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so far I was using half open throttle, I then opened wide. A new condition developed, the center of thrust was way below the center of resistance, with the result that with full power the nose would point up and would not come down unless I reduced speed. This was a serious defect as, in the past it had been necessary to use the full power of the motor.
I then rigged the ship over again and moved the car four feet toward the nose. I felt this should solve the problem but I was mistake. I found this made the ship nose heavy and unless I opened the throttle to the limit, it wold continue to descend even with the planes exerting full lift.
I moved the car back again and tried to control this difficulty by placing a forty pound sand bag at the front end of the car, this made no improvement. And on the last trial I found we were getting altogether too high and at the same time heading for Pasadena. I was flying over a stip of land opposite the residence of Mr. Todd Ford in Pasadena, when the motor stopped. My remarks at that moment were fortunately directed at no one in particular. Reaching a clear space, I landed and quickly deflated. Packing the outfit on a horse drawn vehicle I returned to the lot and hangar. I was disgusted and decided the entire experiment was a complete washout. Then packing the balloon, I destroyed the car and returned to Toledo.
During my absense [absence] in Los Angeles, Strobel hired Lincoln Beachey as the second pilot and on my return found him busily engaged, assembling the necessary equipment for the second ship.
Their first engagement was at Cleveland, and in starting Lincoln had an accident and was out of business for one day. The next stand was Washington where they made a great success, Lincoln flew over the city, circled the dome of the Capitol,