Anxiously
he wondered ``Are tunnels always straight?'' and with what
relief, keeping on a straight course, he picked up the line
again some three miles farther on!
Now at last the Pilot sees the sea, just a streak on the
north-eastern horizon, and he knows that his flight is two-
thirds over. Indeed, he should have seen it before, but
the air is none too clear, and he is not yet able to discern
the river which soon should cross his path. As he swiftly
speeds on the air becomes denser and denser with what he
fears must be the beginning of a sea-fog, perhaps drifting
inland along the course of the river. Now does he feel real
anxiety, for it is the DUTY of a Pilot to fear fog, his deadliest
enemy. Fog not only hides the landmarks by which he
keeps his course, but makes the control of the Aeroplane
a matter of the greatest difficulty. He may not realize
it, but, in keeping his machine on an even keel, he is
unconsciously balancing it against the horizon, and with the
horizon gone he is lost indeed. Not only that, but it also
prevents him from choosing his landing-place, and the
chances are that, landing in a fog, he will smash into a tree,
hedge, or building, with disastrous results. The best and
boldest pilot 'wares a fog, and so this one, finding the
conditions becoming worse and yet worse, and being forced to
descend lower and lower in order to keep the earth within
view, wisely decides to choose a landing-place while there is
yet time to do so.
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