THE GASOLINE TANK.--What horrid details have been told of the pilots who have been burned to death with the escaping gasoline after an accident, before help arrived. There is no excuse for such dangers. Most of such accidents were due to the old practice of making the tanks of exceedingly light or thin material, so that the least undue jar would tear a hole at the fastening points, and thus permit the gasoline to escape. A thick copper tank is by far the safest, as this metal will not readily rupture by the wrench which is likely in landing. WHERE TO LOCATE THE TANK.--There has been considerable discussion as to the proper place to locate the tank. Those who advocate its placement overhead argue that in case of an accident the aeroplane is likely to overturn, and the tank will, therefore, be below the pilot. Those who believe it should be placed below, claim that in case of overturning it is safer to have the tank afire above than below. DANGER TO THE PILOT.--The great danger to the pilot, in all cases of accidents, lies in the overturning of the machine. Many have had accidents where the machine landed right side up, even where the fall was from a great height, and the only damage to the aviator was bruises. Few, if any, pilots have escaped where the machine has overturned. It is far better, in case the tank is light, to have it detached from its position, when the ship strikes the earth, because in doing so, it will not be so likely to burn the imprisoned aviator. In all cases the tank should be kept as far away from the engine as possible. There is no reason why it cannot be placed toward the tail end of the machine, a place of safety for two reasons: First, it is out of the reach of any possible danger from fire; and, second, the accidents in the past show that the tail frame is the least likely to be injured. In looking over the illustrations taken from the accidents, notice how few of the tails are even disarranged, and in many of them, while the entire fore body and planes were crushed to atoms, the tail still remained as a relic, to show its comparative freedom from the accident. In all monoplanes the tail really forms part of the supporting surface of the machine, and the adding of the weight of the gasoline would be placing but little additional duty on the tail, and it could be readily provided for by a larger tail surface, if required. THE CLOSED-IN BODY.--The closed-in body is a vast improvement, which has had the effect of giving greater security to the pilot, but even this is useless in case of overturning. STARTING THE MACHINE.--The direction in which improvements have been slow is in the starting of the machine. The power is usually so mounted that the pilot has no control over the starting, as he is not in a position to crank it.