REPORTER GOES FLYING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1738, 1 May 1913, Page 4

REPORTER GOES FLYING.

IN AN AUCKLAND AEROPLANE. (By Telegraph— Special Correspondent.) Auckland, April 30. It is not improbable that facilities for indulging in the thrilling experience of sailing in an airoraft will boon be available m Auckland, for tho results being obtained with the biplane _ owned by a local enthusiast are improving perceptibly. This is the only aeroplane brought to Auckland so far which has accommodation for n passenger. During yesterday some really stable flights were secured over tho Avondale racecourse, at various altitudes, attaining a maximum of about 30 feet, and oil ono or two occasions a member of the'"Star" reporting staff occupied the passenger's seat. He thus describes his experiences:— "The sensation of flight, is delightfully novel. Seated behind the pilot, in tho attitude of a horseman occupying a. trotting sulky, one grips tile wooden stays at either side, and awaits' the crucial moment when the propellor will commence its furious revolutions, and the still more exciting instant when the big structure of straining wires and canvas planes Will be loosed from its leash, and sot forth at a bound oil its journey of speculative destination. Off she goes, racing over the ground at a speed of something like 40 miles an hour, for a distance of 100 yards, when t'ho pilot, by pressing a lever, tilts the. canvas elevator ahead, and, ,liko a yacht rising gracefully to a. gentle wave, the bird mac.iine gathers the brcczo beneath her wings, and glides upwards to the strange air currents above, fulfilling the mission for which sho was intended. For the time being one loses tally -of men and things below in the uncommon glow of sailing at elegant poise, and it is even with regret that one feels the biplane responding to the touch of tho levers controlling her descent. Not a. whit precipitous is tho return journey, for the downward grade is as gradual as lias been the upward one, and when her wheels come to earth their spring action adjusts matters so that tho aeroplane, without jolting, continues to run along flic ground as freely as a motor-car until the engine is checked and the break powet applied to deliver a passenger with <v whetted aviation appetite." • The'pilot yesterday Was Mr. Sandford, who has had experience of aviation in Australia, and he confidently expects to achieve greater things in the near future. His best flight so far extended over almost the full length of the course at a maximum height of about 30 feet.