Learning to Fly on Jets of Air ^ 



Do you remember the ball that dances in a 

 jet of water in every shooting gallery? Here's 

 an instruction machine built on that principle 



IT'S expensive to train airmen. 

 On the average, students break 

 from one to two airplanes each 

 before they have mastered the 

 rudiments of the art and know 

 how to fly. Private aviation schools 

 charge heavily for breakage. 

 Uncle Sam has to pay the bill him- 

 self. In any event much money is wasted. 

 The training of 5,000 aviators means the 

 destruction of 6,000 machines at the 

 very least, and each machine costs about 

 $7,000. 



Now airmen may learn at least the 

 fundamentals of flying on a machine like 

 that here shown. It's on the ground, for 

 which reason students can't break much. 

 Yet they go through practically all the 

 motions of controlling a machine in a 

 treacherous, gusty wind. 



The machine in the foreground is a 

 fan. Through the connecting tube it 

 blows a strong current of air to the 

 conical pedestal of the make-believe 

 wings. Through the conical device the 



air is delivered at four points against 

 the underside of the cross-shaped wings 

 above. It is the fledgling aviator's job 

 to sit up on top of this cross-shaped 

 structure and to keep it balanced against 

 those jets. The pupil-operator maintains 

 his balance with regular airplane controls. 

 You know that a ball held up by a jet 

 of air or water dances constantly, even 

 though it stays in the jet. Imagine then 

 what a task a man has when the struc- 

 ture that he is to balance is supported at 

 four diff'erent corners only by flickering 



This air lady is learning all about flying — without leaving the ground. It is her job to 

 keep the machine balanced against four air currents coming from the pipes beneath 



