All such points count enormously—added to the fact that we assume the aerodrome he is practising over is a good one. In such cases, the pupil should be able to make wide turns in the air without any trouble at all.
Afterwards, the budding airman should learn to fly high. "Climbing" is what experienced airmen call it. Here, again, the requisite for success is a pupil’s confidence in himself, and in his machine—is inspired by the stages through which he has previously passed.
As has been quite rightly stated, the airman’s need, before he attempts anything in the nature of high flying, is to feel perfectly at home on his machine. He must have no anxiety as to any possible mistake in his controlling movements; he must not be worrying about his engine. In a word, he must have a perfectly-undisturbed mind.
This mental state is brought about, of course, by feeling perfectly competent to deal with any emergency, should it arise. By the time he has reached the high-flying stage, any pupil should—if he has been thoroughly trained—begin to experience a feeling of "one-ness" with his machine.
IV. Cross-country flights—The vol plané—Difficulty of first observation tests from an aeroplane.
"Only when it is possible to control a machine with safety, and without anxiety, at a height of 600 feet, should the military airman attempt to fly across country."
This declaration, made by an acknowledged authority, is a perfectly sound one; and, so far as the military flying schools are concerned, it represents a rule now almost generally adopted.
A most necessary step, before setting forth on a cross-country flight, is to master the art of effecting a safe and steady vol plané. The airman, when he is on a cross-country journey, must be ready at any moment for his engine to miss-fire, and perhaps stop. With the reliable motors now obtainable, this is not likely to happen, as has been shown; but engine failure is still a contingency for which the pilot must be prepared.
We will suppose, for the sake of argument, that a military airman is flying at an altitude of 1000 feet, across an average country. Suddenly, with a splutter, his engine ceases to work. If he is dexterous, he is not nonplussed. With a movement of his elevating plane, he tilts the aeroplane upon a downward glide, and comes sweeping towards the ground. Experience tells him just what is a safe gliding angle; he does not pitch his machine too far forward, nor does he make his angle so fine that there is any chance of the aeroplane losing way, and so becoming unmanageable.
As he glides down in this fashion, with perfect control over his machine, although it has been deprived of motive power, he looks about keenly to select a suitable landing-place. He is not forced to keep gliding straight ahead. He can, if he elects, turn either to right or left; and it is possible to make a half-circle in the air, while gliding down, and so land upon some spot which lay beneath the machine at the moment the engine stopped.