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How a Woman Learns to Fly Told by the First Woman to Manipulate a Monoplane By Harriet Quimby Editor's note:- This is the first of a series or articles by Miss Quimby, giving her actual experience with the monoplane. She will tell, step by step, of her instruction and give in detail the difficulties and the sensations of the aeroplane pupil. [[image: aeroplane taking off over an empty field]] PHOTO AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION Experienced aviators look upon the novice's first flights at a height of fifteen or twenty feet in the air as merely "trimming the daisies". It is not until a driver is competent to fly against the wind and to turn the corners that he is considered a flyer. GARDEN CITY, LONG ISLAND, May 15th, 1911. Americans are called an inquisitive race. I am satisfied that this is true. I am also satisfied that curiosity is not confined to the women. Here I am, a novice with a fortnight's experience in [[cutoff]] Moisant School of Aviation, at Hempstead [[cutoff]] ins, Long Island, and yet I have forty-seven [[cutoff]] ters, thirty of them women, eagerly ask-[[cutoff]] how to learn to fly. Though my actual experi-[[cutoff]]e so far amounts to little more than what is [[image: woman getting into cockpit of plane]] PHOTO AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION [[photo caption: The student climbs over the slippery chassis and takes her place in the seat of the monoplane for her first lesson]]. [[cutoff]] as "trimming the daisies" - in reality, [[cutoff]] -ming over the grass on a wheeled machine, [[cutoff]] occasional jumps of from ten to twenty0five [[cutoff]] into the air - I do feel qualified to tell a begin- [[cutoff]] -ow she must dress and what she must do if [[cutoff]] -xpects to be a flyer. [[cutoff]] a woman wants to fly, first of all she must, [[cutoff]] -rse, abandon skirts and don a kickerbocker [[cutoff]] -rm. I speak of this particularly, because so [[image of a woman holding on to the propeller of a grounded monoplane]] PHOTO AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION [[cutoff]] -king the engine in readiness for a practice start across the field. [[cutoff]] have asked me about my flying costume. It [[cutoff]] -eem strange, but I could not find an aviation [[cutoff]] -f any description in the great city of New [[cutoff]] - and I tried hard. In my perplexity it oc- [[cutoff]] to e that the president of the American [[cutoff]] -s' Association, Alexander M. Grean, might [[cutoff]] -ood adviser; and he was, for it did not take [[cutoff]] -ong to design a suit which has no doubt estab- [[cutoff]] the aviation costume for women in this [[cutoff]] -y, if not for all the world, since the French [[cutoff]] -n still continue to wear the clumsy and un- [[cutoff]] - rtable harem skirt as a flying costume. My [[cutoff]] -s made of thick, wool-back satin, without [[cutoff]] . It is all in one piece, including the hood. [[cutoff]] ingenious combination it can be converted [[cutoff]] -tly into a conventional-appearing walking [[cutoff]] when not in use in the knickerbocker form. [[cutoff]] -e speed with which the aviator flies and the [[cutoff]] currents created by the rapidly revolving [[cutoff]] - ler directly in front of the drive compel the [[cutoff]] to be warmly clad. There must be no flap- [[image: woman standing in her flying costume]] ping ends to catch in the multitudinous wires surrounding the driver's seat. The feet and legs must be free, so that one can readily manipulate the steering apparatus; for the steering on a monoplane is not done by a wheel guided by the hand, as in an automobile. One who has run a motor cycle or an automobile successfully is all the better qualified to begin his lessons as an aviator. Without experience of this kind, the noise of an unmuffled motor in an aeroplane will be nerve-racking. The first lesson of the beginner in an aeroplane is intended to accustom her to the noisy and jarring vibration of the engine. Before the student climbs into her seat, she will discover why it is well to cover her natty costume with washable jumpers or overalls. Not only the chassis of the machine, [[image of a well dressed lady]] COPYRIGHT, 1911, MARCEAU MISS HARRIET QUIMBY, Leslie's dramatic critic and editor of the woman's page, who is the first woman in the world to fly with a monoplane. but all the fixtures are slippery with lubricating oil, and when the engine is speeded a shower of this oil is also thrown back directly into the driver's face. It is interesting to know that castor oil is used as a lubricant for high-tensions engines, like the Gnome. The first instruction that my preceptor, Andre Houpert, gave me after taking my seat in the monoplane was regarding the manipulation of the switch, so that no injury would result to the mechanic who was cranking the engine directly in [[image of a man standing next to a monoplane, speaking to a person in the cockpit]] [[image caption: Monsieur Houpert illustrates the technical term "warping the wings," the accomplishment of which preserves the balance of the machine in the air.]] front of me. The school machine I use is a Moisant monoplane, fitted with a Gnome engine of thirty horse-power. Four sturdy mechanics held on to the rudder until I had speeded the engine to the necessary velocity to start the aeroplane across the field. Under the impetus of a rapidly revolving propeller, the machine swept ahead, sometimes on the ground and, as the engine gained speed, sometimes a little above it. The aviator's first lesson [[image: four mechanics standing next to a monoplane, another individual in the cockpit]] PHOTO AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION [[photo caption: Mechanics hold fast to the rudder until the propeller reaches sufficient velocity to start the monoplane at a brisk pace.]] is to learn to steer his airship in a perfectly straight line for a distance of a mile or over. This looks very easy, until you discover that an aeroplane possesses the perversity common to all inanimate objected. It always wants to go the other way, instead of the straight way that you seek to direct. Your first dash across the field and back takes two minutes, if no mishap occurs. After two dashes of this description, a discreet teacher will dismiss you for the day. You have had all that your nerves ought to be asked to stand. In the best schools of France - a land famous for its aviators - no pupil, however apt, is permitted to have a longer daily lesson than five minutes at the outset of his course; and Monsieur Houpert, who is a graduate of a leading French school of aviation, follows this plan. When we read about Grahame-White or some other noted aviator learning to fly to altitudinous heights after only three days' lessons, we must bear in mind that these three days (Continued on page 603.)
