Landing

“ In flying across country a sharp lookout is kept on the land below. If it be of a character unfit for landing, as woods, or thickly settled towns, the aviator must keep high up in the air, lest his engine 164 stop and he be compelled to glide to the earth. A machine will glide forward 3 feet for each foot that it drops, if skilfully handled. If he is up 200 feet, he will have to find a landing ground within 600 feet. ”

“ THE LANDING.—The pilot who can make a good landing is generally a good flyer. It requires nicety of judgment to come down properly. One thing which will appear novel after the first altitude flights are attempted is the peculiar sensation of the apparently increased speed as the earth comes close up to the machine.
At a height of one hundred feet, flying thirty miles an hour, does not seem fast, because the surface of the earth is such a distance away that particular objects remain in view for some moments ”

“ He who wishes to navigate an air-ship should first practice landing in an ordinary balloon, that is, if he wishes to land without breaking motor and propeller. The wind being rather strong, it was necessary to profit by a moment of comparative calm, and seek a shelter. ”

“ By scanning the ground beyond the obstacle, we select our landing-place, and we foresee what difficulties we shall meet with. A difference of level between the point of departure and the fall modifies considerably the extent of the leap. ”

“ Many boats have rubbed their bows against its broad landing steps, and many feet have balanced themselves from boat to shore, but none more eagerly than those which stepped thereon in the early-forenoon hours of the day following the flight of the steam tramp Adventure from Venetian waters. ”

“ If the place selected for landing be in any way remarkable in itself, or important from being at the mouth of a river, or a harbour, you will take care to leave some evidence which cannot be mistaken of your having landed, either by erecting a flagstaff, or sowing some seeds, or by resorting to any other means which may at the time present themselves. ”

“ This is comparable to the ineffectiveness of a rudder on a too slow-moving boat. If a plane stall with out motor occurs so close to the earth that there isn’t time to recover control, a hard landing results. ”

“ In our gliding experiments we had had a number of experiences in which we had landed upon one wing, but the crushing of the wing had absorbed the shock, so that we were not uneasy about the motor in case of a landing of that kind. ”

“ And in parts of their run the country is treacherous, with slants of wind breaking out of deep canyons; then, too, if anything goes wrong aboard their boat to make a safe landing on such rocky ground is full of all kinds of difficulties. ”

“ The experienced pilot will not make a straight-away glide, but like the vulture, or the condor, and birds of that class, soar in a circle, and thus, by passing over and over the same surfaces of the earth, enable him to select a proper landing place. ”

“ Boats while landing are covered by their ships, and have succour within view; but not so parties that go into unknown tracts. They must depend on their immediate resources and individual courage alone. ”

“ Landing.—Proper landing is the most important thing in airplane flying. The pilot in turning his machine downward toward a landing spot from flight will choose a distance from the field equivalent to the proper gliding angle of his machine. If the gliding angle is 1 in 7 he must not turn downward any further from the field than a distance greater than seven times his altitude or he will fall short. It is safer to come closer to the field before turning downward for two reasons: first, because you may [Pg 84] not be gliding at the best gliding angle ”

“ Imagine their amazement when looking far out over the heaving waters they discovered a sky-scraper zooming along, suddenly make downward swoops and presently float upon the lake, for what object they could only surmise and feed their sinking hearts with wild hopes. Then to see the airship again taking wing, and even head toward the land, must have filled them with a wild enthusiasm. ”

“ Such a boat, with the wheels going in different directions, can turn upon her centre, can be steered without a rudder, and rounds to, to make her landings, as she invariably does, with her head up stream, with the greatest facility. ”

“ As a matter of fact, more than forty landings were made, although in a few cases a single expedition accounted for two, and in one or two instances for three landings. The experiences run through the entire gamut of human emotions, from absurdity to tragedy. ”

“ The captain placed his hand on the landing gear control lever, moved it slightly, and the horn ceased to sound, so the landing was continued in the routine manner. When wheel contact was established, the crew noted on unusual response as if the nose of the airplane were in a lower attitude than normal. Captain Lloyd immediately opened the throttles, at which time he had the impression that the propeller blades struck the ground. A take-off was made, and the landing gear retracting mechanism was checked as the airplane circled the field. ”

“ When an airplane takes off at its maximum provisional gross weight, the weight of the airplane must be thereafter reduced by gasoline consumption at least to the standard gross weight for landing prior to arrival at its next scheduled stop. ”

“ So far as we could, with the roar of the wind and the propeller, we held a consultation—nothing verbose—in mid-air to determine what would be the best move. We decided to alter our course so as to be sure of getting in sight of land. Half an hour later we saw the first sign of life since we had been out—an old tramp steamship. Ten minutes after we sighted land. When you are flying at sea the land, especially when it is low-lying, takes you by surprise; it suddenly looms up when you least expect it. ”

“ There is magic in salt water which transmogrifies all things it touches. The aeroplane with its cubist outline undergoes a sea change on reaching the coast and becomes a flying-boat, a thing of beauty, a Viking dragon ship, a shape born of the sea and air with pleasant and easy lines, and in the sun, the dull war-paint stripped from the natural mahogany, a flashing golden craft of enchantment. ”

“ Its flight in the upper regions of the air is really sublime, extending its immense wings, and wheeling slowly and majestically to and fro, seemingly without exerting a muscle or fluttering a feather, but moving by mere volition, and sailing on the bosom of the air as a ship upon the ocean. ”

“ We are about to consider man’s efforts to rise from the bottom of this ocean and wing his flight a little way through the atmosphere above him. His excursions upward are limited, for he could not live near the surface heights of this ocean, vast and deep and boundless. The art and science of his flight through the air, because of its relation to the flight of birds, we call aviation. ”

“ Another hours, and our ship before a fair wind, and under a cloudy sky, was on her way over the broad ocean. The pilot leaves us, the captain takes command, the shores recede from view, sky and ocean alone surround us; and I, in common with most of my fellow passengers, ... our berths under very peculiar circumstances. The winds and waves have raised within us a commotion similar to the rolling without: that is to say, we are getting sea sick. ”

“ Do we traverse the deep, they lend wings to the ship, and bid defiance to the natural opponents, the winds and the tides! Does the windbound ship desire to get out of port to start on her voyage, steam throws its arms around her, and places her on the open sea! Do we traverse the land, steam is harnessed to our chariot, and we outstrip the flight of the swiftest bird, and equal the fury of the tempest! ”

“ Unless one has stood upon the deck of a great sailing ship, and looked up into the sky full of sails that spread above her, it is hard to realize how fast such a craft can travel through the sea under a fair wind. ”

“ Ho! Pilot! Ho!
Knowest thou the shore
Where no breakers roar -
Where the storm is o'er?
In the silent West
Many - the sails at rest -
Then anchors fast.
Thither I pilot thee -
Land! Ho! Eternity! ”

“ Just here there is a mountain in the deep, and we are crossing its summit, which accounts for the sharp, rough sea, the captain tells me. The vessel now turns into the wind, the loose sails roar and crack, and bound in their strong harness, like frightened horses; loud voices cut through the uproar, rapid footsteps thump, and rattling ropes lash the deck. Then there is a momentary lull: they heave the lead. The mountain top is under us, say, five hundred feet. ”

“ The narrative of the first aerial voyage, written by one of the two first aeronauts, exists, and we are in a position to place it before our readers. Such an enterprise certainly demanded great courage in him who was the first to dare to confide himself to the unknown currents of the atmosphere It threatened him with dangers, perhaps with death by a fill, by fire, by cold, or by straying into the mysterious cloud-land. ”

“ We shall not need to traverse long distances in a wrong direction to find a bridge by which we may cross a river, nor zigzag for toilsome miles up the steep slopes of a mountain-side to the pass where we may cross the divide. The course of the airship is the proverbial bee-line—the most economical in time as well as in distance. 37
Chapter III.
LAWS OF FLIGHT.
The bird—Nature’s models—Man’s methods—Gravity—The balloon—The airship—Resistance of the air—Winds—The kite—Laws of motion and force—Application to kite-flying—Aeroplanes. ”

“ To fly they cannot strictly be said, they being carried into the air by external force; but they can, in case the wind suffer them, steer their course, perhaps mount and descend at pleasure: and to the purpose of rowing themselves along in the air, it is observable that they ever take their flight backwards, that is, their head looking a contrary way like a sculler upon the Thames. ”

“ The royal yards were all crossed at once,and royals and sky-sails set, and, as we had the wind free, the booms were run out, and all were aloft, active as cats, laying out on the yards and booms, reeving the studding-sail gear; and sail after sail the captain piled upon her, until she was covered with canvas, her sails looking like a great white cloud resting upon a black speck. ”

“ Notwithstanding all difficulties, the fact remains that, once they are overcome, the air is the ideal highway for travel and transportation. On the sea, a ship may sail to right or left on one plane only. In the air, we may steer not only to right or left, but above and below, and obliquely in innumerable planes. ”

“ FLYING JIB-BOOM. A spar which is pointed through the iron at the jib-boom end. It lies beside it, and the heel steps into the bowsprit cap.
FLYING-KITES. The very lofty sails, which are only set in fine weather, such as skysails, royal studding-sails, and all above them.
FLYING-LIGHT. The state of a ship when she has little cargo, provisions, or water on board, and is very crank.
FLYING-TO. Is when a vessel, from sailing free or having tacked, and her head thrown much to leeward, is coming to the wind rapidly, the warning is given to the helmsman, "Look out, she is flying-to." ”

“ The earth below seems to fade into insignificance; far-distant, skirting the brink of the cliffs like a thin, white ribbon, you see a lonely road; and all the time, climbing higher and higher through the sunshine, your pilot forces his plane aloft Three thousand feet, four thousand feet—still you ascend ”

“ The eye might wander over the blue expanse, broken by the skimming sails, which distance and sunshine turn to snow, like the white wings of the sea-birds, till sky and sea seem to meet, false alike in their seeming fairness and seeming union;—the sails, in reality, being but coarse and discoloured canvass, and the distance between sea and sky still immeasurable. ”

“ Landfall and Departure mark the rhythmical swing of a seaman’s life and of a ship’s career. From land to land is the most concise definition of a ship’s earthly fate.
A “Departure” is not what a vain people of landsmen may think. The term “Landfall” is more easily understood; you fall in with the land, and it is a matter of a quick eye and of a clear atmosphere. The Departure is not the ship’s going away from her port any more than the Landfall can be looked upon as the synonym of arrival. ”

“ We all get in boat, push off, and begin to row hard as we can, but the farther we get from land the blacker get the dark and the big wave come splash, crash, lift us ’way up, sink us ’way down, keep us tossing like ball in air. ”

“ While in the mountains we frequently came to shoals and riffles over which the boat dashed at a speed that turned us dizzy, but we had to stay with it and trust to the man at the rudder to keep her straight ahead. ”

“ Have you known your boat to fly through the waves without making way, and noted anxiously by some landmark that she is rather drifting back with the current, instead of, as it seems, tearing before the wind? ”

“ Particularly now, when a circumnavigation of the earth by airplane has been accomplished, when the Atlantic has been bridged by a dirigible flight, and men have flown over the North Pole in plane and airship, the heroic and pathetic story of Doctor Andrée and his attempt to reach the top of the world by balloon is of fresh and abiding interest. ”

“ For the wind is now no longer an obstacle to flight, and as I have already noted at the beginning of this chapter, this is one of the most noticeable advancements in aviation, one that can readily be seen, understood, and appreciated even by the uninitiated. ”

“ Fly over! Why not? Flight was no longer a theory, a possibility of the future. It was something definite, that had arrived. Even as he thought of the possibility he looked up and saw, not more than a mile away, two monoplanes of a well-known English army type flying low. ”

“ It takes you more nearly into a head wind than most others, and scuds before a lubber's wind dead aft with a maximum of canvas spread out 'wing-and-wing'—one big sail to port and the other out to starboard. ”