Page:20 Hrs 40 Min (Earhart).pdf/82

 that strange feeling experienced by the flyer in fog.

Under such circumstances it is impossible to tell what the plane is doing. It may be upside down or turning giant circles. Without instruments the pilot simply does not know his position in space—there are no outside landmarks with which to check. Of course, if one is really upside down for any length of time one's feet drop back from the rudder and the safety belt tightens; or if in a skid a side blast of wind gives a belated warning, etc.

It was extraordinarily confusing and, realizing I could not go farther, I kicked the ship into a tail spin and came down to 3000 feet where I emerged from the fog and landed.

I remembered one of the old-timers came up and looked at my barograph record. His eyes fixed on a vertical line just before the record ended. "What does that mean," he asked. "Did you go to sleep along in there?"