| Show hundred feet above my creditors hung in space twixt heaven and earth at peace with god and the world and yet traveling at the rate of sixty or more allea an hour I 1 what I 1 felt on my first aeroplane trip and mighty sor ry was I 1 to have to come back to earth writes irene vandy in the new york press there Is nothing in the world quite like flying some have compared it with sailing water sailing others have compared it with on a very road but it Is incomparable once or twice during my trip I 1 looked aloft almost expecting to find the big white winged mechanical bird hung from a wire attached to gigantic telegraph poles and operated on a pulley so easy did it ride on space once or twice the machine rocked a bit and the sensation was delightful until the ma chine rocks one can scarcely believe it is moving no matter what ane rate of speed once we got lost in a cloud I 1 and my aviator but I 1 never knew it I 1 could still look down and realize that the world Is round tor it there is any vantage point from which to p ove the roundness of the earth it Is in an aeroplane provided you are high enough why I 1 tried to explain I 1 never kne how small the world was before for it seeded all stretched below me like toy farms where one could pick up the bouses in one s hand and play with them but the rush ot wind caught the words and I 1 thought I 1 should never again get my mouth closed when there was a slight dip on one wing and the machine turned in another direction we were now passing over the belmont racetrack and the hurdles showed plainly below like so many matches or maybe toothpicks painted white the grandstand was no bigger than a copy of some popular novel I 1 wished there had been some activity it would have been interest ing to see those tiny horses but I 1 was to be rewarded for my love of the horse As we passed over westbury they were having a practice game on the polo field I 1 looked down and saw the midget racing I 1 ither and thither with momentary gleams of a mallet raised in the air like a splinter I 1 saw a train pull into the hempstead station a train no big ger than those tor baby on the street five cents the train I 1 saw the garden city hotel bt paul s school the salisbury golf links with men and women moving about like tiny china dolls the buildings no bigger than toy blocks that a baby could handle imagine the glory of all this under a perfect sky and a setting sun reflecting ahat peculiar ra diance of scintillating lights on a background of greens and browns with here and there a red roof blending into the whole and trees you wanted to pick for a boutonniere somehow it never occurred to me to be afraid an utter relaxation came over me and I 1 gave my self up to the thrill of the beauty all round me if seemed as though upon leaving terra farma my last worry had vanished I 1 wished I 1 might spend my summer vacation in the air dut then I 1 had absolute confidence in the aall ity of my aviator absolute confidence in the sta of his aeroplane which I 1 suppose is halt the game the flight was from the hempstead plains aviation field which by the way never bad the right to the name because it lies in garden city and not in hempstead at all it Is really old camp dlack of spanish american war tame and is as large as central park the usual passenger flight is once round the field a distance of about four miles and takes about a many aln utes at a height of feet however the aal ator does not really care about flying so low and it you show no sign of fear you are liable to go higher and there Is less danger tor t Is harder to shut off the engine and down from a height of a few hundred feet than it Is from a height of a thousand feet and not vol down means sometimes landing with a thump the 1000 foot and easy landing Is one of the tests the aero chyb requires before granting a license my trip was with mr albert of the aeroplane company who owns one of the lightest and prettiest craft afloat a monoplane of about six hundred and fifty pounds with a very narrow graceful fuselage laced up the center dainty and attractive to women especial ly he finished second jast july in the race round new york and has never had a fall since the days when he was learning to fly Ti per baas the reason I 1 lost all sense of fear I 1 could readily realize the fascination of flying to women and once in the air myself the desire to learn to fly an aeroplane all but conquered me cut the monoplane had tipped its nose ground ward and we were vol down the up I 1 scarcely felt but when I 1 realized the engine had been shut off and we were coming down riding on air at an angle of more than forty five degrees it sort of baught my breath but we landed easy as a bird without so much as a bump and then for the first time since the flight began I 1 felt like a hero how did it feel you feel a sort of all here placing their hands on the spot where stomachs ought to be t you afraid when you got in the cloud could you see us these were a few of the questions fired at me from the rapid fire gun of my bundle of friends but the beauty the absolute peace of it all was upon me how long was I 1 up I 1 replied ignoring their questions just twenty three minutes they answered and I 1 looked my amazement for it fie emed but five at the most no said 1 to all their questions except the one as to how does it feel and to that I 1 gave the same answer that colonel anne mor gan mrs charles whitman mrs W K vander bilt jr mrs clifford D harmon and a hoit of others who have flown have given 1 I never en joyed anything more in my life and I 1 was not surprised as I 1 used to be that women had gone into the gamal but why you will ask if this is so have the women who flew dropped wit one by one till today there is one of the trio wh used to appear at international meets left flying mile helen dutrieux Du trieu a french woman there are several reasons one Is that the day of aviation as an exhibition Is over unless one can cater to a morbid public the aviator who today can fly upside down and inside out who can loop loops who can tango and hesitate in the air balancing first on one wing then on the other and keeping the audience in momentary expectancy of seeing him smashed to death amid a wreckage of engine wires wood and canvas Is P S y r f the man who draws from war to aeronautics there is but one hero in the public eye he or she who denes death and comes out alive the days of darius green and his flying machine and filing over the celebration to astonish crea alon are over down on long island where the ground Is flat and flying la comparatively sate it one knows how the buzz of the aeroplane Is as familiar as the buzz of the mosquito over in jersey aomen are naturally more cautious than men A man may do and dare before he knows how to do and dare but if a woman does and dares ou may be pretty sure he knows what she Is doing and daring of course always with the exception which proves the rule now that straight flying Is no longer interesting because it is campara lively safe women will not go into the trick fly ing therefore there Is no commercial market tor them the only thing deft Is aerial navigation and necessarily passenger carrying few women will carry passengers at the mo ment the only passenger carrying woman in america just at present Is ruth law now in newport who owns and operates a wryght bl plane perhaps women place a higher value on life than men and will run no risks but more probable Is the effect of the tragic death of miss harriet quamby killed in flight two years ago since then miss matilda one of the trio who was always on band at international meets with miss quamby and mile has dropped out the baroness de la roche the first woman in the world to fly has also dropped out but pos elbay because she broke both legs in a fall another reason why women have dropped out of the game or given up momentarily Is that the expense of buying and maintaining an aeroplane Is too great since the circus days of ordinary stunts have culled their death roll and are over there is not sufficient thrill in the mere fact of a woman flying to draw and managers will not put up the funds for a machine and still another reason Is that men the aviators themselves do not like to see women risk their lives in the game despite all this however there Is today a dear little woman pretty as a picture who has entered the game and intends to win she Is mrs marion sims a widow and a pupil of mr heinrich Heln rich she has declared her intention of being ready next may to fly at the panama pacific exposition in california and afterward to take a trip in a fly ing machine round the world she became in te rested in aeronautics about a ear ago and could not rest till she had learned how to fly though to dato she has not taken her pilot s license |
