FLYING SCHOOLS.

Grey River Argus, 20 June 1910, Page 1

FLYING SCHOOLS.

■■ ' ; ■"" — : — l+— ■■ The aviation schools at Chalons, hi France, are rapidly, becoming- as famous in tneir way as many of the .bohemian centres of instruction in the gentler arts. There are several institutions at Chalons where the young- idea may be taught to fly,{ and "the rivalry between the students of each has for some time rested on a definite basis. The principal centre of instruction is that controlled by M. Farman. The Antoinette Mon . > oplane Company, however, has erect- | ed quite an imposing building,, where twenty machines/are honsed; the ■ Bleriot school recently . opened a ..branch, and other, newcomers include M. Roger. Sommer and M. Koechlin . and iSaulnier. But M. Farrnan's school is by far the largest and most sought after. The instructional ' course terminates only when the pup|il can fly six and a quarter miles .(ten i.icilmetres) alone. The -fee is £10.0 j and the aerial aspirant must undertake to purchase, a. Farman biplane at a cost of \£Ll2o. Pupils (most of them fairly wealthy) come from all parts of "the world, 'and the language j J difficulty . has been partially, solved by i j.M. : Farman learning Esperanto." it j was by this "means that the master ■ was enabled to put M. Efiimoff, the extraordinary daring young Russian ! aviatbr, through his' paces* Among the other promising flying men that' j have come under the influence of the; school are two Englishmen, a Belgian, a German, a Dutchman," and' an American. When the novice receives his first introduction to the training-ground he will see any numI ber of 'aeroplanes, from' one to seven, manoeuvring in the air. For the first Week to pick up what odds and ends of information he can by watching the fitting together of machines in the factories or from the iristruc- ] tion of beginners on the so-called school aeroplane— a sadly-battered contrivance, which has had some per--1 ilous adventures in the hands of ' scfme of the more reckless pupils. Eventually the great day arrives | when he takes his first flight ."w ; th | one of the instructors, and from that ■j point onwards, it will rest very much i With himself to decide whether the I spacious ether has any career in J store For. him. , The course of train- | ing is delightfully free from "trimmings." The pupils are lodged in a severely homely hotel ; their ■ food is 'plain and not superabundant, and their lives come under a rigid code ' j of discipline, "early to bed and early I to rise" being one of the golden rules of the institution. The aviator, to be successful, cannot afford to play tricks with his constitution. Payment of . the penalty of non-suc-cess is demanded with disconcerting suddenness. I " _