CONSTRUCTING A GLIDING MACHINE.

First decide upon the kind of a machine you want--
monoplane, biplane, or triplane. For a novice the biplane
will, as a rule, be found the most satisfactory as
it is more compact and therefore the more easily handled.
This will be easily understood when we realize that the
surface of a flying machine should be laid out in proportion
to the amount of weight it will have to sustain.
The generally accepted rule is that 152 square feet of
surface will sustain the weight of an average-sized man,
say 170 pounds. Now it follows that if these 152 square
feet of surface are used in one plane, as in the monoplane,
the length and width of this plane must be greater
than if the same amount of surface is secured by using
two planes--the biplane. This results in the biplane
being more compact and therefore more readily manipulated
than the monoplane, which is an important item
for a novice.

Glider the Basis of Success.

Flying machines without motors are called gliders. In
making a flying machine you first construct the glider.
If you use it in this form it remains a glider. If you
install a motor it becomes a flying machine. You must
have a good glider as the basis of a successful flying
machine.

It will be well for the novice, the man who has never