'Exhibitions were given in Santa Cruz, San Jose, Santa Clara, Oaklands,
and Sacramento. The flights that were made, instead of being haphazard
affairs, were in the order of safety and development. In the first
flight of an aeronaut the aeroplane was so arranged that the rider had
little liberty of action, consequently he could make only a limited
flight. In some of the first flights, the aeroplane did little more than
settle in the air. But as the rider gained experience in each successive
flight I changed the adjustments, giving him more liberty of action, so
he could obtain longer flights and more varied movements in the flights.
But in none of the flights did I have the adjustments so that the riders
had full liberty, as I did not consider that they had the requisite
knowledge and experience necessary for their safety; and hence, none
of my aeroplanes were launched so arranged that the rider could make
adjustments necessary for a full flight.
'This line of action caused a good deal of trouble with aeronauts or
riders, who had unbounded confidence and wanted to make long flights
after the first few trials; but I found it necessary, as they seemed
slow in comprehending the important elements and were willing to
take risks. To give them the full knowledge in these matters I was
formulating plans for a large starting station on the Mount Hamilton
Range from which I could launch an aeroplane capable of carrying two,
one of my aeronauts and myself, so I could teach him by demonstration.
But the disasters consequent on the great earthquake completely stopped
all my work on these lines. The flights that were given were only the
first of the series with aeroplanes patterned after the first model.
There were no aeroplanes constructed according to the two other models,
as I had not given the full demonstration of the workings of the first,
though some remarkable and startling work was done. On one occasion
Maloney, in trying to make a very short turn in rapid flight, pressed
very hard on the stirrup which gives a screw-shape to the wings, and
made a side somersault. The course of the machine was very much like one
turn of a corkscrew. After this movement the machine continued on its
regular course. And afterwards Wilkie, not to be outdone by Maloney,
told his friends he would do the same, and in a subsequent flight made
two side somersaults, one in one direction and the other in an opposite,
then made a deep dive and a long glide, and, when about three hundred
feet in the air, brought the aeroplane to a sudden stop and settled to
the earth. After these antics, I decreased the extent of the possible
change in the form of wing-surface, so as to allow only straight sailing
or only long curves in turning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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