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Sky Sailing in America
Pleasures and Dangers of Aerial Navigation
By WALDON FAWCETT
IT will not be long now until the term "Sky Pilot" will pass from the list of idiomatic slang to the classic columns of the dictionary. There we will find it defined--"A person duly qualified and licensed by authority to steer and manage air ships." Aeronaut--air navigator; balloonist," will be marked "obsolete." The sky pilot will be the man who occupies the pilot house of the aeroplane or the dirigible balloon. Make room for the sky pilot, he is to occupy, for a time at least, the center of the stage. He is to be the dispenser of new and novel sensations. When we are in the depths, he will take us above the clouds and show us the earth in all its littleness. He will--but make room for the true sky pilot, he has come to stay.
  Great events must have a large stage for their proper enacting. Up to date, France has been the worldcenter for ballooning and aerial navigation generally but France is too small for a proper testing of the possibilities of sky-sailing. So the next great contest in balloon racing is to take place in the United States where there is ample "land room"; where a thousand miles may be covered without danger of "landing" in the brine.
  Last year, the international balloon race for the Bennett cup began in France and ended in England. Lieutenant Lahm, of the United States Navy, won the cup. This evidence of American skill, coupled with the further fact that the sky pilots were compelled to secure a complete set of passports into all the different countries of Europe before starting, for traveling without a passport in Europe is often inconvenient, convinced the management of the Bennett trophy that the United States was the only civilized country big enough to accommodate a modern balloon race.
  The exact point from which the international race will start has not yet been decided upon. It is presumed, however, that a suitable place somewhere in the Middle West will be chosen.
  St. Louis is considered a most favorable starting point for long distance balloon races, but there is some doubt as to the gas supply. If the facilities are up to requirements there is a strong likelihood that the committee will decide to have the international race start from there. The danger of being blown over any large body of water from that point is small, as the nearest tide-water is the Gulf of Mexico, 700 miles away, while the Atlantic Ocean is 900 miles to the east and the Pacific 2,300 miles to the west. Being carried over the Great Lakes is the only possible danger of this kind. The danger from mountain ranges is also nearly absent. To the south and west the Mississippi Valley offers a broad sweep for the huge gas bags, and the Appalachian range to the east offers few obstacles. The Rocky Mountains are too far off to be considered among the probable dangers.
      
               The Lahm Trophy

  In addition to the international race the American people will be given another treat in the contest for the Lahm cup, a trophy valued at $1,200, which will be awarded to the first sky pilot who shall exceed the record of 400 1/2 miles covered by Lieutenant Lahm in the international race which started from Paris last year. There is a stipulation, however, that any balloon journey in contest for the Lahm cup must take place in the United States. This condition promises to insure a number of periodic contests for this country, which are likely to evoke as much popular enthusiasm as do the annual bursts of speed in the automobile races for the Vanderbilt cup.
  In addition to the above balloon races the war department of the United States will, during the summer of 1907, inaugurate a number of experiments to determine the value of the balloon in war. For this purpose a number of balloons of different make have already been purchased. These will be utilized under actual campaign conditions.
          
             Ballooning as a Sport

  The delight of flying through space at the rate of from ten to one hundred miles per hour, without being conscious of motion, is a sensation that can be enjoyed only by pleasure lovers who possess a "barrel," or who have friends who belong to the "system." The huge gas bags cost a small fortune to begin with and their maintenance involves a tremendous expense.
  Balloon flights cost thousands of dollars where automobile tours cost tens. To be sure, you can buy a one-man balloon for $400, which is no more than the cost of a runabout, and $25 worth of gas will lift you to a height of two miles and keep you there, or at a less altitude, for a whole day. But such modest excursions do not satisfy the twentieth century sportsman with unlimited cash. He is not content with a balloon that costs less than $1,000. With such a craft the expense of an ascent will run from $100 to $500, not including the cost of transportation of the craft from the landing "dock" back to the starting place.
  However, ballooning as a sport in the United States will not suffer from the lack of rich men. There are plenty of them with money to burn, and there will be plenty of balloonists. Already there is an organized club, the Aero Club of New York--the club that offers the Lahm trophy--and something over three hundred devotees of the sport, including such men of wealth as William K. Vanderbilt, Jr., John Jacob Astor, Harry Payne Whitney, O. H. P. Belmont, August Post, and C. J. Glidden.
  In Paris and London and Berlin, ballooning has aroused the enthusiasm of the world-wearied, purseburdened seekers after new sensations. Those who think they have exhausted all the thrills and possibilities of motoring and yatching, embrace this new recreation as a child seeks a new toy. What is true of Europe will soon be true of America. What the Banderlog know to-day, the Jungle will know to-morrow, What the Jungle does to-day the Banderlog will do to-morrow. Ballooning has taken root in the United States and within five years it will be as common as ice-boating.

            Is the Sport Dangerous?

  Well, it all depends. Your true sky pilot declares that it is more exhilarating and less dangerous than automobiling, but he may be prejudiced, and you should take his assertions with a large pinch of salt. It must be admitted that the sky pilot at present is to a large extent a child of fate. In a minor degree only, can he control his movements. He may decide where he wants to land, but whether he lands there or not will depend altogether on o n the winds. Or, in spite of his maps and his compass he may get "lost" as completely in the great expanse of air, and become as utterly helpless as if he were in a trackless forest with the sun hidden. A thousand and one accidents, unforeseen and unprovided for, may happen. When these come, the sky pilot, however nervy, finds himself "in the air." Again, he is apt to lose his nerve and approaching night may throw him into a perfect panic of fear--an unreasoning fear, that will admit but one desire--to get down to terra firma, no matter where and how.
  Broadly speaking, there is not much more danger in ballooning than the twentieth century individual deems necessary to add zest to his sport. More than ten thousand ascensions have been made from the Aero Club in Paris with never an accident, and only two accidents of a serious character occurred last year in America. These might have been avoided and probably would have been had the ascensions been made by experienced balloonists. Tried sky pilots declare that the pitfall that yawns before the air navigator is overconfidence. Your gentleman-sportsman in his amateur days, after a few trips under favorable conditions with easy landings, comes to imagine that nothing can happen and proceeds to be reckless. Right here is where he "falls down," for although the handling of a balloon is comparatively simple and readily understood, cool judgment and quick decision are necessary. And

Photo with caption: Germany's Premier Aeronauts.--Capt. Hilderbrandt, Baron von Hewald and Lady de Forest