Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 May 1914 — Barely Possible to Cross Atlantic In Air, but Attempt Would Be Height of Folly [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Barely Possible to Cross Atlantic In Air, but Attempt Would Be Height of Folly

By ORVILLE WRIGHT, Aviator

IT is a bare possibility that a one man machine without a float and | favored by a wind of, say, fifteen miles an hour might succeed in getting across the Atlantic, but such an attempt would be the height of folly. When one comes to increase the size of tire craft the possibility rapidly fa<l(-s awav. THIS IS BECAUSE OF THE DIFFICULTIES OF CARRYING SUFFICIENT FUEL. ON THE BASIS OF THE FIGURES WHICH I HAVE WORKED OUT I FIND THAT NO LESS THAN FIFTY-THREE PER CENT OF THE ENTIRE LOAD, INCLUDING THE WEIGHT OF THE MACHINE ITSELF AND ALL, WOULD HAVE TO BE FUEL. IN OTHER WORDS, IF THE AEROPLANE, LOADED AND READY TO START, WEIGHED ONE THOUSAND POUNDS WITH AVIATOR AND ALL ABOARD, OF THAT TOTAL FIVE HUNDRED AND THIRTY POUNDS MUST BE GASOLINE. AND THESE FIGURES ARE BASED ON THE MOST EFFICIENT PERFORMANCE OF THE MOTOR ALL THE WAY AND THE LOWEST KNOWN FUEL CONSUMPTION. IT WILL READILY BE SEEN, THEREFORE, WHY THE ATLANTIC FLIGHT IS OUT OF THE QUESTION.