Amelia's Autogiro Adventures

摘要

As Amelia Earhart increased speed to take off from Willow Grove in December 1930, the cold wind whipped through her short-cropped hair. The engine prerotator of the open-cockpit autogiro she was piloting engaged, and the rotor began spinning-four long blades slicing through the air above her head. Once the autogiro was aloft, air pressure kept the blades whirling. Soon she was sailing over the snowy Pennsylvania fields, practicing takeoffs and landings under the watchful eye of her tutor, James Ray, a test pilot for the Pitcairn-Cierva Autogiro Company. After bringing the autogiro in for a final landing that day, Earhart admitted she didn't know "whether I flew it or it flew me."