ecovered by gliding, or the machine will fall into a spin
and crash out of control.
FORCED LANDING--Any landing for reasons beyond the control of a
pilot is known as a forced landing. Engine failure is chiefly
responsible. Once the machine loses its power it must go into a
glide to maintain its stability, and at the end of the glide it
must land on water, trees, fields, or roofs of houses in towns.
FUSELAGE--This word, meaning the body of a machine, came over from
the French. The cockpits, controls, and gasolene-tanks are
usually carried in the fuselage.
HOP--Any flight in an airplane or seaplane is a hop. A hop may
last five minutes or fifteen hours.
JOY-STICK--The control-stick of an airplane was invented by a man
named Joyce, and for a while it was spoken of as the
Joyce-stick, later being shortened to the present form. It
operates the ailerons and elevators.
LANDFALL--A sight of land by a seaplane or dirigible which has
been flying over an ocean course. An aviator who has been
regulating his flight by instruments will check up his
navigation on the first landfall.
PANCAKE--An extremely slow landing is known as a pancake landing.
The machine almost comes to a stop about ten feet off the
ground, and with the loss of her speed drops flat. There is
little forward motion, and this kind of landing is used in
coming down in plowed fields or standing grain. Jules Vedrines
made his landing on the roof of the Galeries Lafayette in Paris
by "pancaking."
SIDE-SLIP--The side movement of a plane as it goes forward. On an
improperly made turn a machine may side-slip out--that is, in
the direction of its previous motion, like skidding. It may
side-slip in, toward the center of the turn, due to the fact
that it is turned too steeply for the degree of the turn.
Side-slipping on a straight glide is a convenient method of
losing height before a landing.
STALL--A machine which has lost its flying speed has stalled. This
does not mean that its engine has stopped, but in the flying
sense of the word means that friction of the wing surfaces has
overcome the power of the engine to drive the machine through
the air. The only way out of a stall is to regain speed by
nosing down. A machine which has lost its engine power will not
stall if put into a glide, and it may be brought to a
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