The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-02-15
AIR MAIL PILOTS
Governments Exhaustive Plans
for Airplane Service.
Industrial Concerns Also VIII
Use Flyers Soon.
ENTAIL NO UNUSUAL RISK
Test of Planes Will Avoid Dan.
ger to All Concerned.
Licensing Legislation VIII APP
pear Before States.
BY LIEUT.. P. NJ. STONE. A. s. A.


Some fine morning, if plans of both
the government and individual indus
trial concerns do not miscarry, Amer
lea will wake up to find aerial pas
senger and express lines in operation
to every corner of the continent.
With the development of these lines
over populated areas, state legislatures
or congress will be forced to pass laws
governing the licensing of pilots of
the air. What mental, physical and
technical requirements will be de-
manded by the state before licenses
are issued? Will a, license approved in
New York state be effective above New
Jersey? Could a pilot flying from
New York with 1000 feet elevation
effect a landing on a Montana field
with 10000 feet elevation without be-
ing called before the police court for
violating an altitude clause in his
license?
Such questions are not premature
and have additional interest with the
annual aeronautica1 exposition in New
York but three weeks off.
Needs of Postal Service.
The development of the postal
routes, which shortly will be expanded
to include a New York-Chicago daily
service and then all the borders of the
country, brings a need for more avia-
tors to pilot the mail-carrying ships,
and these men will be forced to retain
the mental and physical attributes
which the government required before
they were trained for army service
for all the present aerial mail carriers
are pilots who received their flying
instruction in the army camps.
Privately operated lines for passen-
ger traffic, free from all government
connection. will secure pilots who may
not have been trained by the military
instructors, and the question naturally
arises as to what the state will require
before these men are allowed to fly.
No Unusual Risk.
The infrequency of accidents in the
army has proved that flying does not
entail unusual risk for flyer, passenger
or those over whom the airplane
passes. But this infrequency of acct
dent is due to two things-a careful
examination of airplanes by testing
boards before they are put into serv-
ice, and careful mental and physical
examinations of pilots before they
were permitted to take ships into the
air.
In order to guarantee safety to pas
sengerS and those below, will corpor-
ations entering the field of aerial
transportation insist upon some such
tests as the government required for
military work? The desire of the
erty and avoid damage cases in the
c9Urts probably will be sufficient to
insure theF most careful selection of
pilots, but what of the man who can
possesses a certain reckless spirit
which denies the possibility of acct
dent? Is he to be allowed the free
dom of the air, in which element there
is as great chance for injury to 9TH
ers as to the pilot himself?
Ax-ia ri 70 ha oil
with "chauffeurs'' but there is some
similarity in the problems which con-
front the state today, touching upon
aerial licenses. and those of the older
days when automobile traffic was
growing toward the popularity which
it now holds. But the problem at that
time was much simpler. The fact that
| the automobile is on the ground les
| sens the degree of potential danger
| within it. Also, there are brakes on
when peril is imminent. With the
aviator there is at present no such de-
vice to which he may resort. If trou-
| Bile is ahead and control about to be
lost, no continuance of man will avert
disaster; everything rests with the
mental agility of the pilot himself.
Licensing Legislation.
This presents a problem to licensing
legislation which Worried the military
authorities early in the war. How
can the fitness of a mans mind fol
! quick response to emergency be meas
ured? How shall the speed of menta
and physical cooperation be judged
No man, said the military authori-
. ties, should be allowed to direct the
flight of an airplane unless that mar
has absolute coordination between
mind and muscles in order that the
realization of danger shall bring al
immediate movement to prevent the
| catastrophe.
I Early in the war, the government
sought to judge mans ability t
think fast and accurately, by the edu.
cation he|had received, and only, col
lege graduates were granted commits
sions. But college men failed to re.
spond in large enough numbers, an6
among those who did, scores wers
found who lacked the required alac-
rity. So, later in the game, when al
men were allowed to become candi-