Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-02-27
LIEUT.. POSTS
DEATH CAUSES
REFORM talk
fcontinued from page one,

| t>Se-Nee.e-NN - - As-~0~ !
what they think about the too-frequent
accidents, but the statement OF one
officer is OF interest, even though his
name can not be used. He says:
Ask Only Straight Flying.
Mine out of 10 OF the officers who
enter aviation duty are men who have
natural aptitude for mechanics. Natu.
rally all Of them are educated men.
They are not supposed to do any fancy
flying. All the government asks of
them is that they can make flights
that would be suitable for war opera
lions attaining speed and altitude
that would make them valuable for
scouting and other similar duty. When
IA military aviator goes up he is not
supposed to know how to fly upside
down and hindside foremost, and play
tag with himself in the air lie flies
for definite reason and is not sup
posed to be spectacular.
"War isn't spectacular any more.
and your military avi1tor. IN time Of
war, and all his present flying is
merely to train him FOR war duty, will
be the most non-speetaculsr person
in the field He wants to efface him
self.
Says Machines Are Faulty.
"We have, therefore, class OF ed
ucated men under salary who are not
obliged to take undue risks to win the
dollars OF crowds by doing daredevil
feats. Yet in one year we kill eff
seven of them while novices and
commercial aviators who perform
lair-raising stunts to make living.
lose 10 men, when there are LOO eli
william aviators in the United STATES
to every military aviator, and most
OF these civilian aviators do not have
the advantage OF long and careful pre-
liminary training before they take a
machine up. and some of them are
men Of little education.
Therefore, il Is certain thar the
fault lies not with the men Of the
Army aero squads. but with the ma
chimes they use And seeing that the
United States has spent more than.
$500. 900 for aviation In five years. It
ought to have decent Inacnines to
show for the outlay.
Our Death Rate Highest.
Germany and France have killed
eff a lot Of their militsly aviators,
hut, in the proportion TO the number
Of men flying, they have not done
away with as many as We have But,
then, Germany and France are using
the very finest type of aercplane and
engines obtainable, and We seem tol
be using types Of machines no other
government cares 70 have much to do
with. It's pretty nearly time that
Congress either puts luietus Oh
army aviation altogether o. else pro-
vides for it properly
Officers have no criticism whatever
to make of the military ayiatOrs
themselves, or the civilians who are
employed to train such av!ators, be-
cause everybody acknowledges that,
for the amount and character of
equipment, and the number OF men
engaged in actual aviation work, thcj
army men have accomplished won-l
ders in making speed, duration and
altitude flights practically all That
military aviators desire to perfect
themselves in, saving possibly the us
ing of aerial explosives
Urges Judieious Purchasing.
Eight of the machines used in the
military service are Wright machines
that are little thought of among miii- |
tary aviators abroad. two are Bur-,
CESS machines and five are Curtis
machines. II is stated that so FAR as
the records show. a major portion of
the accidentt have occurred with
Wright machines. while the best re-
cords for flights have been made with
Burgess and Curtis machines.
"The government should purchase
nothing but the very best machines
any country can produce" said an
officer yesterday, '.and re-enforce
their machines with the best engines
made abroad. Either this should be /
done or the government should con-
fess itself hopeIessly out of the run
ming and drop military aviation, for
it is OF no use to train military avi-
ators only to kill them all in time of