He headed his plane straight at the mouth of the tunnel and then, just before reaching it, pulled back on the stick and went up into the clouds. Once in the mist, with all view of the ground cut off, he hesitated about what to do next. If he leveled off too soon he would crash against the sides of the mountain. If he held his plane in a climbing position too long, it would fall off into a spin. He tried to hold it at the same angle at which he had entered the clouds and hoped that it was sufficiently steep to follow the contour of the abrupt slope below him.