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[[preprinted]] 28 AVIATION May, 1911 [[left column]] southward by way of the Owens River valley to Los Angeles. In going westward, our aviator will have again to come near breaking the the altitude record and again he will face the roughest mountain country. The Sierra Nevada Mountains offer no invitations to land on them, and present to the aviator a more ragged surface than the Rockies, but they have not the width, and after a short,hard grind the aviator will find himself coasting down from a height of about ten thousand feet towards the end of his try, and the beautiful Bay of San Francisco, over the fertile fields and groves of Central California. [[/left column]] [[right column]] In this article, the writer has endeavored to give a little insight into the actual conditions as they exist, and advises anyone seriously contemplating ly, travel over the route by automobile and train several times, stopping en-route to study actual conditions. The talked-of southern route has not been mentioned in this article, because this desert route seems from the cold deliberate study of facts to be out of the question, because of impossible and impassable summer desert conditions. The only other route passable, being along the route of the Santa Fe railway, then only during the winter months. [[/right column]] [[line]] AMATEUR HAS FATAL FALL [[left column]] Addison V. Hartle of Marseilles, O., was fatally injured by a fall in his biplane, on the Aviation Field, near Dominguez, Cal., on the morning of May 17th, 1911, and died fifteen minutes later without regaining consciousness. Hartle was not a member of the Aero Club of California, but was planning to join in order to obtain his aviator's pilot license. The machine was recently taken to the field, and on the morning of the 16th, for the first time, he started down the course and made a flight of three miles, making two circles and attaining an altitude at one time of nearly 150 feet. A hard landing was made, and the rear strut to the left of the motor was broken. This was replaced by a new one, but the rest of the machine was not properly gone over by him. The aeroplane is similar in many ways to the one used by Chas. F. Willard in his flight over the cities of Los Angeles and Pasadena, in December, 1910, and the hinges on the ailerons are of the same pattern. Half of the hinge is fastened to the plane, while the other half is fastened to the aileron. A small pin is used which locks the the two together. The pin is then soldered or else a cotter pin is used, the ends being spread after it is in place. Hartle in his rush to try out the machine evidently [[/left column]] [[right column]] evidently did not take the precaution of soldering these pins. Shortly before eight, on the morning of the 17th, he started down the course and succeeded in making a circle of 1 3/4 miles. After making a safe landing, he stated to several of the spectators that he would try and make a figure eight. The aviator started up and soon after it was noticed that the upper left aileron had become detached from the main plane, and was hanging by the control wire. The aileron was being twisted and pulled by the strong rush of air, and finally becoming entirely detached dropped to the ground. Several signaled and shouted to him to come down and he headed toward the ground, after flying nearly 3000 feet without the upper left aileron. He was but two feet from the ground when he started up again, evidently thinking that everything was O. K. Before many seconds, he was at a heighth of about 40 feet, when the machine suddenly swerved to the left. The control being useless on that side, the operator was unable to right it, and the huge plane dashed to the ground. Hartle passed away without regaining his senses. Among those present who witnessed the accident were C. Crosson, J. Gage, Wr. Stevens and J. Waite. [[/right column]] [[/preprinted]]
