KRONFELD ON GLIDING AND SOARING.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

154 KRONFELD ON GLIDING & SOARING
to learn to fly. There is in every group at least one who
has no flying sense whatever, or who thinks and acts very
slowly ; and often just such pupils are the most diligent
and enthusiastic.
At first none of them can make calm and accurate observations.
Instead of the sky they see " blue," instead of a
meadow, " green." But later, sometimes after only two
or three " hops " their minds are freed from nervous
misgivings and they see the sky with its clouds, the horizon
and the landing place.
But not all are so fortunate. One says : " I can't do
things so quickly ; before I can see or do anything I am
on the ground again."
When practice fails to benefit a backward pupil, there
is only one chance for him, and that is to learn to fly by
pure reason. He must form in his mind an accurate
picture of every movement he has to make in the machine.
" This you must do partly from my explanations," I tell
him, " and partly from what you observe when others
fly. The condition of the machine, its position in the air,
yourself, the control lever, the rudder-bar you must be
able to picture them all clearly in your mind's eye. For
example, describe your impressions of what happens when
the machine rears."
" The horizon disappears downwards ; I can't see the
ground, only sky."
" What must you do in such a case ? "
11 Push the stick forward."
" Good, but that is not enough. With your eyes shut,
at any moment, wherever you may be, you must see the
steering movements just as clearly as if you were sitting
in the machine. You can practise while you are eating or
in the tram or in the pauses of your daily work. You must
do that until by constant mental practice the movements
become second nature to you by passing into your flesh
and blood, so to speak."
Talented pupils learn the correct use of the controls by
merely spending a few moments in the machine, but the
man who acquires no flying sense instinctively must
conquer his difficulties by the aid of his mind. We know