The elevator is turned, and the forward end changes its relation with the ground before you. There was a slight lift, but your caution induces you to return the planes to their normal running angle. You try it again. You are now certain that the machine made a leap and left the ground. This is the exhilarating moment.
With a calm air the machine is turned while running, by means of the vertical rudders. This is an easy matter, because while going at twenty miles an hour, the weight of the machine on the surface of the ground is less than one-tenth of its weight when at rest.
Thus the trial spins, half the time in the air, in little glides of fifty to a hundred feet, increasing in length, give practice, practice, PRACTICE, each turn of the field making the sport less exciting and fixing the controls more perfectly in the mind.
THE THIRD STAGE.—Thus far you have been turning on the ground. You want to turn in the air. Only the tail control was required while on the ground. Now two things are required after you leave the ground in trying to make a turn: namely, putting the tail at the proper angle, and taking charge of the stabilizers, because in making the turn in the air, the first thing which will arrest the attention will be the tendency of the machine to turn over in the direction that you are turning.
After going back and forth in straight-away glides, until you have perfect confidence and full control, comes the period when the turns should be practiced on. These should be long, and tried only on that portion of the field where you have plenty of room.
OBSERVATIONS WHILE IN FLIGHT.—If there are any bad spots, or trees, or dangerous places, they should be spotted out, and mentally noted before attempting to make any flight. When in the air during these trials you will have enough to occupy your mind without looking out for the hazardous regions at the same time.
Make the first turns in a still air. If you should attempt to make the first attempts with a wind blowing you will find a compound motion that will very likely give you a surprise. In making the first turn you will get the sensation of trying to fly against a wind. Assuming that you are turning to the left, it will have the sensation of a wind coming to you from the right.
FLYING IN A WIND.—Suppose you are flying directly in the face of a wind, the moment you begin to turn the action, or bite of the wind, will cause the ends of the planes to the right to be unduly elevated, much more so than if the air should be calm. This raising action will be liable to startle you, because up to this time you have been accustomed to flying along in a straight line.
While flying around at the part of the circle where the wind strikes you directly on the right side the machine has a tendency to climb, and you try to depress the forward end, but as soon as you reach that part of the circle where the winds begin to strike on your back, an entirely new thing occurs.
As the machine is now traveling with the wind, its grip on the air is less, and since the planes were set to lower the machine, at the first part of the turn, the descent will be pretty rapid unless the angle is corrected.