Page:The Fun of It.pdf/46

32 as automatic as driving straight, but is nevertheless dependent upon senses ever alert.

One of the first things a student learns in flying is that he turns by pushing a rudder bar the way he wants to go. (The little wagons most children have turn opposite the push.) When he turns, he must bank or tip the wings at the same time. Why? Because, if he doesn’t, the plane will skid in exactly the same way a car does when it whirls too fast around a level corner.

Perhaps you have noticed that the inside of an automobile race track is like a bowl with the sides growing steeper and steeper at the top. The cars climb toward the outer edge in proportion to their speed, and it is quite impossible to force a slow car up the steep side of the bowl. The faster the car goes, the steeper the bank must be and the sharper the turn.

A pilot must make his own “bowl” and learn to tip his plane to the right degree relative to the sharpness of his turn and his speed. A bad skid means lack of control, for a while, either on the ground or in the air, and of course is to be avoided. By the way, compensating for skidding is the same with a car or plane—one turns either craft in the direction of the skid.

The stick—as its name implies—extends up from the floor of the cockpit. It is a lever by means of which the pilot can push the nose of the plane up or down. It also tips the wings. By pushing it to the left, the left wing is depressed, and vice versa.