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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0589.PDF
is: #: f •I JUKE 14, 1917. •cause is discovered before the forced landing is made. Having somewhat a limited time at my disposal this evening. I will not touch on what I have found to be other causes of engine lailures, but I can assure you that as far as my experience •shows they are a small proportion compared with those due to petrol supply, and improvements in this direction will Teduce engine failures enormously. Errors of judgment or faulty piloting account for nearly, or perhaps as many, crashes as engine failure. The most •common error made even by experienced pilots is losing flying speed on a turn which starts a side-slip, and, given sufficient height, terminates in a nose dive, or the more serious predicament, a spin. This mistake is often made under the stress of circumstances when engine failure calls forth extra effort on the part of the pilot to reach a certain ianding spot. The trouble is nearly always incurred by 'turning too flatly until the wing drops and the machine side- slips, generally in the effort to get into more suitable ground than that available straight ahead. This is always a' dan- gerous manoeuvre, and in nine cases out of ten when smashes have resulted probably less damage would have been caused naa the pilot kept his machine from turning and pancaked straight ahead. I have found that most of the later type -machines can be stalled (i.e., speed reduced well below flyiag ;speed) without any risk of side-slipping, provided they are kept in a straight course and laterally level, as they will .automatically drop the nose as soon as the speed becomes 30 low that the elevators have little or no effect. Most of the serious accidents start at a height insufficient for the machine to get out of its side-slip before striking the ground. Others strike the ground at the later stage, usually a nose-dive, but in some cases a spin. If sufficient height remains after the machine assumes a nose-dive there is no reason why it should not be pulled out and a normal glide resumed ; but in the other event, although it is possible to get out of a spin, it is far more difficult a proposition than the instinctive manoeuvre of pulling up out of a nose-dive. A spin is the extraordinary turning movement that some machines only too readily take up after being stalled on a turn or being turned too flatly even with plenty of flying speed, lhis is due to the machine suddenly meeting the aira ireaL OUt of the Parallel with its longitudinal axis •either through side-slipping, skidding or yawing in the air. ^laving had more than one involuntary spin, but having been fortunate enough to have sufficient height to get out again, a leel the matter is not to be treated too lightly. The position a machine assumes.in a spin is a rapidly revolving side-slip or a fairly steep spiral dive, with this father serious draw- back, that the more one tries to pull it up by means of the elevator the faster it spins. No matter how high one is, if one persists in trying to pull it out in a normal way, it will Temain out of control because the elevator has now become the rudder, and, instead of pulling it out, increases the speed of turning. If the controls are abandoned the machine will •come out of its own accord, but personally I have always found the best and quickest remedy for spins is to straighten the rudder and shove the joy-stick forward ; a clean nose- dive will then result, out of which the machine can be pulled. I think in the matter of spins prevention is better than cure, and it is up to the designers to see that their machine is of the non-spinning type, as, however clever and quick the pilot may be in applying his pet remedy, he may not have Height enough to do so, and the results are usually disastrous. The errors in judgment which are made in landing account for crashes galore, but these, fortunately, are usually a small matter compared to those mistakes made in the air, seldom resulting in more than a smashed landing chassis. Flying •experience is the only remedy for this particular fault. .Landing with the wind will sometimes end in a crash through the machine over-running the limit of the landing ground ; whilst landing side to wind will buckle wheels and wreck -chassis. Neither of these troubles is always the direct fault of the pilot. An easily distinguishable standard type wind vane on every recognised landing ground would considerably .lessen crashes from these causes. Accidents directly due to faulty construction of the aero- plane are fortunately comparatively rare, as when they happen the results are so often fatal. They occur, however, even on standard types. In some cases the aeroplane is not entirely at fault, as in these days of heavy high-speed efficient machines with so little head resistance and which attain colossal speeds on diving, it is such an easy matter for the pilot to increase the load beyond the highest "factors of safety. One has only to consider the load on the wings of a machine dived at 160 m.p.h. when it is pulled out with a heavy hand. Constructional failures of machines in the air can sometimes be traced to damage inflicted by imperfect landings, usuallyto the back part of the fuselage in the region of the tail skid. This gets overlooked, and subsequently the tail gives wayunder any extra stress whilst flying. I should like here to be permitted to make a suggestion forthe consideration of our Chairman for what it is worth, i.e., that a detailed record be kept of every engine failure, forcedlanding or accident of every kind and description that happens—at any rate, at all home stations. These recordsto be collected and classified so that valuable data may always be available. However, some such system as this mayalready be in operation. 589 Training of Pilots. I now come to a few points which might be brought forward from my experience with instruction of pilots. I think that a great deal of time and expense might be saved if some form of medical test were applied to prospective pilots, such as I understand is done in France, where the effect of sudden shocks upon the system of the candidate is recorded by mechanical means, and other tests are made which are supposed to give a fair indication at once of the medical fitness and the possession of the necessary qualities, such as nerve, judgment and the presence of mind required for the making of a pilot. There are many pupils on whom a lot of time and material has been wasted in the endeavour to make pilots of them who simply do not possess these ordinary qualities, and it is not until they have had smash after smash that it is discovered they simply have not got it in them. Now the French method should weed out the non-suitable candidate beforehand. Personally I consider that the nearest equivalent to the art of flying is that of motor car driving. A person who thoroughly understands and who can drive a car really well should possess the qualities required for piloting an aero- plane. General Brancker, in the paper he read a short time ago before the Society, mentioned a good horseman as the type possessing the necessary qualifications. I agree that good hands, a good head, steady nerves and judgment are essential qualities, all of which should be found in a good motorist, with this advantage, that the good motorist is more likely to be naturally mechanical, a faculty in-born and not easily acquired, and so important in the matter of flying. Time and material would be saved, in my opinion, if the modified " penguin " type of machine were more generally used for the very earliest training. I refer to the small- powered machine, incapable of leaving the ground, but designed solely for taxiing about the aerodrome, which was generally in vogue at the Bleriot Schools before the war. On this machine the pupil can be loosed off alone imme- diately after preliminary explanation with comparatively no risk, and at the same time he would get used to controlling his engine, have plenty of practice in the use of that important control, the rudder, and lastly, but not least, he would have to be left to his own resources, use a little initiative, and get used to the noise and wind from his motor. This type of machine might be modified in such a way that the other controls might be brought to play an active part in piloting the ".penguin " over the ground. The whole fuselage and wings might be supported independently of the landing chassis (or rather the rolling chassis) in a sort of gimballs, so that it could be banked and elevated by the control lever whilst running along or turning. I think an hour's taxiing on a machine of this type would, as a preliminary, be of more assistance than the same amount of dual control, as the pupil would know at least more about the use of his rudder. The best type of aeroplane to use for instruction in actual . flying and the question as to whether it should be stable or not are very debatable points. I do think, however, that the less efficient within certain limits the early training machine is, the better and sounder will be the elementary knowledge and experience gained by the pupil. Such experience is likely to be very valuable when, later in his career, he is confronted with engine failures or similar predicaments, where his reserve of engine power will no longer cover up bis multitude of sins in piloting. To illustrate this point, let us assume that there are two pilots, A and B. A has qualified for his Aero Club certificate on a box kite—i.e. early Henry Farman type biplane—fitted with 50 h.p. Gnome. B gets his certificate on a much more powerful machine, one that can climb quicker, and can even be turned and climbed a bit at the same time. He knows this is so because he has done it on his last eight. But A finds that to get round really comfortably on his he feels compelled to drop the nose a little, • as it feels a little sloppy otherwise. At a later date on valuable Service machines, both A,and B have engine failures. A lands successfully, B crashes badly through turning too
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