Bleriot addressed this issue by redesigning the undercarriage, coming up with the arrangement that was used on nearly all of his subsequent aircraft designs.

Each wheel was mounted on a castering trailing arm which was free to slide up and down along the round cross-section vertical members of a fixed, four-sided "bedstead" frame, the movement being sprung by bungee cords.

On this occasion he succeeded in making a U-turn in the air, and the performance of the aircraft was impressive enough for Patrick Alexander to write "I think Blériot is now leading the way".

[3] However, the next flight trials, on 18 December, ended with a crash: the left wheel collapsed, causing the wing to dig in and the aircraft to turn over, resulting in its destruction.

Blériot escaped without serious injury, his life possibly saved by the cabane structure, which acted as a roll bar.