Chanute confessed that some movement on the part of the operator
was still required to control the machine, but it was only a
seventh or a sixth part of the movement required for control of
the Lilienthal type.

Chanute waxed enthusiastic over the possibilities of gliding,
concerning which he remarks that 'There is no more delightful
sensation than that of gliding through the air. All the
faculties are on the alert, and the motion is astonishingly
smooth and elastic. The machine responds instantly to the
slightest movement of the operator; the air rushes by one's
ears; the trees and bushes flit away underneath, and the landing
comes all too quickly. Skating, sliding, and bicycling are not
to be compared for a moment to aerial conveyance, in which,
perhaps, zest is added by the spice of danger. For it must be
distinctly understood that there is constant danger in such
preliminary experiments. When this hazard has been eliminated
by further evolution, gliding will become a most popular sport.'

Later experiments proved that the biplane type of glider gave
better results than the rather cumbrous model consisting of five
tiers of planes. Longer and more numerous glides, to the number
of seven to eight hundred, were obtained, the rate of descent
being about one in six. The longest distance traversed was
about 120 yards, but Chanute had dreams of starting from a hill
about 200 feet high, which would have given him gliding flights
of 1,200 feet. He remarked that 'In consequence of the speed
gained by running, the initial stage of the flight is nearly
horizontal, and it is thrilling to see the operator pass from
thirty to forty feet overhead, steering his machine, undulating