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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 0714.PDF
•270 FLIGHT. MARCH I8, I93?I craft seems to claw at the sky above and totter." At this point the pupil may be neglecting all controls, and straining every nerve forward in a vain attempt to help the aircraft to climb a bit harder. If an aeroplane is "stalled" it is not necessarily falling back on its tail. At the stalling point the controls become slack due to in sufficient forward speed, but the aeroplane will continue to climb '' stalled '' for a time before actually falling tem porarily out of control. The aeroplane having regained an even keel and the pupil having regained his equilibrium, the action of the rudder is demonstrated. First to the right and then to the left. The rudder alone being moved, the aircraft "skids" sideways. The voice again explains how the outside wings, which are travelling faster, exert more lift than the inside ones and slowly cause the machine to bank, and how, later, the nose drops and the machine slips inwards. The time has now come for the pupil to try each manipulation of controls for himself. The first lesson is in straight and level flying, followed by climbing, gliding and stalling. A voice through the speaking-tube says, "Take control of stick and rudder, notice a point on the horizon, and keep the nose on it. You have her." There follows a series of skidding turns, caused by just over doing the correction every time, but a little practice soon puts this right. The correct gliding and climbing angles are given in relation to the horizon, and the tail trimmer allows the attitude to be set for gliding without the necessity for pressure on the stick. Lessons in normal climbing and gliding turns follow, and the pupil begins to obtain real enjoyment from the business of taking control for short periods. Turning Instinct Turns are taught in three parts, "Going in," "Staying in," and "Coming out." Medium climbing and level turns with engine are quite simple to learn, but practice is needed until a sort of instinct is developed, which enables one to anticipate the slip in or out as it is about to happen, and put on sufficient bank and rudder together to execute a correct turn. The secret of maintaining the same speed in the turn is to notice the position of the nose of the aircraft in rela tion to the horizon, and to keep it unchanged. Normal gliding turns need a little more care as bank must not be held off, and the speed must not be allowed to increase or decrease. A common fault is to go into the turn rather slowly, to slow up even more in the turn, to hold off bank, and then to remedy the mistakes suddenly, so coming out of a very jerky turn much too fast. Steep turns are taught later in the course of instruction and it takes longer to grow accustomed to them. If the position of an aeroplane in a steep bank is considered, it is seen that each control surface is almost at right angles to the normal position in level flight. Hence the rudder becomes something of an elevator, and the elevator becomes a rudder. The nose is held up with the rudder, while bank, beyond the desired angle, is held off. The turn is tightened, if necessary, to prevent side-slipping— that is, greater backward pressure is applied to the stick. In the case of steep gliding turns the nose is held at a constant position below the horizon and bank is not in this case held off. To come out, the stick is held well for ward, and full opposite rudder and bank are applied. One of the quite early lessons, and perhaps the most interesting of all those in plain flying, is in taking off; first with control of rudder only, then with stick only, and finally using both controls. There are very few things to equal the feeling of exhilaration when, with the machine's nose pointing accurately into wind, one opens the throttle, the tail lifts, and speed is rapidly gathered. But for one special point, the necessity for applying rudder to counter act a general tendency to swing one way or the other, the control movements are as onejwoufil expect; that is, tail set in flying position, stick a little forward at first to help lift the tail, and then gradually eased back until the take-off. The instructor will explain that the m^-^' must not be climbed until ample flying speed ha-h* gathered. This is an obvious safety measure, for '• fn event of an engine failure at the start of a steep climt tk aeroplane will lose all flying speed before the gliding can be attained. ingle Landing instruction follows—or is coincident with t \ off instruction—and this is much more difficult to foil The correct moment to close the throttle must be inri°Wi in order that the glide may bring the aeroplane to th ground approximately at the right place on the landi area, but a much more serious difficulty is that of m&T'* the moment to flatten out and then to "feel the stall as th^ machine loses flying speed. During this period the stick must be eased progressively backwards until the moment of a full three-point touch-down is reached. The first te dency is to fly into the ground, bounce off, and stall at about twenty feet above it. On the next attempt th flattening out may be overdone, and the machine be allowed to stall some twenty feet above the aerodrome. (gradual Initiation Thus the instruction goes on. To attempt to describe it in greater detail would merely alarm the beginner at what he imagines to be the complexity of the whole business In actual practice the average individual picks up his know ledge steadily and easily over a period of hours, days, weeks and months—all without conscious effort except on those "off days" (especially during the landing period) which ninety-nine out of a hundred of us experience. The pupil will gradually assimilate the technique of cor rect approaches without which the ability to put a machine gently on the ground is valueless; will learn the refinements of that technique, such as the side-slip to loose height with out gaining forward speed; will find how to taxi an aero plane across the aerodrome and to manoeuvre it into any required position; and will memorise the safety rules regard ing precedence in taking-off and landing, as well as in the air. Likewise he will be initiated into that ritual for engine starting, designed to safeguard the limbs and lives of the ground engineers, and (later, perhaps) into the associated ritual of " running-up " the engine to safeguard his own neck. The instruments, which may so far have seemed to bear surprisingly little relation to his flying, will be intro duced to him and the importance of their friendship empha sised; and so on until—the first solo. The First Solo The feeling on making one's first solo flight varies according to circumstances. At a few schools it is the signal for a combined "farewell and welcome back" party, and people assemble to view the ordeal. The pilot feels very much in the limelight and appreciably more nervous. Far more often another method makes it easier for him. During one of the final pre-solo lessons in landing and taking-off —usually referred to as " circuits ''—the aeroplane being on the ground, the instructor casually remarks that it is time the pupil flew solo and there and then disembarks from his cockpit and sends him off for a lone circuit. The pupil finds that the aeroplane feel lighter and livelier, but otherwise exactly as it was two minutes before when the instructor sat in front. One generally flies better solo having no instructor to depend on or answer to. The pupil really knows, too, that he has full control (he hopes) for pre viously it was hard to remove all doubt from his mind that the instructor was not giving a slight helping hand in front, even though he occasionally waved both arms a o to allay the suspicion. ... Not until the second solo flight does the lack of a guiclin„ hand in front become noticeable, and then more from feeling of loneliness and isolation from Mother Earth tna from a need of it. . ^ For completion of the preliminary training there^is map reading and cross-country flying, perhaps the two enjoyable parts of the whole business. Concluded on page 276.)
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