SENSATIONS OF FLYING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16032, 25 September 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

SENSATIONS OF FLYING.

Some interesting information as to the sensations and experiences of the neophyte aviator is contained in a handy little volume, " All About Flying," by Gertrude Bacon, which Messrs. Methuen have published. Two points among others are insisted on. In the first place the fear of height, which affects most people at moderate altitudes, is not experienced at all when right aloft. " The fact," we are told, "is universal, though a curious exception is to be found in Henry Parman, who in his racing days flew habitually only a few feet above the grass because he grew giddy and unnerved at any greater elevation."

Secondly, the budding aviator is not prone to sea-sickness. "Air-sickness undoubtedly does sometimes trouble pilots, of the bad-sailor variety, during long and stormy voyages when the machine rocks and pitches to excess; but it i s comparatively rare, and generally means the fiver is exhausted or out of condition. The air-sickness that is akin to mountain sickness only makes its appearance at heights very unusually attained by flying machines."

In the matter of the " controls," these are now more or less uniform and standardised, to the great advantage of the beginner, who, apart from baing relieved of the necessity of learning many differ--t systems, is called on by the system ;• employed to do in flight just that ■-b his natural instinct would suggest. ' Popular aviation nomenclature," says the author, " is both picturesque and expressive. The light-hearted crowd who bung out the old 'bus' to do stunts' on, and say they suffer from 'cold feet' when any rare occurrence causes them alarm, describe as '-vol pancake' what feiu" <,P mail,inp rnT "« to a BtanaVl.l before it has reached the ground and flops flat on its chassis." Yet even in tins case it is extraordinary, we are told how tremendously an aeroplane may bo broken up and the ™i„» ,!• • hurt Thi. i. k P , lot remain unnun. 1 his is because the pilot's M at