Opportunities in Aviation

by Arthur Sweetser; Gordon Lamont

Side-slip—The side movement of a plane as it goes forward. On an improperly made turn a machine may side-slip out—that is, in the direction of its previous motion, like skidding. It may side-slip in, toward the center of the turn, due to the fact that it is turned too steeply for the degree of the turn. Side-slipping on a straight glide is a convenient method of losing height before a landing.

Stall—A machine which has lost its flying speed has stalled. This does not mean that its engine has stopped, but in the flying sense of the word means that friction of the wing surfaces has overcome the power of the engine to drive the machine through the air. The only way out of a stall is to regain speed by nosing down. A machine which has lost its engine power will not stall if put into a glide, and it may be brought to a safe landing with care.

Strut—The upright braces between the upper and lower wings of a machine are called struts. They take the compression of the truss frame of the biplane or triplane. Each wing is divided into truss sections with struts.

S-turn—A gliding turn, made without the use of engine power. A machine forced to seek a landing will do a number of S-turns to maneuver itself into a good field.

Tail Spin—This is the most dreaded of all airplane accidents, and the most likely to be fatal. A machine out of control, due often to stalling and falling through the air, spins slowly as it drops nose first toward the ground. This is caused by the locking of the rudder and elevator into a spin-pocket on the tail, which is off center, and which receives the rush of air. The air passing through it gives it a twisting motion, and the machine makes about one complete turn in two or three hundred feet of fall, depending upon how tight the spin maybe. The British speak of the spin as the spinning nose dive.

Take-off—This is the start of the machine in its flight. After a short run over the ground the speed of the machine will create enough lift so that the plane leaves the ground.

Taxi—To move an airplane or seaplane on land or water under its own power when picking out a starting-place, or coming in after a landing. This is not to be confused with the run for a start when the plane is getting up speed to fly, using all her power. The NC-4 "taxied" a hundred miles to Chatham after a forced landing, and the NC-3 came in two hundred and five miles to Ponta Delgada after she landed at sea.

Vertical Bank—In this position the machine is making a turn with one wing pointing directly to the ground, and its lateral axis has become vertical. The machine turns very quickly in a short space of air, and the maneuver is sometimes spoken of as a splitting vertical bank. In a vertical bank the elevators of a machine act as the rudder and the rudder as an elevator. The controls are reversed.

Washout—Means anything which was but is not now—anything useless, anything that has lost its usefulness, anything that never was useful. Flying may be washed out; that is, stopped; a day may be a washout, a vacation; a machine may be a washout, wrecked beyond repair; a pilot may be a washout, useless as a pilot. It has a variety of meanings, and each one is obvious in its connection. The term became familiar to American fliers with the Royal Air Force.

Zoom—To gain supernormal flying speed and then pull the machine up into the air at high speed. The rush of wind will zo-o-om in the ears of the pilot. It is a sport in the country to zoom on farmers, on houses and barns, nosing directly for the object on the ground and pulling up just in time to clear it with the undercarriage.