was torn.
We were somewhat shaken up as
We landed, but thankful to be all to-
gether. Mrs. Kleinschmidt got out her
| work basket and started at once to
fix the wing fabric, while the pilot and
got busy with the wire. If you have
ever tried to tie your ShoeStrings with
your mittens of and the mercury at
zero, you can imagine how we must
have felt when we tried to fix this
wire with the mercury far below zero
and no fire within hundreds of miles.
Finally we had to build q fire and
thaw our hands bit before we could
go on with our work. 1t was a tedious
job, for this kind of repair work must
be done with great care. Much de-
pends on the accuracy with which it
Is done. you see.
1t took us several hours to complete
all the repairs and test them, but
finally the task was completed and
we were ready to start again.
Mrs. Kleinschmidt once more dem
onstrated her ability as a cook by pre-
pairing hot meal that certainly tasted
good. There is nothing like hard work
in a cold atmosphere to make one
appreciative of good warm food.
Behind Schedule.
We were late getting into Ottawa
though we had made up some Of the
hours we had lost by flying at top
speed and with a tail wind to help
us along.
AS I am sending this we have just
taken off again from Ottawa and are
now on the last leg of our flight to
Mineola airport. Although we are
behind schedule due to the miShap,
I feel that we can make up enough
time to get to Long Island late to-
night, in time to rush the films to
Washington for the opening of the
Metropolitan Theater tomorrow morn
ing.
In fact. the pilot has Just told me
to inform The Star that the pictures
will be there without fail We are
determined not to disappoint the boys
and girls in Washington-for we really
have big surpise for them. It Is
special message from Santa Claus
which you will hear him deliver in his
own CHEEKY voice when you see him
on the screen tomorrow.