can be given a very strong
alighting gear, and this makes for safety when a pupil is in his first
tests, and may be guilty of an abrupt or rough descent. Again, while
such a school machine as this is engined adequately, it is at the same
time comparatively slow in flight, and has the advantage also that it
will alight at slow speeds. In the air, too, it has a large measure of
stability, and is not too rapid in its response to its controls. It
gives a pupil what is very necessary for him in his first flights, and
that is a certain latitude for error. It is safe to say, indeed,
without being dogmatic, that a "pusher" biplane of the type
illustrated, if constructed specially for school work, offers a pupil
two very clearly marked advantages. These are: (1) A craft which he
can learn to fly quickly; and (2) A machine on which he can pass
through his tuition with the least risk of accident.

This last-mentioned point is, naturally, one of extreme importance. It
is very necessary, apart from any question of personal injury, that a
pupil should be protected during his tuition from anything in the
nature of a bad smash. A man should start to learn to fly with full
confidence; the more he has the better, provided it is tempered with
caution. And if he can go through his training without accident, and
preserve the steadily growing confidence that his proficiency will
give him, he is on the high road to success as a pilot. But if he
meets with an accident while he is learning--some sudden and quite
unexpected fall--this may have a serious and a permanent influence on
his nerves, even if he escapes without injury. It happened frequently
in the early days that a promising pupil, a man who showed both
confidence and skill, had his nerve ruined, and all his "dash" taken
from him, by some unlucky accident while he was learning to fly.

There are certain minor points a pupil should consider when he selects
a flying school--points which have reference mainly to his own comfort
and convenience. He will prefer, for instance, other things being
equal, a school that is near some large town or city, and not buried
away inaccessibly. It is a convenience also, and one that facilitates
instruction, if a pupil can obtain, quite near the aerodrome, rooms
where he can live temporarily while undergoing his instruction, and so
be able to reach the flying ground in a minute or so, whenever and at
any time the weather conditions are favourable. It is