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Show THE THAIXIXG OK AI1WKX By J. G. Gilpatrlc Almost every ono has Been an aeroplano in flight, but with the present day layman, the Interest is centered more on the airman than on the machine with which bo does his flying. Naturally, the first question ques-tion is, "How did ho learn to fly?" Of necessity, the pioneers of aviation avia-tion taught themselves the then difficult di-fficult and dangerous art, and all the airmen in the world today owe their flying ability to the Wrights, Blerlot and others of the men who Tcnt before. be-fore. There are flying today a number num-ber of airmen who entered the game In tho early stages, and who, by luck and perseverance, mastered the art with very little outside assistance. assistan-ce. Theso men woro without more than a rudimentary' idea of the very principles of flight, and later realized realiz-ed the dangers they had undergono; ! they knew that tho average person could scarcely survlvo n self-administered course In airmanship Avla-I Avla-I tlon had come to stay, and a num-jber num-jber of firms started regular schools In which tho knowledge of tho earlier ear-lier experimenters could 1 dissom-lna'ed dissom-lna'ed among tho ever growing number num-ber of enthusiasts. There aro three basic methods of teaching flying the no-culled I'ron-ch I'ron-ch system, tho dual-control system, and a combination of tho two largely large-ly used, today for training war pilots. Tho French system was tho first in general use, and consisted in teaching teach-ing oneself to fly by constant criticism, criti-cism, advise, and demonstration of a competent pilot instructor. The pupil was glvon a heavy, low-power-od, and worn-out machine. Jncapablo of flying usualy called a "taxi" and was given practice in running the machine on tho ground. In this way he' actustomed hlmetlf to-the speed of an aoroplane, tho incessant roar of the motor, nnd tho use of tho controls. When tho pupil could run down tho field in a perfectly straight lino and do it consistently he was given "hops." "Hops" were made on a machine slightly better than tho taxi, and consisted In making short Jumps across ac-ross the field at a height of four or flvo feet. This was tho most trying part of the entiro course, as at this point smashes wero most likely to happen. If tho pupil misjudged his height from tho ground, or in his enthusiasm tried to stretch his hop Into a sustained flight, tho ending was usually disastrous. But if ho went about matters sensibly, he would soon bo promoted to straights, or flights in n straight line, about half a mllo long. Tho usual height In this work was 25 or 30 feet from the ground' The dual control system teaches wholly by demonstration and prac-tico prac-tico in actual air work. A high-powered high-powered machine fitted with duplicate dupli-cate controls Is used, and the pupil starts by riding with tho instructor and watching him work. By simply simp-ly resting his hands nnd feet on the controls the novice can feel the amount of motion necessary to handle hand-le the machine. Gradually, tho machlno is given over to the pupil the pilot being ever on tho alert to correct his mistakes and to demonstrate dem-onstrate new points. As the pupil becomes moro and moro skillful, tho pilot requires .harder evolutions. The writer believes in actually demonstrating every condition that may causo tho pupil a smash when ho finally flies alone, and tho remedies rem-edies to employ should such conditions condi-tions arise. When this work Is dono at a sufllclcnt height from tho ground, so that thcro is always room to regain control of tho machine, it may bo dono with perfect Kafoty. |