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Flying Machines: Construction and Operation: A Practical Book Which Shows, in Illustrations, Working Plans and Text, How to Build and Navigate the Modern Airship.

  
[title page]
  
PREFACE.
  
IN MEMORIAM.
  
CONTENTS

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EVOLUTION OF TWO-SURFACE FLYING MACHINE. By Octave Chanute.
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CHAPTER II. THEORY, DEVELOPMENT, AND USE.
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CHAPTER III. MECHANICAL BIRD ACTION.
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CHAPTER IV. VARIOUS FORMS OF FLYING MACHINES.
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CHAPTER V. CONSTRUCTING A GLIDING MACHINE.
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CHAPTER VI. LEARNING TO FLY.
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CHAPTER VII. PUTTING ON THE RUDDER.
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CHAPTER VIII. THE REAL FLYING MACHINE.
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CHAPTER IX. SELECTION OF THE MOTOR.
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CHAPTER X. PROPER DIMENSIONS OF MACHINES.
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CHAPTER XI. PLANE AND RUDDER CONTROL.
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CHAPTER XII. HOW TO USE THE MACHINE.
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CHAPTER XIII. PECULIARITIES OF AIRSHIP POWER.
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CHAPTER XIV. ABOUT WIND CURRENTS, ETC.
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CHAPTER XV. THE ELEMENT OF DANGER.
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CHAPTER XVI. RADICAL CHANGES BEING MADE.
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CHAPTER XVII. SOME OF THE NEW DESIGNS.
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CHAPTER XVIII. DEMAND FOR FLYING MACHINES.
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CHAPTER XIX. LAW OF THE AIRSHIP.
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CHAPTER XX. SOARING FLIGHT. By Octave Chanute.
  
[section]
  
Soaring Power of Birds.
  
Great Power of Gulls.
  
Mystery to be Explained.
  
Buzzards Soar in Dead Calm.
  
Results of Close Observations.
  
An Interesting Experiment.
  
Some Data on Bird Power.
  
Results Astonish Scientists.
  
Endorsed by Prof. Marvin.
  
Conditions Unfavorable for Wrights.
  
Langley's Idea of Aviation.
  
Requisites for Soaring Flights.
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CHAPTER XXI. FLYING MACHINES VS. BALLOONS.
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CHAPTER XXII. PROBLEMS OF AERIAL FLIGHT.
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CHAPTER XXIII. AMATEURS MAY USE WRIGHT PATENTS.
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CHAPTER XXIV. HINTS ON PROPELLER CONSTRUCTION.
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CHAPTER XXV. NEW MOTORS AND DEVICES.
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CHAPTER XXVI. MONOPLANES, TRIPLANES, MULTIPLANES.
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CHAPTER XXVII. 1911 AEROPLANE RECORDS.
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CHAPTER XXVIII. GLOSSARY OF AERONAUTICAL TERMS.

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previous sectionCHAPTER XX. SOARING FLIGHT. By Octave Chanute. Flying Machines: Construction and Operation: A Practical Book Which Shows, in Illustrations, Working Plans and Text, How to Build and Navigate the Modern Airship.
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Conditions Unfavorable for Wrights.

The feat would have been attempted in 1902 by Wright brothers if the local circumstances had been more favorable. They were experimenting on "Kill Devil Hill," near Kitty Hawk, N. C. This sand hill, about 100 feet high, is bordered by a smooth beach on the side whence

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come the sea breezes, but has marshy ground at the back. Wright brothers were apprehensive that if they rose on the ascending current of air at the front and began to circle like the birds, they might be carried by the descending current past the back of the hill and land in the marsh. Their gliding machine offered no greater head resistance in proportion than the buzzard, and their
illustration

Latham's Antoinette Monoplane in Flight.

[Description: Black and white photograph: Monoplane in flight.]
gliding angles of descent are practically as favorable, but the birds performed higher up in the air than they.

previous sectionCHAPTER XX. SOARING FLIGHT. By Octave Chanute. Flying Machines: Construction and Operation: A Practical Book Which Shows, in Illustrations, Working Plans and Text, How to Build and Navigate the Modern Airship.
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