San Francisco Chronicle from San Francisco, California • Page [Blank]

BpwSPS vttf VvTs i sssssalsssslasssssassl I 1 I i 1 LjaHMi viv i Mi Vt Ik ms frjr vwr urK ai 5k jS3C h1 i i rAniHtlL MTT SWWpliiveUlrtlinlTi HV I ie TViS rf i i rs IV 1 ffptfg is WITTI a total of almost seventy flvs names on the destb roll of sviatlon both aviators and the uerl pnblk hT bpn arounod to a point whro thoy an dcmasdlog girter aafetj In lying The numhor of fatalltlea haa boon on the lncrvaa op to th prrscnt tlm and all the Ingenuity of atotora and manufacturera la being directed townrd tha taak of leaarnlnc the dangers of the aport A a conaeqnonrB of the Increasing number of fatal accident aTlatlon haa received a aerioua setback TTi ptibllc la beginning to ahorr gennln alarm and la asking If tha acience la really worth he price of ao many hnman llrea A criala haa come In the progress of arlatlon The moment haa arrived Trben It mnst be rendered safe or become an eiotic aport like looping the loop It haa reached the point where It must Justify the Urea which have been sacrificed to It In the paat hy becoming safe and sane The acience haa made enormoua strides alnce Its Inception Already aeroplanes are being naed by the British postal authorities to carry the malls between Hendon and Windsor In England The first aerial post was Installed In the United States a few days ago between Nassau Boulevard I and Brooklyn Men are flying about the world like flocke of blrda They have crossed the Alps on wings They have races with eagles But all this time a grim specter haa been looking silently on at three conquests of the air and scarcely a week has passed that It did not anatch away at least one of the daring men who were trying to perfect the science of aviation CLATJDB OHAHAMTS WHTTB has made a careful atndy of the canaea of the fatuities in flying and has spent much time In trying to And some means of preventing them Hs blames tie overcoifldence and the overboldnesa of the arlstors for meny of them while the others are das largely to Imperfections In the machines which time snd experience are fast showing how to remedy The public Is In a large measure responaible for many of these accidents It dally demands greater feats of prowess from ths aviator And each new ePriment means the loss of at least one more life Tlio aivilenccs at the aeroplane meets think that he price of admiseion entitles them to aee aome exhihlrion of daring which completely outshines anything ever seen before A short time ago the aviator Friable was goaded hy the jeers of the crowd Into making a flight under conditione which he wai very sure would mean certain death As a result hs Joined the already too long list of martyrs to the pause of aviation Ymy aviators have been killd while trying to do fancy atnnts for the amuaement of a public which was satiated with ordinary exhibitions They have emulated the dives of the bobolink and the swoop of the hawk The audience has cheered aqd been thrilled by their daring performs ncea Great credit has redounded to the aviators who have succeededin executing these extraordinary maneuvers They are to be praised for courage But those who ha failed hare furnished the rsgedles which cause people to try out against the brutality of the sport The art of manipulates an aeropkne la a much more difficult one to learn than that of running an automobile for example i nere is only one speed at which sn aeroplane can nln the top apeed Anyone who is lenrnlng to run a motor can begin by using the slnwest speed he can Jn this way 1 familiariiea bimeolf with the en re mechanism his machine With tre aviator Ihis ia Impossible Hj must run hia X--if tafcSSivBssssssW jy 7VBBBBBBBBaSL sssT i OvsasasasaV sissf XssssssssK BBBST ff XSBBBBBkt SBBBBBBBBBBBBsPC BaSBEBBaiSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSasV sisBBBBBBBBBBBBr A VasT BSWl SBBBbMbBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBbB BBBBBBBBBBBBBBsl VVsBBBnBSSBsV SBSBBBSssVll BBBaSBaaSBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBM BBBBBBSBBBBBBBBBBBBBBpnS iBmmw45F Deal Roll Aviation Black and White Study of Grahams White by Rodman is Impossible to tell when he is going to run into an air hole or when some tray gust of wind will appear on the scene and lift up one of his machine and tilt 11 a 1 Ki 1 tW JP irfsmwi Ajgas fftTiS rzMn AaX i TMm a iv aisstsVVlt A 1 nsssV jdflkak LMTSa Vvrw rvr SBSaBBBBBW vjBBBBBBBSkJeU IssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssBft NfK ISssssssBfi tf WTO 0 zmmm mmfflmms GRAHAME WHITES SAFETY rvAXIMS Grahame White Leads the Cheering for Paulhan motoT st full speed all the time in order to pet enough power to raise him from tho cround This constitutes one of the greateet elements of danger in the uo of an aeroplane And it ia one which must be eliminated before aviation can he called aafe Many accidena have resulted from the breaking of the ma chin or from the stopping of the motor In midair Tlin first defect an only lie eliminated hy building the aeroplann with greater care that the parts which bear the most train may be strong enough to withstand It Aa for tie second the iirUtor must be thoroughly experienced 13 tn art of plidiig so that when his motor store he may change the elevation of planes and descend to the ground on the impetus which he hn 1 at the moment the engine censed to worn Terhapa the worst enemy which the aviator haa to face Is the unfavorable condition of the atmosphere It It over so fa that he vdll lose control of It completely Tt Is hoped that in the near future this difficulty ill he successfully met by the manufacture of telescopic wings that Is wings wuich can bo made larger or smaller at will and thus be made to present more or less resistance to the air aa the circumstances may demand Mr Grabatue White has presented other methods of overcoming these difficulties which have deprived the world of many of its most brilliant aviators In hia lateat book The Story of the Aeroplane published hy Small Maynard Tt seema certain that they will at least lessen the dahgera of the science if they do not eliminate them entirely At all events it woild seem greater care on the part of the men who fly and less exaction ou the pnrt of the public would successfully counteract the diamay caused by the fnBt lengthening denth roll Aviatons Tragedies Largely Due to the Human Element By Claude Grahame White The hnman element enters very Isrgely Into such a thing as flying and It is this human factor which haa Increased so greatly the recent death roll In moat things In life after a time a man becomes a little iriless One always hcara thia said As regards railway men as regard men who are in other and even more dangerous occupations one is told that familiarity eventually brlnga some form of contempt Now with flying it is scarcely carelesslesa so much a the endeavor to do something new that haa brought tins trail of accident It is not human I suppose to be prepared to make such slow progress In flying aa would have insured that progress being safe It is a fact that had men been willing to go ahead as slowly and pleaaurably tho present state conld hare been arrived at with scarcely any loss of life at all It is a notable fact and one that la much commented on that some of tho men who have been killed particularly those abroad have been exceedingly expert flyers mid nicu in tome cases who have been Instruct ins pupils In their work Tills however is not surprising to me Given a man of a certain temperament the fait that he has become thoroughly accustomed to his machine and to being In the air Introduces In element of danger I myself have noticed and after all it is quite hnmnti that a man who may hava become fumous for a particularly daring volplano will make his descent sleeper and steeper as lie goe on The remit is thin one day he meets an unexpected tint nf wind nr something on liis machine may give uy through an exceiwive strain WljJl llIDOeUH in thltt litis fnfnHlv a rnn1Al Iniiig aiiithvr indication of I lie danger of flying Of course Mich a conclusion is very unfair to the aeroplane aud to the sport It Is not through the dnnrer of the machine but through the man having attempted too much that the accident is due Keen experimented In such a new and rapidly increasing science as flying are alwaya in danger of forgetting their own safety In their ardor to make progress More than one case comes to my mind of man who haa met with disaster while actually putting to the text some theory that he has evolved while flying In this connection too one cannot help commenting upon tha question of exhibition flying Here no doubt one haa a source of danger Later on when aerophrnes aTe a moreperfecf IrwTIT be possible to five xhiWtion flights with very little risk But the Cnprrllht 111 hy Small Mtrniiri A Cet danger has arisen from the aeroplane being exploited so vigorously before it waa really a sutticiently aafe instrument for such Hung to he done Of courae tbcro i another aspect to exhibition flying and one which haa Tery largely appealed to me It is this that unless people see an aeroplane in flight and unlesa you can awaken interest In flying very litrje useful work will lie done For this reason on many occasions I have put myself to personal inconvenience to perform some exhibition flight In the statement that It ia easy to fly some qualifications are necessary Flying is easy but only up to certain point On a fine day flying round and round an aerodrome one cannot lniagino anything very much mora Important than the control of an aeroplane But this Is flying In Ita moat favorablo aspects When conditions are good and a machine la running well there is nothins ao delightful as aeroplaning But It Is an nnfortunnts thing that the dangers of flying should he hidden They lurk in wait for an unwary beginner Ho may take out his machine a number of tiroes and perform clever evolutions with It In turning he may bank over to a surprising anrle and yet feel quits confident that he has his machine well in hand And then something happens What it is ho does not quite know lie makes tha secoDd turn perhaps in precisely the same way and all seems to be goiug well Suddenly however probably because an unexpected gust of wind gets under his pianos be tind to his consternation that the machine will not come straight again as it haa dono before The result if he is lucky ia nothing more fhnn a wrrckoil aeroplane and a severe shaking 1rom such an experience an airmail emerges a mich wiser man After this he does not take chances lie becomea a respecter of these unknown dangera instead of defying them Unfortunately some pilots learn their lessons by meeting with an accident which robs them of life Piloting an aeroplane In the air la like exploring an unknown sea You do not know from whore the next gust is coming Experience of course is of very great value in combating high wihiIh Tor an aviator to obtain the certificate of proficiency from the Aero flub In whatever country he happens to be tbreo flights are at present required During tho course of them the air man circles round a prepared courae and called upon tn land withrn a hundred and fifty feet of a specified point But It has already been suggested and the new rule will come into furco quite soon that more stringent requirements should bo complied Jtli before a pilot obtains a certificate The danger of allowing an airman to gain any certificate too easilv is thai after gaining it he is able to givo demonstration flighta before large numbers of people An Inexperienced pilot ascending perhaps in too high a wlad to meet tha demand of the organizers of any flying event might very easily cause a dreadful disaster by descending upon tho people If is because It Is so easy to acquire a superficial knowledge of flying that a pretty serioua test should bo imposed before a man la able to describe himself aa being thoroughly competent While npon thla point It may perhaps be permissible for to touch again upon some of the aecidenta which have occurred In connection with flying I ara afraid that In many of them Inexperience has played a very prominent part In mora than ona case which has come under my personal knowledge a pilot has ascended to a considerable height almost at bis first flight and without any knowledge of tht art of making a volplane or aerial dive ahould his engine stop while In the air Of course such foolhardiness only Infrequently brings anything In the nature of a bitter retributiou When it does however the cry is that another man haa been done to death owing to the perils ef flying Such a view is of course quite wrong It is essential If a man wants to learn to fly safel that he should not venture to great heights unless he is sufficiently skillful to be ready at any moment to mate a volplano should hia power give out The making of a volplane may thus be described When an aeroplane is flying its engine through the medium of the propeller is forcing It ahead and giving the pilot control of It through the very speed with which it is passing through the nir Xow suppose thst the engine begins to fail What happens The aeroplane commences at once to loso its speed If a pilot steered straight on after his englna had ceased to revolve the result would he that the aeroplane would soon come to a dead holt In the air Then being utterly powerless to control it the airman would find himself falling backward or perhapa aldc wUe toward the earth I What haa to bo done wheu an engine stops is for thef pilnr to TTirlsnTirclTllftTlowiawirr anil for ward i a rapidly as liA can The rest It of this maneuver is that the aeroplane In falling toward the ground is AEROPLANES should lw constructed morv solidly with arrester attention to the uniform strength of all ports One of tho essentials for development In the future Is to make neroplane rnirlnes more reliable The element of dnngfr In flying from the point of view of tho breaking of any part of ones machine Ik greatly minimised If one has the common sense to examine ones machine carefully before starting for a fllirlit IF ones machine Is in rood working order ones controlling mechanism Is perfect and the weather la suitable one Is beginning to reduce the danger of flying ery materially The man who takes a machine of some quite revolutionary character and seeks to fly In It la risking great deal Had men leen willing to go ahead slowly the present state of aviation could have been arrived at with scarcely any loss of life at all IT is essential If man wants to learn to fly safely that he should not venture to great heights unless he Is sufficiently skillful to be ready at any moment tn moke a voiplano should his power give out What has to be done when an engine stops is for the pilot to tilt his machine downward and forward as rapidly he can The result of this maneuver Is that the aeroplane In falling toward the ground Is elven by the momentum of Its descent sufficient steerage way to counteract the loss of power tit Jw SoMfeC JgHUSi flSssBsllaaaaaaaaaaBl ft jiBBBBBBBBBBBBBBaflNeHHI Grahame White in Air Torjrjery given by the momentum of its descent sufficient sfrerage way to counteract I he loss of power It comes glidins down pretty fast and a fairly steep anjrle until the pilot sees that he is within forty or fifty feet of the gronud Then he straightens the machine out aa it ia tailed or jatbor cheeka lts down ward descent by a movement of tho elevating planes and so manages to make a safe landing The beginner who flics at a good heivbt without Aeroplane Fatalities Date Airman 1896 Aug 10 Lfllenthal 1 899 Sept 30 Pflcher 1908 Sept 17 Lieutenant Selfridge 1909 Sept 7 Lefebre Sept 22 Captain Ferber Dec 6 Senor Fernandez 1910 Jan 4 Delagrange April 2 Le Blon May 13 Hauvette Michelin June 18 RobL July 3 Wachter uly 12 Hon Rolls July 13 Kjet Aug 3 Kinet Aug 20 Lieutenant Paaqua Aug 27 van Matsdyck Sept 25 PoOlet Sept 27 Chavez Sept 28 Herr Plochmann Oct 1 Herr Haa Oct 7 Captain Mataievich Oct 23 Captain Madiot Oct 25 Lieutenant Menta Oct 6 Blancfaard Oct 27 Lieutenant SagliettL Nov 17 Johnstone Dec 3 Cammarota and CastcIlanL Dec 22 Grace Dec 28 Signor Picollo Dec 28 Laffont and Polo Dec 30 Lieutenant Caumont Dec 31 Moisant Dec 31 A Hoxsey 1911 Jan 9 Roustijan Feb 6 Lieutenant Stein Fob 9 Noel 2 passengers Le Torre March 29 Signor CeL April 14 Lieutenant Byasson April 1 7 Captain Tarron April 20 Louis Leite April 24 William Purvis May 1 Captain Matyewttch May 10 Lieutenant May 1 1 Hans Bockemuller May 1 1 Rene Vallon May 17 Addison Hartle May 1 8 Pierre Marie Boumique May 18 Lieutenant Paul Dupuis May 25 Benson May 28 Ciro Cirri June 1 Marcel Pinot June 6 Lieutenant Brague June 8 Marra June 9 Herr Schendel June 9 Herr Voss June 1 8 Captain Princetau June 1 8 Le Martin June 1 8 Landron July 13 A Kreamer July 14 Edouard PaQloIe July 21 Miss Denise Moore Aug 15 St Croix Johnstone Aug 15 Wm Badger Sept 1 Friabie Sept 2 Lieutenant De Graflly Sept 2 Captain De Camine Sept 3 Maron Sept 7 Lieutenant Newmann passenger Leconte Sept 12 Lieutenant Chotard Sept 16 Nieuport Sept 17 Lieutenant Cammell Sept 19 Alfred Rosenbaum Kelly and having first acquainted himself with tha knack of making a volplane Is running an extremely gravs risk The movement hy which a machine is tilted downward after tht engine haa stopped has to mad very definitely snd without a moments hesitation If person unaccustomed to such an emergency la suddenly confronted with tha stopping of an engine it la highly probable th be may become confused and fall to point tha nos of tha machine toward tha ground with sufficient rapidity This question of tha volplane Is very important when ens comes to consider cross country flying When making a cross country flight one may bs faced at any time with tha difficulties utttndb an unexpected falling of ths engine If one is lneky a nice open tract of country may 11 below From an altitude of one thousand or fifteen hundred fept which ia tha aafe height at which to fly across country ona must come planing down keenly on the lookout for any amouk field In which tha machine may be brought to rest This requires a great deal of Judg nt In selecting a land point one cannot change ones mind at the last minute The marhina in gliding down without engina power cannot bo checkfd to rny very great extent Were this done it would become unmanageabla and fall Therefore If the pilot chooses a field to come down In from a heigh of a hundred feet or ao that Held hs has to come down in Of course it might be possible to turn a little to the right or left if the ground was seen to be exceedingly bad from Hoae Inspection but such a maneuver would be attended with a good deal of rik The diniculty of making landing Sfter1 an engte atoppago is very mueli greater when th breakdown comes at a moment when the pilot is paasing over woods or hills or perhaps even over a towjij.