the chief stopping places on our railways a man goes round
each train as it comes in, tapping the tires with a hammer to detect
cracks, feeling the hubs to see if there is any sign of a hot box, and
looking into the grease containers to see if there is a proper supply
of lubricant. There ought to be a similar inspection of every aeroplane
every time it touches the ground. The jar of even the best of landings
may fracture a bolt holding a wire, so that when the machine goes up
again the wire may fly back and break the propeller, or get tangled in
the control wires, or a strut or socket may crack in landing, and many
other things may happen which careful inspection would disclose before
any harm could occur. Mechanics who inspected machines regularly would
be able to go all over them in a few minutes, and no time would be
wasted. As it is, at any aerodrome one sees a machine come down, the
pilot and passenger (a fare or a pupil) climb out, the mechanics hang
round and smoke cigarettes, unless they have to perform the arduous
duties of filling up with petrol. In due course another passenger and a
pilot climb in, a mechanic swings the propeller, and away they go
quite happily. If anything casts loose they come down--and it is truly
wonderful how many things can come loose or break in the air without
anyone being killed. If some thing breaks in landing, and does not
actually fall out of place, it is simply a matter of luck whether anyone
happens to see it or not."

This advice, coming from a man with such wide experience of the theory
and practice of flying, should surely be heeded by all those who engage
in deadly combat with the demons of the air. In the early days of
aviation, pilots were unacquainted with the nature and method of
approach of treacherous wind gusts; often when they were flying along in
a steady, regular wind, one of these gusts would strike their craft on
one side, and either overturn it or cause it to over-bank, so that it
crashed to earth with a swift side-slip through the air.

Happily the experience of those days, though purchased at the cost of
many lives, has taught makers of air-craft to design their machines on
more trustworthy lines. Pilots, too, have made a scientific study of air
eddies, gusts, and so on, and the danger of flying in a strong or gusty
wind is comparatively small.

CHAPTER XLVII. Accidents and their Cause (Cont.)

Many people still think that if the engine of an aeroplane