TEACHING THEM TO FLY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2709, 2 March 1916, Page 2

TEACHING THEM TO FLY

"SOME OF MY PUPILS" L I (By Olareuce Winchester, teacher of living at Hendon, in the "Daily . Mail.") It has been said by someono who obviously knew something about flight that the lil'o of an instructor in llymg is the most nerve-racking and tho least desirable. The _ writer himself knows of one officer in the Royal Flying Corps who used to be a teacher at Brooldands and recently said, "I'd rather be bombing tho Huns a dozen limes than risking my life once with those fearful pups!" There, are many other instructors who havo made similar remarks after taking up the softer jobs of aeroplane testing and German "strafing." "l'ups," In' the war, is tho colloquial word in the world of flight for pupils. Tho type of man usually found at a flying school varies in a remarkable degree, and one comes across people in whom ono would least expect.the spirit of adventure to live, and these men, strange to relate, often make the beet flyers. The lover of cxcitemont goes in for motor-racing. The lover of tranquillity becomes a flight enthusiast. But ho never becomes an instructor. Among the medley of humanity which gathers in an aerodrome wo find artists, poots, parsons' sons, shopkeepers who havo saved up enough money to learn to lly, gentlemen of leisure, and a largo number of officers and privates home on leave. All these men have paid anything from seventy-live pounds to a hundred and twenty five pounds in order to be taught the newest of arts or sciences/ The civilians are anxious to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps or the ltoyal Naval Air Service, and tho military folk all put in for transfers which, their education and all other things being .well, the _ latter usually receive on securing thoir pilot certificates. : Thero i aro two general methods employed in teaching men to handle an aeroplane. One is called the "dual control." Both havo their various advantages and disadvantages, and it .bocomes a matter of choice which a pupil prefers. Winter the Best Time. Tuition begins at sunrise throughout the year, so that in the summer months it is essential to bo on tho flying ground sometimes as early as three o'clock in the morning, and instruction goes on until eight o'clock, w T hen the heat of the .sun causers the air to become "bumpy'" and too difficult for pupils to negotiate. 4 The evening sees pupils and instructors again busy and work goes on till dusk. However, at the present moment it is rarely possible to begin before eight o'clock, as with the rising of the sun there is usually a mist hanging, ami this does not clear for some time. • Still, tho advantage ,of the winter is tho length of the "flying day" from u teaching standpoint. The air, too, is ol a "solid" and reliable nature, being especially steady for embryo airmen. Tho winter is cortainly the best time for learning to lly. This does not at first seem apparent to the layman. In "dual control" machines thero are two sets of control levers —ono in tho pilot's seat and tho other in the pupil's seat. Each is connected, and they both •work- simultaneously, so that whatever movement is made by the one is felt by tho other. Thus, if the pupil is i/fclty of an error tho instructor' at once-makes the necessary correction, and tlio movement, with its fine grado of judgment, is felt by the student who is holding the duplicate set of controls In somo respects this is a very excellent system, and has met with great success iai some quarters, although it has been argued that a pupil does not know lyhether the instructor or the con ditioji of tho air has been responsible for a certain movement .of the central control lever which affects the balancn of tho biplane. Still, if the student has a good instructor behind him he should become the master of his tutor's style, for there is just as much style in flying as .there is in any other ail. Gustav HamoJ was an example of perfect style in flying. After a short period of tuition the 1 would-bo airman is allowed to fly alone—a moment of either supreme joy or supreme 'right, according to the temperament of tlio individual. Amusing First Efforts. Iu the "single control" machines tho levers are not duplicated. There is tisu-. ally only one seat, and the pupil is placed therein and given instructions to "taxi" from one side of,the flying ground to the other. To "taxi" is to switch the engine on and off alternately and thus run over the ground without lifting into the air. It is very amusiiig to watch tlie first efforts, for the novico usually ends up by turning round and round in short circles, so difficult is it at "first to keep thomachine in a straight course. But after a littlu practical help from his yteacher he is able to go straight, and then ho attempts short hops off the ground until he is able to make one long flight in n straight line. Then he is allowed to go for a circuitous flight, and if he has no mishap he is permitted to advunce further for the purpose of taking his Royal Aero Club certificate, which is granted in connection with the Federation Aeronautiquo Internationale of France. Often, however, he makes a had landing or side-slips with sad results to tho machine and maybe himself, although it 18 strange that there have been very few serious' accidents to folk learning to fly. Accidents seem, paradoxically, born of experience, at least the fata] ones. , These men who pay so much money are very "keen on" flight, and keen men usually make efficient men, and efficient men aro tho men we need now to suppress the enemy. Yet many ot theso keen men are refused opportunities to servo their country in, the air services, even though they may havo spent their hard-earned sayings, many of them, in qualifying as pilot airmen. 'I know personally of one man—quite a good pilot in his way—now doing sentry work at Farnborough, yet thero aro other men with 110 knowledge of flying whatever now feing acoepted in .one or other of the air servicos I It is strange, but this maladministration is nevertheless truo.