to take up pupils, was to make three
perfect forced landings in succession--one of them as the pilot came
out of the spin. With his head still reeling he must pick out his
landing-place and make it.

The difficulty is, of course, not to undershoot, to fall short. It
must be remembered that in case of actual engine failure there is no
motive power, and if a man calculates his distance too short, he has
nothing left but to make his landing where he may be. He has lost his
height and his chance to reach other fields. He may find himself
rolling into the fence of the field he was trying for.

Or, equally bad, he may overshoot. The distance was shorter than it
looked, he has more height to lose than he thought. He can gain
nothing by sticking the nose down, because in his plunge he gains
speed which will carry him too far on the ground. He may bowl over the
fence, or, if there is a field beyond, make the next field. More often
he finds himself in a patch of woods with a broken airplane.

It is possible that on a turn, a gliding turn with the engine shut
off, the pilot may lose his flying speed. Unless he is experienced, he
does not realize that on a turn the machine presents more surfaces to
the air and greatly increases the air resistance. It is likely to
stall unless a safe margin of speed is maintained. The dangerous part
of this is that very often the machine will lose its speed when only a
hundred feet from the ground, approaching the field. There is no
chance to pull it out of a spin unless the pilot is alert and realizes
that he has lost speed, and noses down before he spins. Often he
spins, and a fall with an airplane from a hundred feet is just as
nasty as it can be.

For his own safety in the air the civilian who is about to take up
instruction in flying should insist at his flying-school that he be
taught thoroughly, to his own satisfaction, the control of his machine
with the engine shut off for the moment. There is a certain feel, a
sing in the wires, he must know. He should continue at the work of
forced landings, going on his solo flights to various heights, pick
out his field, shut off the motor, and get down into that field--no
other. He should keep it up until he can make nine out of every ten
absolutely perfect, and the tenth one, though not perfect, still a
good landing.

Then it may be said that a pilot is safe. When he knows in his own
heart that nothing can happen to him which will throw him off