The weekly Alaska citizen., 1919-05-26
TRANS-ATL,A L,ANTIC FLIGHT

TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT
 With the safe arrival of the naval sea plane NC-4 at Horta last Saturday 1t is req sonable to conclude that an American aviator will be the first to successfully cross the At lantic ocean by the aerial route. The distance from Trepassy, the junpoff point, and the Azores is considerably more than halfway tt Lisbon, where it is planned to make landing on the shores of Europe. With the long e of the journey behind it, the NC-4 will hardly experience unusual difficulties in making tl' remainder of the flight
 It is matter for national qualification that an American built machine, manned en- tirely by Americans, should be the first to make this trip. America gave the heavier than-air machine to the world. It is true that the invention of the Wrights has received less attention from America and the America government that it did from foreign countrie but it is none-the-less purely American in con- ception and production and for this reason, if for no other, it is peculiarly appropriate that the first transatlantic flight should be made by Americans.
 In making the flight the United States navy again showed its preparedness to meet any emergency Considerable criticism has been occasioned by the apparent lack of inter- est in this matter by the administration and what appeared to be indifference to whether or not the British aviators at St. Johns were the first to cross. But so far as can be gath cred from information being received by tele- graph, the Americans are the only ones to ac- complish anything worth while. Attempts of the Britishers to start after the successful American start were failures and the Ameri- cans are alone still in the race.
 That the navy has not been asleep is in- dicated by the New York statement of Secre- tary Daniels, in which he said that his depart n1ent had been planning the trip for two years and that the success was not to be attributed to 'navy luck" but to thoro preparation and hard work. It is unfortunate that fogs and stormy weather were encountered off the Azores when all three American planes were within easy flight distance of their scheduled landing place. But for this circumstance there is no reason to doubt that every plane would have landed at Ponta Del Gada ahead of its schedule and in good condition for the remainder of the trip to Lisbon.
 But should even one of the machines reach its destination, as it seems it must sure ly do, there will be glory enough for the whole navy. Without advertisement it made its preparations and its plans are working out without showing flaws. It could not have entirely overcome the hazards of the weather and such accidents and delays as these pro- duce cannot be charged against it.
 In crossing the Atlantic, the unknown was being dealt with. Nothing was known of the air currents, nor of just what would be re- quired of the machine making the attempt Only approximate guesses could be made Now that it has been achieved the next plane to make the effort will be able to profit by the knowledge gained by the first. The ice being broken, it is reasonable to believe that rapid advances in the science of aerial naviga- tion will soon reduce the hazards of such passage to minimum which will make the es- tablishment of transatlantic aerial communi- cation an assured condition at an early date.
 THE AUSTRALIAN SOLUTION