He certainly wasn’t impressed favorably. “Suppose the fog had lasted all the way to the ground?” he asked.
I bring this experience up because of its important bearing both on the training of pilots and on flying in general; especially schedule flying. It is immensely important for a pilot to learn to fly by instruments, as distinct from flying “by horizon.” The night flyer or the avigator in fog must depend upon his instruments to keep his course, equilibrium and altitude. It did not require the flight of the Friendship through long hours of fog and cloud to teach me the profound necessity of this.
CHAPTER IV
EAST TO BOSTON
CRASHES were frequent enough in these earlier days. I had one myself, during my instruction period. Owing to carelessness in not refuelling, the motor cut out on the take-off, when the plane was about 40 or 50 feet in the air. Neta Snook was with me, but she couldn’t help depositing us in a cabbage patch nearby. The propeller and landing gear suffered and I bit my tongue.
© P. & A. Photos
FLYERS ALL EIELSON, WILKINS, BYRD, CHAMBERLIN, BALCHEN, STULTZ, EARHART, GORDON
BOSTON, JUNE 9
The crash was an interesting experience. In such a crisis the passage of time is very slow. I remember it seemed minutes while we were approaching the inevitable cabbages, although of course it was only a few seconds. I had leisure to reach over and turn off the switch before we hit.