AVIATION THRILLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 75, 29 March 1928, Page 11

AVIATION THRILLS.

CRASHES AND THEIR CAUSES.

hints for young pilots.

INSTRUCTOR'S EXPERIENCES

(Bv H. J. COLLINS, ex-captain of the

Royal Air Force.)

It seems to me, that, considering the enormous amount of interest now taken

in aviation by the general public, the time is opportune for casting a little light on some aspects of the subject. I remember, at the time 1 was beginning to take an interest in flying, I used to read in the Press cases of accidents, such as "The machine was observed to get into a spin, and nose-dive to the ground, pilot and passenger both being killed." Now this sort of description of a flying accident merely mystifies the public,' and gives the impression that an aeroplane is liable to "spin or sideslip" at any moment, quite involuntarily, and then uncontrollably crash to earth. Nothing happens without a cause, and flying is as much under the law of causation as everything el^e. Naturally these "very limited knowledge" descriptions of accidents are bad propaganda for the cause of aviation.

If a machine spins and crashes, there is always some quite explainable cause: perhaps the pilot has climbed too steeply on a turn and lost "flying speed," that is, sufficient speed to enable the controls to grip the air; <ir, again, a control wire jams (very unl kely if the pilot always examines his machine before the flight). Another frequent came of machines crashing is the pilot having "taken off" and climbed to perhaps 100 ft when his engine commences to miss. An inexperienced pilot will then often attempt to turn back into the aerodrome—turning down wind with a missing engine— an almost certain cause of a fatal crash. An experienced pilot will always, in the above circumstances, push her nose down and land in the same direction as he started, even if it means a "pancake" landing in a hedge. There is no such thing as "spontaneous" spinning, sidesliping, or nose-diving.

When I passed through the "Air Force School for Instructing Pilot Instructors" at Gosport, near Portsmouth, all pilots had to put their machine into every known and unknown position conceivable, and at every different movement of the dual controls explain to the instructor, through the speaking tube, what they were doing, and why: spiralling, looping-the-loop, sideslipping, rolling, etc. This used to be called selfconscious flying, and it is the finest flying course in the world.

One occasionally comes across the words "air pocket," apropos of flying, in such as "The machine struck an air pocket, and fell 100 ft"—l have flown all over England and France, and many times across the English Channel, having had over seven years' "flying life," and have never yet come across any of these so-called "air pockets." Obviously, the words make the public imagine a vacuum, of hole in the air (an impossibility). Now what really happens is this: the whole atmosphere, if it were visible, would appear to be rolling and turbulent. just as the ocean when it is blowing hard. You are flying level, and suddenly you rise up on a mountainous wave of air; a bit further on you drop, perhaps 50 or 100 ft, sliding down another wave. In short, the weather is "bumpy" in flying slang. I have also often experienced a very big "bump" from one of our own shells (in the big war) coming close to my machine on its course towards Germany. The only way to become a competent pilot is to take your machine up to 9000 or 10.000 ft and throw her about. Sideslip, spin and loop, fly upside down, in fact, get so that you feel part of the machine. Whatever position you get into, if you have plenty of height, you can always easily regain "flying position," that is, flying on a level keel. I have taught hundreds of young pilots to fly, and in my opinion it is much easier to learn to fly than to drive a

car. There are no gears or brakes or clutch to worry about, only the "joy-j stick," which controls the elevator and aillerons, and the cross-bar, controlling the rudder by the feet. In the stress of turning out pilots in the great war. I have frequently given a likely pupil no more than two hours' instruction in dual control, and then sent him off successfully on his solo flight. Once the first solo flight is accomplished, the pupil's self-confidence is increased 100 per cent, and he very rarely makes bad mistakes after.

I recollect, a case, where I sent the pupil on his first solo flight, having given him careful instructions to make one circuit of the aerodrome and then to land. He took off all right, and flew the circuit, but failed to cut off his engine and glide down. Instead, he made circuit after circuit, while my hair grew visibly white, as I could see he had lost his head and was terrified to make his first landing. I sent for the ambulance, and waited for the tragedy of a bad crash landing. At last his petrol ran out, and he was absolutely forced to land. He glided down, and made an absolutely "star" landing, got out of his machine and > walked up to me saying "pretty good effort, sir, don't you think?" My answer is not recorded, but later on he made a very fine pilot.