One of the most spectacular of recent achievements is that of Renaux, competing for the Michelin Grand Prize. A purse of $20,000 was offered in 1909 by M. Michelin, the French tire manufacturer, for the first successful flight from Paris to Clermont-Ferrand--260 miles--in less than six hours. The prize was to stand for ten years. It was prescribed that the aviator must, at the end of the journey, circle the tower of the Cathedral and alight on the summit of the Puy de Dome--elevation 4500 feet--on a landing place measuring only 40 by 100 yards, surrounded by broken and rugged ground and usually obscured by fog. The flight was attempted last year by Weymann, who fell short of the goal by only a few miles. Leon Morane met with a serious accident, a little later, while attempting the trip with his brother as a passenger. Renaux completed the journey with ease in his Farman biplane, carrying a passenger, his time being 308 minutes. This Michelin Grand Prize is not to be confused with the Michelin Trophy of $4000 offered yearly for the longest flight in a closed circuit. Speeds have increased 50% during the past year; even with passengers, machines have moved more than a mile a minute: average motor capacities have been doubled or tripled. The French men and machines hold the records for speed, duration, distance, and (perhaps) altitude. The highest altitude claimed is probably that attained by Garros at Mexico City, early this year--12,052 feet above sea level. The world's speed record for a two-man flight appears to be that of Foulois and Parmalee, made at Laredo, Texas, March 3, 1911: 106 miles, cross-country, in 127 minutes. Three-fourths of all flights made up to this time have been made in France--a fair proportion, however, in American machines. NOTE The rapidity with which history is made in aeronautics is forcibly suggested by the revision of text made necessary by recent news. The new _Deutschland_ has met the fate of its predecessors; the Paris-Rome-Turin flight is at this moment under way; and Lieutenant Bayne, attempting once more his France-to-Corsica flight, has--for the time being at least--disappeared. THE POSSIBILITIES IN AVIATION Men now fly and will probably keep on flying; but aviation is still too hazardous to become the popular sport of the average man. The overwhelmingly important problem with the aeroplane is that of stability. These machines must have a better lateral balance when turning corners or when subjected to wind gusts: and the balance must be automatically, not manually, produced. [Illustration: BLANC MONOPLANE]