Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-07-10
CAN BUILD CROSS-OCEAN
AIRCRAFT, SAYS FLIER
Noted French Aviator Asserts
Aeroplane Carrying 200
Passengers Is Possible.
BY WILLIAM G. SHEPHERD

PARIS, July 10.--Louis Bleriot, the
Erst airman ever TO fly across the
8nglish channel, has Just told me
Hme astonishing things about the
possibility of transatlantic fight.
One of the most astonishing is that
~ thinks it impractical. Bleriot is as
great an expert in the mathematics
n aviation as he is in the art of
actually handling machine. He is a
scientist. who has not flown for two
years, but who spends all his time
operating his factory and experiment
hg.
do you think it is possible to fly
across the Atlantic?" ! asked him.
Perhaps, but ! would not wish to
ry 1t with the aeroplanes We have
Aoday. Only the very best of luck
miraculous luck-eouid get flyer
across. An attempt would be full of
Sanger, with many odds in favor of
aailure and death"
why would It be dangerous?"
Because, on the wastes of the At
Antic, the flyer would have to alight
AColQC btliDS DGNeTdi Il1HeS " secure
4uel, and how could he be sure that
De would find the ships? Even if
mere were a string of ships 200 miles
Hpart-and that is not long dis
nance for nonstop fight in these
aays-how could he find his way from
Hne ship to the next? There is no
Known way by which an aviator can
Follow trail across the Atlantic:
ais compass might show that his ma
rhine headed for America and the
west. but in reality the moving air
might be carrying the flyer south
ward, without his knowledge, away
from the next ship that he is seeking.
st would be much the same as being
lost in desert"
But would 1t be possible to build
pm aeroplane that could carry enough
Fuel for nonstop flight across the
Atlantic?"
Now you're talking" said Bleriot.
II had the money and there was
commercial demand for it could
build an aeroplane within two years
tha 'rould cross the Atlantic ocean
I'm y hours I have figured 1t all
tout nj made all my calculations"
tfietfS PNi SOilo NOuiO SuCH an
aeroplane carry?"
1T would easily carry two hundred
persons. in addition to the fuel"
The great airman drew a pencil
from his pocket and made some hur-
ried calculations.
Ny plan would be-" he said. ito
have an aeroplane of 10000 horse
+ power You see he explained. 1--WE
figure that every horsepower carries
twenty-five pounds. so our big trans
atlantic aeroplane might weigh go, 900
pounds. or ITO tons. The engine and
the fuel, together with the necessary
lubricating oil. would weigh about
twenty-five tons. I could build very
safe aeroplane that would weigh forty
TONS aside from the engine. and this
would leave us forty tons for the pas
sengers. This would mean about 200
passengers, unless it was desired to
use some of this passenger tonnage
n supplying luxurious surroundings
5or the passengers.
How soon. do you suppose, will
such aeroplanes carry passengers
across the Atlantic?''
lust as soon as there is a demand
LII ShNH tliiiSpoTtdllOll II is Il p1OD- /
lem of commercial demand, not of |
/. aeroplane building. But do not |
: think that aeroplanes Will ever take
the place of ships, for | doubt their /
commercial usefulness in crossing +
! oceans. Airships will always be de- |
pendent on the weather.
ITS q simple problem In mathe-
mates. Suppose an aeroplane. no
matter how gigantic it is has a speed |
Of 100 miles an hour, and suppose II |
! encounters a wind of 100 miles an
hour. The result would be that the /
airship would travel backwards /
twenty miles an hour You see the !
difference between a water ship and |.
an airship is that the ocean in which :
the water ship sails always remains !
stationary
Within very few years." he con-
cluded. "a transatlantic aeroplane +
that is safe in ordinary weather may
be built. but the man who crosses the
Atlantic in the ordinary aeroplane of
today must be an exceptionally brave
and a miraculously lucky flyer--too
much so, ! fear, to be true!"'