ulders....

'In 1892 a canal was being cut, close to where Lilienthal lived, in the
suburbs of Berlin, and with the surplus earth Lilienthal had a special
hill thrown up to fly from. The country round is as flat as the sea, and
there is not a house or tree near it to make the wind unsteady, so
this was an ideal practicing ground; for practicing on natural hills
is generally rendered very difficult by shifty and gusty winds.... This
hill is 50 feet high, and conical. Inside the hill there is a cave for
the machines to be kept in.... When Lilienthal made a good flight he
used to land 300 feet from the centre of the hill, having come down at
an angle of 1 in 6; but his best flights have been at an angle of about
1 in 10.

'If it is calm, one must run a few steps down the hill, holding the
machine as far back on oneself as possible, when the air will gradually
support one, and one slides off the hill into the air. If there is any
wind, one should face it at starting; to try to start with a side wind
is most unpleasant. It is possible after a great deal of practice to
turn in the air, and fairly quickly. This is accomplished by throwing
one's weight to one side, and thus lowering the machine on that side
towards which one wants to turn. Birds do the same thing--crows and
gulls show it very clearly. Last year Lilienthal chiefly experimented
with double-surfaced machines. These were very much like the old
machines with awnings spread above them.

'The object of making these double-surfaced machines was to get more
surface without increasing the length and width of the machine. This,
of course, it does, but I personally object to any machine in which
the wing surface is high above the weight. I consider that it makes
the machine very difficult to handle in bad weather, as a puff of wind
striking the surface, high above one, has a great tendency to heel the
machine over.

'Herr Lilienthal kindly allowed me to sail down his hill in one of these
double-surfaced machines last June. With the great facility afforded by
his conical hill the machine was handy enough; but I am afraid I should
not be able to manage one at all in the squally districts I have had to
practice in over here.

'Herr Lilienthal came to grief through deserting his old method of
balancing. In order to control his tipping movements more rapidly he
attached a line from his horizontal rudder to his head, so that when he
moved his head forward it would lift the