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LEARNING TO FLY
[Illustration: _Photo by Topical Press Agency._
A SCHOOL MACHINE WELL ALOFT.]
LEARNING TO FLY
A PRACTICAL MANUAL FOR
BEGINNERS
BY
CLAUDE GRAHAME-WHITE
AND
HARRY HARPER
_FULLY ILLUSTRATED_
NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
PRINTED IN ENGLAND.
CONTENTS
I. THEORIES OF TUITION 9
II. TEMPERAMENT AND THE AIRMAN 20
III. FIRST EXPERIENCES WITH AN AEROPLANE 24
(AS DESCRIBED BY MR. GRAHAME-WHITE)
IV. THE CONTROLLING OF LATEST-TYPE CRAFT 31
V. THE STAGES OF TUITION 38
VI. THE TEST FLIGHTS 53
VII. PERILS OF THE AIR 56
VIII. FACTORS THAT MAKE FOR SAFETY 76
IX. A STUDY OF THE METHODS OF GREAT PILOTS 82
X. CROSS-COUNTRY FLYING 92
XI. AVIATION AS A PROFESSION 99
XII. THE FUTURE OF FLIGHT 104
ILLUSTRATIONS
A SCHOOL MACHINE WELL ALOFT _Frontispiece_
FACE PAGE
GRAHAME-WHITE SCHOOL BIPLANE 34
THE CONTROLS OF A SCHOOL BIPLANE 36
REAR VIEW OF A SCHOOL BIPLANE 38
POWER-PLANT OF A SCHOOL BIPLANE 40
MOTOR AND OTHER GEAR--ANOTHER VIEW 42
PUPIL AND INSTRUCTOR READY FOR A FLIGHT 44
PUPIL AND INSTRUCTOR IN FLIGHT (1) 46
PUPIL AND INSTRUCTOR IN FLIGHT (2) 48
PUPIL AND INSTRUCTOR IN FLIGHT (3) 50
Authors' Note.--The photographs to illustrate this book, as set forth
above, were taken at the Grahame-White Flying School, the London
Aerodrome, Hendon, by operators of the Topical Press Agency, 10 and 11,
Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C.
AUTHORS' NOTE
This book is written for the novice--and for the novice who is
completely a novice. We have assumed, in writing it, that it will come
into the hands of men who, having determined to enter this great and
growing industry of aviation, and having decided wisely to learn to
fly as their preliminary step, feel they would like to gain
beforehand--before, that is to say, they take the plunge of selecting
and joining a flying school--all that can be imparted non-technically,
and in such a brief manual as this, not only as to the stages of
tuition and the tests to be undergone, but also in regard to such
general questions as, having once turned their thoughts towards flying,
they take a sudden and a very active interest.
It has been our aim, bearing in mind this first and somewhat restless
interest, to cover a wide rather than a restricted field; and this
being so, and remembering also the limitations of space, we cannot
pretend--and do not for a moment wish it to be assumed that we
pretend--to cover exhaustively the various topics we discuss. Our
endeavour, in the pages at our disposal, has not been to satisfy
completely this first curiosity of the novice, but rather to stimulate
and strengthen it, and guide it, so to say, on lines which will lead
to a fuller and more detailed research.
It is from this point of view, as a short yet comprehensive
introduction, and particularly as an aid to the beginner in his choice
of a school, and in what may be called his mental preparation for the
stages of his tuition, that we desire our book to be regarded.
C. G.-W.
H. H.
_April_, 1916.
CHAPTER I
THEORIES OF TUITION
Only eight years ago, in 1908, it was declared impossible for one man
to teach another to fly. Those few men who had risen from the ground
in aeroplanes, notably the Wright brothers, were held to be endowed by
nature in some very peculiar way; to be men who possessed some
remarkable and hitherto unexplained sense of equilibrium. That these
men would be able to take other men--ordinary members of the human
race--and teach them in their turn to navigate the air, was a
suggestion that was ridiculed. But Wilbur Wright, after a series of
brilliant flights, began actually to instruct his first pupils; doing
so with the same care and precision, and the same success, that had
characterised all his pioneer work. And these first men who were
taught to fly on strange machines--as apart from the pioneers who had
taught themselves to fly with craft of their own construction--made
progress which confounded the sceptics. They went in easy and
leisurely fashion from stage to stage, and learned to become aviators
without difficulty, and mainly without accident.
After this, increasing in numbers from two or three to a dozen, and
from a dozen to fifty and then a hundred, the army of airmen grew
until it could be totalled in thousands. Instead of being haphazard,
the teaching of men to fly became a business. Flying schools were
established; courses of tuition were arranged; certain pilots
specialised in the work of instruction. It was shown beyond doubt that,
instead of its being necessary for an aviator to be a species of
acrobat, any average man could learn to fly.
Certainly a man who intends to fly should be constitutionally sound;
this point is important. When in an aeroplane, one passes very quickly
through the air, and such rapid movement--and also the effect of
varying altitudes--entail a certain physical strain. A man with a weak
heart might find himself affected adversely by flying; while one whose
lungs were not sound might find that his breathing was impeded
seriously by a swift passage through the air. More than one fatality,
doubtful as to its exact cause, has been attributed to the collapse of
a pilot who was not organically sound, or who ascended when in poor
health. And here again is an important point. No man, even a normally
healthy man, should attempt to pilot a machine in flight when he is
feeling unwell. In such cases the strain of flying, and the effect of
the swift motion through the air, may cause a temporary collapse; and
in the air, when a man is alone in a machine, any slight attack of
faintness may be sufficient to bring about a fatality.
A fair judgment of speed, and an eye for distance, are very helpful to
the man who would learn to fly, and it is here that a man who has
motored a good deal, driving his own car, is at advantage at first
over one who has not. But otherwise, and writing generally, any man of
average quickness of movement, of average agility, can learn without
difficulty to control an aeroplane in flight. It is wrong to imagine
that exceptional men are required. An unusual facility, of course,
marks the expert pilot; but we are writing of men who would attain an
average skill.
There has been discussion as to the age at which a man should learn to
fly, or as to the introduction of age limits generally in the piloting
of aircraft. But this introduces a difficult question; one which
depends so entirely on the individual, and regarding which we need the
data that will be provided by further experience. Some men retain from
year to year, and to a remarkable extent, the faculties that are
necessary; others lose them rapidly. The late Mr. S. F. Cody was
flying constantly, and with a very conspicuous skill, at an age when
he might have been thought unfit. But then he was a man of a rare
vitality and a great enthusiasm--a man who, though he flew so often,
declared that each of his flights was an "adventure." Taking men in
the average one may say this: the younger a man is, when he learns to
fly, the better for him. Much depends, naturally, on the sort of
flying he intends to do after he has attained proficiency. If he is
going to fly in war, or under conditions that impose a heavy strain,
then he must be a young man. But if he intends to fly for his own
pleasure, and under favourable conditions, then this factor of age
loses much of its importance, and it is only necessary that a man
should retain say, an ordinary activity, and a normal quickness of
vision and of judgment.
Flying is not difficult. It is in a sense too easy, and this is just
where its hidden danger lies. If a pupil is carefully taught, and
flies at first only when the weather conditions are suitable, he will
find it surprisingly easy to pilot an aeroplane. That it is not
dangerous to learn to fly is proved daily. Though hundreds and
thousands of pupils have now passed through the schools, anything in
the nature of a serious accident is very rarely chronicled. This
immunity from accident is due largely to the care and experience of
instructors, and also to the fact that all pupils pass through a very
carefully graduated tuition, and that no hazardous flights are allowed;
while another and an important element of safety lies in the fact
that no flying is permitted at the schools unless weather conditions
are favourable. It is now a fair contention that, provided a man
exercises judgment, and ascends only in weather that is reasonably
suitable, there is no more danger in flying an aeroplane than in
driving a motor-car.
Much depends of course on the dexterity of the pupil, and particularly
on his manual dexterity--on what is known, colloquially, as "hands."
Some men, even after they have been carefully taught, are apt to
remain heavy and clumsy in their control. Others, though, seem to
acquire the right touch almost by instinct; and these are the men who
have in them the making of good pilots. Horsemen refer to "hands" when
they speak of a man who rides well; and in flying, if a man is to
handle a machine skilfully, there is need for that same instinctive
delicacy of touch.
Nowadays, when a pupil joins a well-established flying school, he
finds that everything is made easy and pleasant for him. Most men
enjoy very thoroughly the period of their tuition. A friendly regard
springs up between the pupils and their instructors, and men who have
learned to fly, and are now expert pilots, bear with them very
pleasant reminiscences of their "school" days. But there were times,
and it seems already in the dim and distant past, when learning to fly
was a strange, haphazard, and hardly pleasant experience; though it
had a sporting interest certainly, and offered such prospects of
adventure as commended it to bold spirits who were prepared for
hardship, and had a well-filled purse. The last requirement was very
necessary. In the bad old days, amusing days though they were without
doubt, no fixed charge was made to cover such breakages, or damage to
an aeroplane, as a pupil might be guilty of during his period of
instruction. These items of damage--broken propellers, planes, or
landing gear--were all entered up very carefully on special bills, and
presented from time to time to the dismayed novice; and a man who was
clumsy or impetuous found learning to fly an expensive affair. There
was a pupil who joined a school soon after Bleriot's crossing of the
Channel by air. It was a monoplane school; and the monoplane, unless a
man is careful and very patient, is not an easy machine to learn to
fly. This beginner was not patient; he was indeed more than usually
impetuous. His landings, in particular, were often abrupt. He broke
propellers, frequently, to say nothing of wings and of alighting gear.
And of all these breakages a note was made. Bills were handed to
him--long and intricate bills, with each item amounting to so many
hundreds of francs. Having a sense of humour, the pupil began to paper
his shed with these formidable bills, allowing them to hang in
festoons around the walls. What it cost him to learn to fly nobody
except himself knew. He paid away certainly, in his bills for
breakages, enough money to buy several aeroplanes.
This was in the early days, when aviators were few and all flying
schools experimental. To-day a pupil need not concern himself, even if
he does damage a machine. Before beginning his tuition he pays his fee,
one definite sum which covers all contingencies that may arise. It
includes any and all damage that he may do to the aircraft of his
instructors; it covers also any third-party claims that may be made
against him--claims that is to say from any third person who might be
injured in an accident for which he was responsible. This inclusive
fee varies, in schools of repute, from L75 to L100.
The modern aerodromes, or schools of flight, at which a pupil receives
his tuition, have been evolved rapidly from the humblest of
beginnings. The first flying grounds were, as a rule, nothing more
than open tracts of land, such as offered a fairly smooth
landing-place and an absence of dangerous wind-gusts. Then, as
aviation developed, pilots came together at these grounds, and sheds
were built to house their craft. And after this, quickly as a rule, an
organisation was built up. Beginning from rough shelters, erected
hastily on the brink of a stretch of open land, there grew row upon
row of neatly-built sheds, with workshops near them in which aircraft
could be constructed or repaired. And from this stage, not content
with the provision made for them by nature, those in control of the
aerodromes began to dig up trees, fill in ditches and hollows, and
smooth away rough contours of the land, so as to obtain a huge, smooth
expanse on which aircraft might alight and manoeuvre without accident.
And after this came the building up of fences and entrance gates, the
erection of executive offices and restaurants, the provision of
telephone exchanges and other facilities--the creation in fact of a
modern aerodrome.
A pupil to-day, if he decides to learn to fly, finds he has an ample
choice in the matter of a school. He may feel indeed that there is
almost an embarrassment of facilities. But there are certain very
definite requirements, in regard to any modern flying school; and if a
novice bears these in mind, and thinks of them carefully when he is
considering what school he shall join, he cannot go far wrong. First
there is the question of the aerodrome on which, and above which, the
pupil will undergo his instruction. This should be of ample size and
of an adequately smooth surface; and it should be so situated, also,
that it is free from wind eddies and gusts, such as are set up by
hills, woods, or contours of the land, and are likely to inconvenience
a novice when he makes his first flights. The best position for an
aerodrome is in a valley, not abrupt but gently sloping. With a flying
ground so placed, shielded well by nature on every hand, it may prove
sufficiently calm for instruction even on days when there is a gusty
wind blowing across more exposed points; and such a natural advantage
is of importance for a pupil. It may mean that he is obtaining his
tuition from day to day, when other pupils, learning to fly at grounds
less favourably situated, have to remain compulsorily idle, waiting
either for the wind to drop, or to veer to some quarter from which
their aerodrome is sheltered.
It is very necessary, of course, in the operation of a flying school,
that there should be competent instructors; also a sufficient number
of these to prevent them from being over-taxed, or having more pupils
at any one time than they can handle conveniently. And it is greatly
to the advantage of a pupil if these instructors have been chosen with
an intelligent care. A man may be a capable pilot, and yet not have
the temperament that will suit him for imparting his knowledge to
others. The instructor who, besides being a fine flyer, has the
patience and sympathy of a born teacher, is by no means easy to find.
A school which does find such men, and retains their services, offers
attractions for a pupil which--in any preliminary visit he pays to a
school before joining it--he should look for keenly. And he should
make certain, too, that the school has a staff of skilled and
experienced mechanics.
Another indispensable feature of a school is a sufficient number of
aeroplanes, machines suited specially for the purposes of tuition, and
maintained at a high efficiency. It has been no uncommon thing--though
here again one is writing of the past--for the total resources of a
school to comprise, say, two machines. Hence a couple of smashes would
put such a school temporarily out of action, and leave the pupils with
nothing to do but kick their heels, and wait until the machines had
been repaired. It is certainly an advantage, from the pupil's point of
view, if there are well-equipped workshops in connection with the
school he joins; also if the proprietors of his school have an ample
supply of engines. With facilities for repair work immediately at hand,
and with a spare engine ready at once to put in a machine--while one
that has been giving trouble is dealt with in the engine-shop--there
should always be a full complement of craft for the work of
instruction. When workshops are in operation in connection with a
school an opportunity is usually provided, also, for a novice to gain
some knowledge as to the mechanism and working of the aero-motor: and
this of course will be useful to him.
There has been discussion as to the type of aeroplane on which one
should learn to fly; but in this question, as in that of an age limit
for airmen, it is extremely difficult, besides being unwise, to
attempt to frame a hard-and-fast rule. The monoplane, for instance, is
not an easy machine to learn to fly: it is not easy, that is to say,
compared with certain types of biplane. Yet numbers of pupils have
been taught on monoplanes, and this without accident. There is also a
question whether, among biplanes, it is best to learn on a tractor
machine--one that is to say with the engine in front of the main
planes--or on a "pusher" type of craft; this last mentioned having its
motor behind the planes. Aeroplanes of both types are in use; and it
would be advantageous, of course, for a novice to accustom himself to
handle either. But from the point of view of those who operate large
flying schools, and have to weigh one point against another, and
eliminate so far as possible the elements of risk or difficulty, there
are very distinct advantages in a "pusher" biplane, such as is
illustrated facing page 34. The control of such a machine is simple,
and can be grasped quite readily. It provides the novice, when he is
seated in it, with a clear and unobstructed view of the ground
immediately in front of and below him; and this, in the early stages
of tuition, is an extremely important point. A craft of such a type,
also, when built specially for instruction, can be given a very strong
alighting gear, and this makes for safety when a pupil is in his first
tests, and may be guilty of an abrupt or rough descent. Again, while
such a school machine as this is engined adequately, it is at the same
time comparatively slow in flight, and has the advantage also that it
will alight at slow speeds. In the air, too, it has a large measure of
stability, and is not too rapid in its response to its controls. It
gives a pupil what is very necessary for him in his first flights, and
that is a certain latitude for error. It is safe to say, indeed,
without being dogmatic, that a "pusher" biplane of the type
illustrated, if constructed specially for school work, offers a pupil
two very clearly marked advantages. These are: (1) A craft which he
can learn to fly quickly; and (2) A machine on which he can pass
through his tuition with the least risk of accident.
This last-mentioned point is, naturally, one of extreme importance. It
is very necessary, apart from any question of personal injury, that a
pupil should be protected during his tuition from anything in the
nature of a bad smash. A man should start to learn to fly with full
confidence; the more he has the better, provided it is tempered with
caution. And if he can go through his training without accident, and
preserve the steadily growing confidence that his proficiency will
give him, he is on the high road to success as a pilot. But if he
meets with an accident while he is learning--some sudden and quite
unexpected fall--this may have a serious and a permanent influence on
his nerves, even if he escapes without injury. It happened frequently
in the early days that a promising pupil, a man who showed both
confidence and skill, had his nerve ruined, and all his "dash" taken
from him, by some unlucky accident while he was learning to fly.
There are certain minor points a pupil should consider when he selects
a flying school--points which have reference mainly to his own comfort
and convenience. He will prefer, for instance, other things being
equal, a school that is near some large town or city, and not buried
away inaccessibly. It is a convenience also, and one that facilitates
instruction, if a pupil can obtain, quite near the aerodrome, rooms
where he can live temporarily while undergoing his instruction, and so
be able to reach the flying ground in a minute or so, whenever and at
any time the weather conditions are favourable. It is a convenience
again if, either on the aerodrome itself or immediately adjacent,
there is a canteen or restaurant where meals and other refreshments
can be obtained. Dressing-rooms and reading rooms, when provided by
the proprietors of a school, add to the comfort of the novice while he
is in attendance on the aerodrome. In winter, particularly, such
facilities are required.
At a modern school, if it is well conducted, all heroics or
exceptional feats are discouraged. Pupils who want to do wild things
must be sternly repressed, even if only for the common good. The aim
is to train a certain number of pupils, not hastening over the tuition
but giving each man his full and complete course, and to do this with
a minimum of risk. In the early days of flying there were remarkable
exploits at the schools, and some very dangerous ones also. But
nowadays the reckless, happy-go-lucky spirit has gone. Tuition is
based on experience. Each pupil must submit to the routine, and listen
attentively to the instructions given him. There are no short
cuts--not at any rate with safety--in the art of learning to fly.
The question is asked, often, how long it should take a man to learn
to fly. It is almost impossible, though, to specify any fixed time. A
very great deal must depend on the weather. A pupil who joins a school
in the summer is more likely, naturally, to complete his tuition
quickly than one who begins in the winter. In periods when there are
high and gusty winds it may be necessary to suspend school work for
several days. But at such times the pupil need not be completely idle.
Lectures on aviation are organised sometimes by the schools; while a
pupil should have opportunities also--as has been mentioned before--of
going into the engine-shop and studying the repair and overhaul of
motors and machines.
It is on record that a pupil has learned to fly in a day, even in a
few hours; but here the circumstances, and the men, were exceptional.
Such an unusual facility represents one extreme; while as another, it
may happen that a man, owing to a combination of adverse circumstances,
is six months before he gains his certificate of proficiency. It may
be taken, as a rule, that a pupil should set aside say a couple of
months in order to undergo thoroughly, and without any haste, his full
period of tuition. School records prove, as a rule, that the pilots
who learn to fly abnormally quickly are apt to experience an abnormal
number of accidents at a later date, due principally to a lack of real
sound knowledge, which they should have gained during the period of
their tuition. One must learn to walk before one can run, and this
takes time; and the remark applies aptly to aviation. It is very
necessary for the pupil to spend as much time as he can on the
aerodrome. Much is to be learned, by an observant man, apart from the
actual time during which he is engaged with his instructor. If he
watches men who are highly skilled, he may gain many useful hints,
though he himself is on the ground.