Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1919-03-13

Inc alrman can no more
follow the shortest distance between two points
through the air with mail and fast express matter
than train can run without stations and switches
at each end of the route
Az these air route stations must be landing
nelds, hangers for the machines gasoline supplies
spare parts, charts, maps, weather forecast sig
nals, engine mechanics, receivers for the ouick
transfer and delivery of mail express matter or
Whatever it is. What types of landing fields2 And
where shall they be located-outside city limits or
IN CITY parks cleared of buildings and trees for the
purpose?
Another point: Special charts will have TO he
prepared Tor the pilot to follow For instance
crossing the Atlantic, going east the airplane
WOULD am told by engineers, have to follow east
4 httle by south Similar charts would have TO be
DRAWN TO guide the pilot during prevailing trade
OF seasonal winds. The Chinook winds of the
ROCKIES, for instance, would add from 20 to 30
mics an hour to pilots speed coming east and
impede l ms flight to the same extent going west
The deserts, the AIojave Arizona, Mexico. Utah.
nave their dust storms from March to June Which
way do they blow? Montague think if is saws
the Drown fogs of the Atlantic can be surnounted
III irom loooO to 10000 feet, but while the airpane
WI take the flyer above the dust will ttake him
ABOVE the hurricane that creates the dust?
The meteorological bureau of Washington and
the chamber of commerce of San Diego have done
most up to the present time in charting air cur
rents for aerial flights. 1t is an entirely new
Worid, ana 1t is Il puzzling One for remember the
alrplane may drift from its course, just as ships
drlft In ocean currents without the compass giving
an mixing OF it, and here again the army and navy
could, an they would, tale unfold.
But it is in the region of the mountains that the
lighthouses with powerful lenses are most needed
Tor aerial routes. This air region is an entirely
unknown world, and it is dangerous as reefs OFT
Labrador for Il landing place. Cases are on rec
ord in which fighters in the war interlocked wings
ana came down and stuck in treetop without
SO much as a scratch on the skin of either pilot
But quite as dangerous as treetops and rocks
coming up to meet you through the floor of your
car are the gusty air pockets above all mountains
III IS not known yet whether the air above noun
talns is as guSty at night when the sun is NOT
creating upcurrents but if by day the sun creates
Niagaras of air. and if by night YOU may run into
a blizzard of snow. say above Pixies Peak there
is lot to do in chartng air roads above the Rock
les before we get that section of our transcont-
mental air route as safe as flight above the ocean,
Still, as late as 1880, the fur traders of the noun
tains secuted the possibility of even wagons ever
crossing the Great Divide. Today trains motors
and wagons cross all sections of the Divide with
less thought and danger than pedestrians cross
Fifth avenue. New York and by 1890, 1t is a safe
wager with your son that arplanes will do the
same
But this is not all there is to charting the air.
not by long, long shot. How about direction Sig
nails!
Rules of the Road Needed.
Each machine must always be given it's own
space, or twice its own space to pass or meet
another machine, but how about direction signals?
Do YOU pass to the right or left? What are the
penalties and who pays them, If you don't fake
the correct side and collision results? Who has
the right of way, the coming-in machine or the
going out: What rate of speed is to be allowed
for certain levels, and who is to police the air and
regulate the traffic?
Did you ever think what gorgeous streak Of
adventure air robber, a Captain Kidd of the sky
route, could have If he made off with plane good
for eleven tons cargo and 1871 miles speed? You
might catch him peak of the Rockies or he
might have cached his loot in the moon. Yo,, may
smile, but are any of these possibilities more I'M
likely than the actual achievements OF the
airplane In the war?
The apprehension of the arplane in Industry be-
ing clancy because its engine may 30 dead OF, it's
controls go out OF Whack does not alarm the air
man. Dual engines dual controls and two pilots
will minimize that risk but there is a very def
mite apprehension in the airnan's mind. He knows
the airplane is going to leap into industry as spec
tacuarly MS the motorcar, all right
He wants the air charted and the rules of the
game established before the argosies of countless
winged fleets are in the air. He wants all eIe-
ments of danger and confusion and antagonism re-
moved before the argosies of mail and express and
flying freight 60 up in the air.