wind; hence the necessity for an operator to report upon what
occurred in flight, and to acquire practical experience of the
work of the human factor in imitation of bird flight. From this
point of view he conducted his own experiments; it must be noted
that he was over sixty years of age when he began, and, being no
longer sufficiently young and active to perform any but short
and insignificant glides, the courage of the man becomes all the
more noteworthy; he set to work to evolve the state required by
the problem of stability, and without any expectation of
advancing to the construction of a flying machine which might be
of commercial value. His main idea was the testing of devices
to secure equilibrium; for this purpose he employed assistants
to carry out the practical work, where he himself was unable to
supply the necessary physical energy.

Together with his assistants he found a suitable place for
experiments among the sandhills on the shore of Lake Michigan,
about thirty miles eastward from Chicago. Here a hill about
ninety-five feet high was selected as a point from which
Chanute's gliders could set off; in practice, it was found that
the best observation was to be obtained from short glides at
low speed, and, consequently, a hill which was only sixty-one
feet above the shore of the lake was employed for the
experimental work done by the party.

In the years 1896 and 1897, with parties of from four to six
persons, five full-sized gliders were tried out, and from these
two distinct types were evolved: of these one was a machine
consisting of five tiers of wings and a steering tail, and the
other was of the biplane type; Chanute believed these to be