(The following article is extracted from the "Aero Manual" published by Temple Press Ltd in 1909)

It would be an exaggeration to say that anybody can drive a Voisin aeroplane, but it is not going beyond the confines of truth to declare that any sportsman, especally a man familiar with motoring, cycling, ballooning, or yachting, can learn to fly in half an hour. The designers have made their apparatus as automatic as possible, trying to eliminate the human element, and thus giving the machine the maximum of security.

Consider what happens when a flight is made. The pilot has taken his seat behind the steering wheel, the engine has been started up, and the attendants are holding the apparatus, which threatens to drag them with it over the ground. Having given a little more gas and advanced the spark, you raise your hand as a signal to those in the rear that you are ready. The men release their hold and you are off, running over the ground at a speed that increases to 30 miles an hour.

Of course, there is a right way and and wrong way to start, or rather one right way and many wrong ways. The correct manner is to have your machine with its nose in the wind (if any wind is blowing), and the front edge of the elevation rudder pointing upwards, this position being obtained by pulling the steering wheel towards you. The object of raising the rudder at the start is not to rise in the air immediately, but to prevent the machine falling on its nose.

Before the aeroplane has run a dozen yards over the ground the tail will have lifted and the machine will be running on its two front wheels only. In such a condition, if the elevation rudder were kept in a horizontal position, the tendency would be for the tail to overbalance the front portion and bring the machine to a brusque stop by falling on its nose.

As the aeroplane gains speed it will rise from the ground. You may not know at exactly what moment the wheels cease to touch, but you are very soon aware of a very different sensation, an almost indescribable sensation, in which the feeling that you have got rid of a lot of superfluous weight is uppermost.

You realise that some invisible force has lifted you clear of the ground, and the change is so great that you almost imagine your legs had formerly been trailing on the ground and had now been lifted into still air. For there is also this difference: that, whereas 30 miles an hour on the ground seemed a giddy speed, the same rate of travel in the air is very gentle motion. With the ground several feet away and no objects near at hand to indicate speed, the sense of motion is almost lost.

But it is necessary to pay attention to the control of the aeroplane, or a gentle sailing motion will quickly transform itself to a rough encounter with the ground. As soon as the apparatus has got clear of the earth, the angle of the front elevation rudder must be diminished, for, in its inclined position, it is offering resistance and, if maintained in this position, will diminish speed to such a degree that the aeroplane will rapidly fall. Therefore, push the steering wheel slightly forward, so that the front edge of the rudder is only slightly pointing upwards; this will allow you to rise without offering the same resistance to forward direction as formerly.

One of the difficulties of all learners is to understand that the movement must be made gently, even leisurely. Unlike the motorcar, which responds immediately to a touch of its steering wheel, the aeroplane answers very slowly. In this respect, the control is much more like that of a sailing yacht than an automobile, a turning movement beginning gradually, increasing in strength and falling off gradually. On the ground there is somewhat of a violent pull on the steering wheel, but, as soon as the aeroplane gets into the air, a very gentle pressure is exerted on the horizontal plane and, in consequence, the effort required of the pilot is very slight.

The plane is placed in a horizontal position as soon as the desired height is attained, but even then, no attempt must be made to correct every slight oscillation of the aeroplane. Indeed, with our present knowledge, it is impossible to do so, for a manipulation of the elevation rudder to correct the slight forward dip, for instance, would certainly come too late to be of any effect.

The point to remember,therefore, is to operate the front elevation rudder without any brusqueness whatever. Emphasis has been laid on this because the operation of the elevation rudder is generally found to be the most difficult, doubtless from the fact that the sense of movement in a vertical directon has not yet been developed in man.

The operation of the rear vertical rudder, giving movement in a lateral direction, is a much more simple matter; a turn of the wheel to the left and the aeroplane will move in that direction; a turn to the right and a curve will be made to the right. The lateral rudder has also the effect of correcting lateral balance.

The machine, for instance, has a tendency to heel over to the left, caused, naturally, by the wind striking it on the right. This would be corrected by turning the steering wheel in the direction it is desired to bring the aeroplane, in this case to the right, bring the nose of the machine into the wind and putting it on an even keel.

These movements also should be made without any harshness, nor must the pilot tug at the wheel if the aeroplane does not answer immediately. The vertical planes give so much lateral stability that it is practically impossible, under ordinary conditions, for the aeroplane to take such a list that it will capsize.

In order to make a turn, it is necessary that the machine should be inclined, and, as soon as the pilot has realised that there is no more danger for him to heel over in the air than there is for a cyclist to be inclined when riding on a banked track, turning on an aeroplane will not be difficult. Having realized that the machine must be inclined, the point is to turn at a sufficient height to prevent any possibility of the inside tip of the wing touching the ground. In making a turn there is a slight loss of speed and a certain amount of fall of the aeroplane, which must be guarded against by commencing the turning movement at a reasonable height.

There are two correct ways of settling down: one, generally adopted by Farman and other expert pilots, being to stop the engine when not less than 15ft from the ground, keep the elevation rudder horizontal, allowing the machine to advance through the air, at the same time gradually falling until the speed has decreased to such a degree that the last few inches of its flight are a vertical drop, but so gently that the wheels do not suffer any damage. The other method is to lower the elevation rudder gradually until the machine is brought near the ground, with its engine still running. The ground must be struck almost horizontally and, as soon as it is felt that the wheels have touched, the front elevation rudder should be slightly raised in order to relieve the apparatus from shock. At the same moment the engine must be stopped, and after running along for a few yards the entire apparatus will come to a standstill.

An important point in connection with a descent is to attempt it, whenever possible, with the wind full ahead. It can be readily understood that, if there is merely a gentle breeze astern of the aeroplane when a descent is made, it may be driven a considerable distance before being brought to a complete stop. A side wind will tend to get the machine out of the control of the pilot, swinging it around violently, but a head wind steadies the machine and acts as a brake.