ss of accidents. These figures do not represent the actual
conditions, but they picture the problem.

Now the civilian who would take up flying has just as much time as he
wants to spend in learning to fly. He is paying for his instruction,
and he should continue it for perhaps fifteen to twenty hours of dual
instruction. He should fly the machine with an instructor in it, and
really get accustomed to the feel of the air. He should become
sensitive enough so that he can differentiate between the tight, firm
touch to a machine flying under complete control and the slack
movement of stick and rudder of a plane very nearly out of control. He
should recognize these danger signs and know how to correct his flying
position.

Dual flying should be continued up to the point where the pupil flies
without thinking, when it becomes the natural thing for him to use
both stick and rudder to correct a bump, and when he thinks no more of
it than riding over a rut in a road. He should be able to tell by ear,
when volplaning, whether or not he is maintaining sufficient speed to
hold it in the air. He should be acquainted with the principle of
spinning, and should have had some experience in taking a machine out
of a spin.

The treacherous thing about a spinning-nose dive is that, to come out
of it, a pilot must put his stick forward, not hold it back, in spite
of the fact that the machine is falling nose first and spinning at the
same time. A spin is possible only from a stall, and only when the
stick is back and rudder in either direction is given. The position is
an easy one to get into from a steep turn. Air resistance against a
machine turning becomes greater, it slows down the speed, decreases
the lifting power of the planes. The result is that the nose falls
slightly. The pilot moves the stick back to lift the nose, and in
doing so pulls up his elevators, offering still more resistance to the
air, and checking the speed. The effect becomes cumulative; he tries
to hold up his machine, and he has stalled. In a last effort to check
the spin he kicks on the rudder, and the thing is done.

The rudder and elevators have formed a pocket in the tail plane, which
is like the spoon on a trolling-hook. The pocket is off-center and the
air rushes into it as the machine topples over and plunges down. It
imparts a twisting motion, which in a turn or two develops into a
throbbing spin. Picture the pilot, trying to lift the nose of his
machi