Pilot's seat

“ The passenger sits very comfortably throughout the flight. There is a back to lean against, a brace for the feet, while the struts between the planes give every opportunity to hold on. In some of the models these seats are even upholstered in gray to harmonize with the silver or aluminium paint of the machine.
A second and smaller biplane, which serves both as rudder and lifting plane, extends about ten feet in front of the main planes. These two planes, which have a combined area of eighty square feet, may be inclined upward or downward by touching a lever at the pilot’s seat. ”

“ You have a good supply of fuel, dining service if you decide to take your meals in the air, communication with the rear cock-pit; and the man who wants to sleep, if he isn’t in the pilot’s seat, can shove his chair out, tip it back and make himself quite comfortable. ”

“ Fig. 130.—Burchall Slide Rule, for calculating intervals between exposures, and for other aerial photographic data.
In considering the question of sights, attention may again be called to the poor “visibility” from the pilot's seat in the present prevailing type of two-seater tractor plane. Blind directly in front, beneath, and to either side (Figs. 7, 8 and 9) , it is no unusual thing for a pilot to entirely miss an objective, such as a railway line, which he can only estimate to be beneath him by judging its distance from those objects to either side which he can actually see. ”

“ Aviation as a means of making a journey had become quite common, and an aeroplane in flight attracted no more attention than a taxi in the Strand.
Callaghan, a burly, good-natured Irishman, was already in the pilot's seat. On his left was the wireless installation which, since the monoplane was automatically steered when once in the air, could be worked without detriment to Callaghan's other duties. The passenger's seat, in the rear and slightly higher than the pilot's, was protected from the wind and rain by an enclosed structure resembling the body of the now defunct hansom-cab. ”

“ Instead of a skeleton seat bolted to a flimsy lattice of bamboo, the forward or cabin space—the engine occupying the rear seven feet—contains two comfortable seats. One of these is for the pilot and within reach of it are the rudder stirrups [46] for the aviator’s feet, the wheel to regulate the planes or wings above, and the rods connecting with the engine in the rear. Behind this seat is a duplicate for a passenger, so located that the addition or omission of a second person does not disturb the center of gravity. The aluminum bottom of this compartment is a flat-bottomed boat. ”

“ A side movement pulls the rear end of the wing opposite to the side to which the pilot leans. The balancing of the whole apparatus, is, therefore, in a manner, automatic. The pilot has but to bend over to one side in order to balance the machine. Springs are introduced on the wires which control the rudders of some of the machines so as to bring the rudder back to its normal position without effort on the part of the operator. The seat is a piece of canvas or leather stretched across the two lower bamboo rods just behind the wheels. ”

“ A. Propeller; B. Motor, partly hidden by shield; C.C. Main-planes; D. Pilot’s seat; E. Observer’s seat; F. Outlook windows in side of hull; G. Rudder; H. Elevating-plane; I. Landing gear.
A machine that has achieved success, owing to its power of varying speed, is the Sopwith military biplane, as shown in Fig. 63. Adopting a practice that has become general, its wings are fitted upon what is practically a monoplane body. Tail-planes and rudder are the same as in a monoplane. The top main-plane, as will be seen, is set slightly in advance of the lower. The system is called “staggering” ”

“ The aerial reel is fitted outside the car. During patrols signals can be sent and received up to and between 50 and 60 miles.
The pilot is responsible for the steering and the running of the engine, and the controls utilized are the fittings supplied with the aeroplane. Steering is operated by the feet and elevating by a vertical wheel mounted in a fore and aft direction across the seat. The control wires are led aft inside the fairing of the fuselage to the extreme end, whence they pass to the elevators and rudders. ”

“ I mean push! Run with the ship just as long as you can keep up with it pushing—but don’t trail along behind after it is going faster than you can run. When you let go of the wing, look out you don’t get hit by the tail—step to one side and get out of the way.”
“He climbed into the cockpit again and settled himself in the seat. He was surprised, just as he was ready to gun his motor, by the girl’s appearance through the passageway between the pilot’s compartment and the passenger’s room to the rear. She stepped up through the aisleway and seated herself at Nick’s side. ”

“ A biplane, it had wings that tapered somewhat from the center to the tips. The wings were strengthened by center spars of steel tubing, which was also used in the construction of the rudder and elevators at the tail. The pilot occupied the rear seat in the cockpit and the gunner the forward seat, while a short passage-way ran between the two. Every effort had been made at camouflage. On their upper surfaces the wings were painted as nearly as possible earth color, so that they might be indistinguishable to a machine looking down upon them from a superior altitude. ”

“ Two engines would be ideal. Why, with a multimotored plane a pilot could fly anywhere. She rolled the paper wrapper from the sandwich into a tight little ball. She squeezed it hard in her hand, then popped it into the compartment in the left wing. Why, with a two-engined plane a pilot could fly—around the world! She settled back in her seat and pressed her shoulders against the bulkhead behind her. One day, perhaps. One more good, long flight. It would be the last. Then she could sit back, relax, and really write a good book about flying. ”

“ Fig. 17.—Diagram showing that in fast airplanes wings are small; in slow airplanes wings are large.
(Above) Small wings; speed 115 mi. per hr.; for fighting. One seat.
(Below) Large wings; speed 80 mi. per hr.; for reconnaissance. Two seats.
Regarding area of wing surface, the pilot does not have to worry in a flight since he can do nothing to change it anyway. All he needs to know is that in different airplanes small wing area accompanies high speed and small weight-carrying capacity, as in the case of the Fokker and Sopwith speed scouts (see Fig. 17) . ”

“ BACKBOARD ASSEMBLY The backboard assembly is machined aluminum, designed and stressed to retain the inertia reel, ballute, ballute release and deploy mechanism, drogue mortar, parachute and survival kit. A cushion, contoured to the individual pilots body requirements, is positioned on the forward surface of the backboard. The cushion is provided to supply support and comfort to the pilots back. The inertia reel straps and lap belt secures the pilot to the backboard. The backboard accompanies the pilot through seat ejection to parachute deployment. ”

“ He sat up and decided he needed a drink before he even got out of his harness to gather up his chute. He hauled his bottle out from under his arm and gazed at it in consternation, licking his lips.
It wasn’t a bottle at all. It was the fire extinguisher!
BACK-SEAT PALS
Back-seat driving is taboo in the ethics of the flying game. But occasionally you get a case of it when you get two pilots together in the same cockpit.
Two pilots were flying a pretty heavily loaded bomber on a cross-country trip, one time. They were both fast friends and both equally good pilots. ”

“ Gusts strike the front of the craft like so many slaps in the face; and others, with the motion of mountainous waves, sometimes lift it hundreds of feet in a few seconds, hoping to see it plunge over the summit in a death-dive—and so it goes on, but the Pilot, perfectly at one with his mount and instantly alert to its slightest motion, is skilfully and naturally making perhaps fifty movements a minute of hand and feet; the former lightly grasping the "joy-stick" which controls the Elevator hinged to the tail, and also the Ailerons or little wings hinged to the wing-tips ”

“ The third man to enter the fore-car is an official of the Post Office, who travels in charge of the mails.
The sliding door in the hull is closed; men step back away from the machine; and upon her controlling platform the pilot, leaning forward slightly, pulls over a lever. Instantly, as he does so, there comes a throb and a hum; the engines wake to life and the big propellers, flickering faster and faster, drive astern a screaming gale of wind. Then, moving forward gracefully and with quickly gathering speed, the air-mail rises and is lost to view. ”

“ For a moment after the pilot turns over the controls the plane keeps on a straight course, then the nose begins to lose its normal position on the horizon, a wing dips down, and a blast of air rushes in from one side of the cockpit. ”

“ Our seaplane swung around and around like a bird about to settle, and, as the seagulls do, alighted on the waters against the wind. With remarkable skill and patience the pilot carefully steered the machine until she faced the ways on which waited a throng of air-station officers and waders. Soon we were properly placed, and a dozen men clad in waterproof clothes splashed forward into the water, and caught the floats of the seaplane's wings. As the engine had been stopped before we landed, I got the first chance to speak to my pilot. ”

“ All flight and engine controls are conveniently placed around the cockpit within easy reach of the pilot. The pilot sitting normally in the cockpit can reach every control necessary to operate the airplane and fire the guns. ”

“ Piloting differs from driving a car in that there is an added necessity for lateral control. An automobile runs up and down hill, and turns left or right. A plane climbs or dives, turns, and in addition, tips from one side to another. There is no worry in a car about whether the two left wheels are on the road or not; but a pilot must normally keep his wings level. ”

“ To stand near one of the pylons—wooden towers which mark the turning-points of the course—and see the air-racers come rushing by, is to gain such an impression of speed as almost makes the watcher hold his breath. The pilot in a flying race has one chief aim: to fly the shortest way. Every fraction of a second is of importance; and if he can circle the pylons more skilfully than his rivals, he may win the race, even though his machine—in its actual speed—may be no faster than theirs. ”

“ Vertical control of an airplane is attained by the use of elevators, flaps on the tail plane acting as horizontal rudders. A pull-back on the joy-stick lifts the flaps, raises the nose of the machine, and causes it to gain height. Push the joy-stick forward, the elevators are turned down, and the machine goes into a dive for the ground. In making many maneuvers all three controls, rudder, ailerons, and elevators, are used at once and the pilot feels his way with the machine, guiding it with the stick and the rudder-bar. ”

“ So I hurried down with the Aviation Captain to his tent to put on a warm aviation suit, while the Caudron was prepared for our flight. [83] As we approached his tent, a single-motored aeroplane took aboard its pilot and observer, its propellers whirred and roared, and it rolled casually away up the gradual slope, through a field of standing grain, till near the hilltop it took to the air as easily as a bird and spiralled up toward the low-lying dark clouds. ”

“ A spiral descent is made with the engine cut off, and the pilot should always keep his eyes on the centre of the circle. When the angle becomes too steep, he flattens her out a little so that he does not side-slip or skid, and if the descent is too rapid, he pulls the control lever back slightly. When the bank is too pronounced, the rudder and elevator change functions, and the pilot must bring them back to their proper positions at once. ”

“ But over hilly and wooded country the air is often flowing or rushing in conflicting channels, and the aviator does not know what he may be called upon to face from one moment to 163 the next. If the aeroplane starts to drop, it is only necessary to push the steering wheel forward a little—perhaps half an inch—to bring it up again. Usually, the machine will drop on an even keel. Then, in addition to the motion just described, the aviator will lean toward the higher side, thus moving the ailerons by the seat-back, and at the same time he will turn the steering wheel toward the lower side. ”

“ Painted and varnished the fuselage resembles a fine automobile body. In the top or roof of the fuselage one or more circular openings have been cut. Below, almost on the floor are the seats for pilot and observer, in what are known as the cockpits. While the carpenters and cabinet makers have been busy on the fuselage, more skilled workmen still have been fashioning the airplane wings. This is one of the most difficult and delicate tasks of all. Remember that the curve of the wing determines to a large extent the speed and climbing powers of the completed airplane. ”

“ Watch the successful model as it gains its altitude, settles down to a horizontal flight, is perhaps knocked off its course by a cross current, and steadies itself with a graceful curve and proceeds on its way.
All these problems must be anticipated. The young aviator must ingeniously arrange his planes and ballast in advance. The regular sky pilot, on the other hand, meets the problems of the air as he encounters them, by flexing his wings against disturbing currents or by banking to maintain an even keel at a turn. ”

“ One does not step into the pilot's chair of a complex device such as a galactic cruiser, push a pedal and then steer any more than a Wall Street Accountant could step into the cockpit of a six-engine airliner and take off, just like that. There was the pre-flight checkoff, probably performed by the competent Marandanian Pilot in a matter of minutes, and quite possibly done with an automatic reflex action which would permit the accomplished pilot to daydream about the girl on the next planet meanwhile ”