AVIATING AND BALLOONING
The sensations which an aviator has during great flights of both duration and altitude are somewhat comparable to those of the balloon pilot [9] who sails in the sky far above the earth, feeling a peculiar realisation of the immediate presence of the Supreme Being, overwhelmed with the magnitude of the universe, with a sense of being a part of it, untrammelled, unaffected by ordinary things, surrounded with extraordinary conditions, supersensitive and yet keenly realising, now, matters of vast importance; now, minutely weighing his life in his hands as if it were something far removed from himself; breathing an air full of vigour and inspiration, with a sense of exaltation pervading every cell of the body is it a wonder that men enjoy such delights and really live only when they can cast off mere existence and rise either to the contemplation of such experiences by reading and thinking about them or to a full realisation of these experiences by actually trying them out personally? Such moments, rapidly passing moments each going to make up our individual life are usually but too few.
| [9] | Mr. Post is not only intimately connected with the development of the aeroplane but also one of the most capable practical balloon-pilots in the world. Mr. Post accompanied Mr. Allan R. Hawley in October, 1910, when the balloon "America II," representing the United States, broke the world's competition record and won the Gordon Bennett balloon cup by sailing one thousand one hundred seventy-two miles from St. Louis to Lake Tschotogama, in the wilds of Quebec. The trip took forty-six hours. This record still stands as American distance record. Mr. Post also holds, with Mr. Clifford B. Harmon, the American endurance record of forty-eight hours, twenty-six minutes.–THE PUBLISHERS. |
Is it then a wonder, that, after actual days of such vivid living, upon descending to earth or coming back among people, one should look at those who gather around about one as some kind of lower order of animal, that it should take a few moments to feel their presence gradually dawning upon him, and to bring his faculties slowly back where they can begin to understand what these bystanders are thinking and talking about?
This seems but a dream, but is in reality an actual experience of a return to earth after two days spent in the air and a visit to regions over four miles above its surface, much of the time out of sight of this dear old sphere, when ears had become unaccustomed to sound, and so impaired by the change of pressure due to the high altitude that we could not, for some time after landing, hear when spoken to. Our own voices rang hollow and stuck in our throats, and our thought had become unattuned to those expressed by the gaping, wondering crowd, struck dumb at the sight of our arrival, and standing like cows in the pasture when you walk among them.
Such is the state of mind in store for the airman, the artist, the thinker, the person desiring to become isolated for a while to feel as Adam felt in all reality, when he stood in the midst of the garden of Eden, monarch of all he surveyed. This appeals strangely to the imagination but when it becomes a reality by virtue of actual experience, it also becomes a sensation most difficult to express; for so few people understand what you are talking about, few having had the sensations of being removed from this world and coming back again to it.
[CHAPTER IV OPERATING A HYDROAEROPLANE (By Hugh Robinson.)]
The general impression among aviators and manufacturers of aeroplanes is that the hydroaeroplane is rapidly becoming the flying craft of the future, by reason of its ease of control, extensive bodies of water upon which to operate it, and, above all, its safety.
It is practically impossible for the operator of a hydroaeroplane to suffer injury in case of accident. Even in the worst kind of an accident, the most that can happen to the operator is an exhilarating plunge into salt or fresh water as the case may be, with the beneficial effects of a good swim if so desired, otherwise, the operator may "stand by" the wreckage, which cannot possibly sink. The several pontoons, together with the necessary woodwork to construct the planes, etc., furnish ample buoyancy to support the machine and operator even in case of a total wreck, which rarely ever happens. One can bang down upon the water with a hydro in any old fashion, and beyond a tremendous splash nothing serious happens.
Of course, this article refers entirely to the Curtiss hydroaeroplane, which I have been operating since its invention. The Curtiss pontoon is divided into six water-tight compartments, three of which will support the machine under average conditions. Recently, while the writer was abroad, a demonstration was made of these compartments for safety in case of accident to any part of the pontoon.