First decide upon the kind of a machine you want—monoplane, biplane,
or triplane. For a novice the biplane will, as a rule, be found the most
satisfactory as it is more compact and therefore the more easily
handled. This will be easily understood when we realize that the
surface of a flying machine should be laid out in proportion to the
amount of weight it will have to sustain. The generally accepted rule
is that 152 square feet of surface will sustain the weight of an
average-sized man, say 170 pounds. Now it follows that if these 152
square feet of surface are used in one plane, as in the monoplane, the
length and width of this plane must be greater than if the same amount
of surface is secured by using two planes—the biplane. This results in
the biplane being more compact and therefore more readily manipulated
than the monoplane, which is an important item for a novice.
