Line of flight is downward; angle of incidence large, hence speed is slow; but there is too much downward momentum and landing gear will break. Should line of flight arrow point upward, airplane as shown would then be in climbing position.
3. A third type of bad landing results from failure to turn the machine out of its glide at all, so that it glides straight downward until it touches the ground. This is the most dangerous case of all the bad landings. To cure it open up the engine after the first bounce, regaining flying speed before the second bounce; then reland.
(From “How to Instruct in Flying.”)
Fig. 36.—Bad landing Type 4—machine not level.
Wheels do not touch ground at same time, and one may smash.
4. If at the moment of landing the rudder is turned causing machine to swerve, or if the machine is not level, a side strain will be placed upon the landing gear and the wheels will buckle (Fig. [36]).
CHAPTER V
CROSS-COUNTRY FLYING
Cross-country flying differs from ordinary airdrome flying in that it takes you a long way off from your landing field. On the airdrome your chief anxiety is to learn how to fly, how to work the controls, how to bank; but in cross-country work, you are supposed to have all the technique of airplane operation well in hand, so that you do not have to think much about it. In cross-country flying, then, your chief anxiety will be to arrive at your destination and to be constantly searching out available landing fields in case of engine failure. The first cross-country flight you make may be a short, easy one, in which there are plenty of available landing places, and on which you will be able to make a regular reconnaissance report. Further experience in cross-country work will involve more and more difficult trips, until you will think nothing of flying, for example, on long raiding tours over unfamiliar enemy country.
Equipment.—Knowing that you may have to land far away from any headquarters, you must take a complete set of tools and covers for the airplane. Your clothing need not be different from usual, and will comprise helmet, goggles, leather suit, and gloves. Do not forget your handkerchief, which you frequently need to clean off your goggles.