A SMASH TO EARTH

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 8, 4 October 1917, Page 6

A SMASH TO EARTH

HOW IT PEELS TO FALL. It is extraordinary how completely an aeroplane can be smashed, and yet -the occupants escape almost unhurt, writes a lieutenant of tho Boyal Flying Corps fo the "Daily-Nows." I am in Wai now as the result of a too-sudden descent, which gave onlookers the impression that there was going to be no cWnce whatever for the -pilot and observer. But although the machine is certainly badly broken up, I am only a little the worse for wear. How did I reel in that minute before I actually crashed into the earth? I can only describe the mental condition as a kind of euper-calmness. I felt more than conscious; yet perhaps I missed 6omo of the incidents that in ordinary consciousness I should have noticed. There was nothing of the often-quoted remembrance of early y<"»h. no sudden repentance-rather a wonderful feeling that "all was well." and then the minute finished; and with it, there camo a concentrated 6ense of inevitableness. Material things seemed to move very quickly; and I myself seemed little more thau an onlooker. I heard'someone say that the ambulance was commg; and 1 thought how unnecessary it was. It was only afterwards that I found I could not walk. Then • followed tho care of men and doctors, and later tho nurses; and I realised tho wonderful solidarity of humanity that lay latent all the while, only waituiff for an opportunity to express itself. This sense of brotherhood was like some great reserve of power, always ready to be poured out when needed; and I felt that 'tllis alone was worth an accident. It has been said that the war has given medical science much useful experience; it has dono tho "same for the soul of man. But need such accidents happen? It was said in the early days of locomotion that it was unnatuval to travel more than thirty rqjles per hour. It was certainly unusual in thoso days; bnt roan has. 'by obedience to the laws of steam and mechanics, learned to make thirty miles per liout quite natural, and therefore safe. The same argument was urged against the development of-aero, nautirs: it was not intended that tp<iu should flv. And it was unnatural until man had probed the new science and learned tho principles which gave him mastery of tho air. A crash can always be explained (I could explain mine), and 13 never any kind of recoil from man's ntlempl to probe what lie is not intended to discover. If the laws of flight aro obeyed, if engines work., if stress and strain are well calculated—and, it Hiust be added, if tho human element is dependable—then flying is as safe us'lying In a hammock; safer-sometimes.