NERVE V. NERVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15056, 27 July 1912, Page 5 (Supplement)

NERVE V. NERVES.

WHAT THE AIRMAN HAS TO

CONTEND WITH.

' Tiik position of the airman while flying •has been variously described. The late Profesror Langley likened it to "a skater gliding over thin ice," while Mr. C. C. Turner, the well-known aviator-author, has summed it up as akin to " sitting on a jelly' in strong wind." . Aviation is a science that calls all the time for one whole attention, and the airman constantly finds himself in a position when nerve must conquer nerves. And yet a tour of the hangars at an aviation meeting would almost convince the visitor that the aviator is one of the most nervous beings on earth. He smokes innumerable cigarettes as he superintends the operations of the busy mechanics who arc overhauling his machine and appears to be a bundle of fussiness.

Louis Paulhan has an antidote of lib own to the possibility of falling into '"the blues" on his aerial journeys. "When lam on a long flight," ho says, '' I smoke cigarettes, I laugh, I shout, I sing. It relieves the monotony and distracts one from thoughts of danger." Not always is the airman in cheerful frame of mind as he soars over the peaceful countryside. P.enaux, the well-known French pilot, was haunted on one of his voyages by a relentless vision of the fate of "Chavez, who was dashed to death at the moment of his magnificent trans-Alpine victory. Moreno, another famous flyer, could "not rid himself of tho hallucination that Notre Dame was always before him, although he knew that Paris was hundreds of miles away.

The exposure to which the liver is open, even at fairly moderate altitude?, is not conducive to an easy mind. This ia bad enough when the pilot is alone, but. when, as in the case of George Beiatty, the American airman, recently, the aviator is piloting a lady passenger who suddenly turns hysterical on account of the intense cold, the danger is increased manifold. Beatty had to turn half-round and hold his passenger fast with one arm, controlling the mechanism of the machine with the other hand, during his perilous glide to earth. What this glide means may be better understood when it is mentioned that, while, it takes the better part of an hour to reach an altitude of 11,000 feet, the lorn;, swift, sickening swoop to earth may bo accomplished in a'matter of ten minutes, during which, as in the case of the late Graham Gilmour, an unexpected development may suddenly occur, throwing one's life into jeopardy. . -

Harry Attwocd, one of America's best > cross-country flyers, some time ago declared j that it was- absolutely dangerous to sneezo , while on an aerial voyage. Attwo'od was j flying over Ohio when a small insect flew ' into his nose, tickling it so much that a sneezo was inevitable. "I realised at once," he said afterwards, describing the incident, the fix I was in—the spasmodic jerking of the head, the brief loss of sense of direction, a probable jerk of the lever, might make recovery of balance impossible." The sneeze, fortunately, however, was an un- i eventful one.. • .'■ , '.'■■'( The British aviator Barkes, on the other I hand, suffers , severely from. hay fever while j on terra firma,,and he has discovered that when he gets into the air he is at once freed from the malady. • ; ' ';■'.]; The aeroplane in flight would not be con- | sidered by many a very safe or comfort- , able bed. And yet, in a paper read some ! time ago, before the Academic* des Sciences ! by Dr. Crochet and Dr. Moulinier upon j the case of the high flyer pathologically ! considered, there was cited the instance of j a young aviator whose failure to. return ! betimes to his • hangar caused his .friends to institute a search' for him. Ho was found seated safely in his machine in the open country, fast asleep! When he was wakened ho could not explain how he came to alight in tho place where he was discovered. That thjs h no mere tall yarn from '"across the herring pond'' is proved by tho admission of the famous aviator, Gustav Hamel, that ho dozed in his aeroplane while flying 2000 ft over Windsor. "1 settled comfortably back in the machine," he said, recounting the experience, "and felt quite as easy as though I were seated in , the big armchair by the fireside at home." i . The mystery of the fate of Cecil Grace, ' who was* so tragically lest sight of during j a cross-Channel flight, may probably be explained if one remembers that the aviator, steering his machine by compass, is apt to lose his sense of direction, particularly if he has no landmarks to guide him. " The strength and direction ol the wind may change and the flyer may be quite oblivious of the fact. In long voyages over sea the aviator would have to take very frequent and very accurate astro- | nomical observations. I'robably Grace ! made no allowance for leeway for the j strong wind that was blowing him in the direction of the North Sea, and he only discovered that he was lost in the air and : was doomed to a lonely death when his I fuel had all but given out. - . But the known and unknown dangers of the air are being mastered, and ere Jong the perils of those who take a flight in the air,will be no greater than,the perils of those who go down to. the sea in ; ships. ;