The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-12-16
Five Times as Easy to Get Lost in an
Alrplane as in an Automobils, Be-
cause of the Greater Speed,
Says an Expert.

pathway to commercial aviation iew
years ago seemed insurmountable, but
now all obstacles have been cleared
away. In the case Of guidance the
aero experts have decided to use the
new wireless telephone.
There are no signboards in the all,
and by the time an aeronaut had cal
culated his position by old-fashoned
nautical methods he would merely have
placed one spst on the earth's surface
where he knew he was not located
Consequently the aviator, to supple
msnt his air maps while flying In
clouds. during low visibility, or OYER
unknown territory, must have some
fast way of reckoning his location.
Radio IS rapid. faster even than the
splane, and is therefore the lAeal aid
to ACCOMMODATION.
Guided by Radio.
"Whcn the NC-i winged her way
across the ocean there was skilled
navigator, Commander A. c. Read
himself, in the forward cockpit with
the usual Instruments Of marine navi-
CATION, but behind him was a radio
man who operated, in addition 10 he
usual wireless with trailing antennac,
radio direction finder The nechan-
Ism gaye him the exact direction Of
lie nearest destroyer in tile chain
stretching from Trepassey TO the
Azores. Merely by heading in the d..
rcetion from which the destroyer radio
signals came the plane reared her way
across the ocean. This was one Of the
tirSt uses Of the wireless as navigation
equipment. and it WINS Of course crude,
IN aviation everything is crude which
Is more than few months old, for
never dill any other Industry progress
50 rapidly
IN addition to the landing field sys-
fem which is surely coming in this
country, as it is elsewhere throughout
the world. ss commercial aviation de-
vclops, there viii undoubtedly be built
NJ system Of radio stations Ut the
landing fields and al other points. The
carrying OF dlrection-hnling apparatus
is of course burdenSome IN airplanes.
since besides its weight 1t requires
either an operator or part of the time
he attention Of the pilot, who should
he free 20 handle The plane. In the
stations themselves this apparatus can
be installed instead All that the plane
will need is a simple radio phone send
ing and receiving apparatus.
"Where am I? Where am 70 the
ailot Will inquire speaking Into his
pransmltter. Somewhere down below
perhaps concealed by underlying clouds
or mist. the stations Will hear and al
most instantaneously calculate the di
rcctlon and answer Does this souuo
far-fetched? Already navy radio sta
/ tioas use precisely similar methods,
save that they use wireless telegraph
Signals and are daily giving locations
md hearings 10 ocean steam ships on
the Atlantic coast. The application 10
airplancs is mere natter Of estah,
fishing stations and installing equip
mcnt on planes.
Help Planes on Long Flights.
"In addition TO giving locations these
stations will be Of great value to keep
planes on long flights Informed as to
prevailing winds no various heights.
changing meteorological conditions,
cloud heights and so forth The men
in the plane viii be in very much closer
communication with the world while
flying a hundred miles an hour five or
ten thousand feet above the earth than
tourists in an automobile below them,
Larger machines Of couTse, will
probably carry their own operators,
who may handle directiona wireless
apparatus as well as their radio mech
anism, but small planes, machines cor
responding to automobiles in pas
senger and freight capacity, can dis.
pense with radio man, yet have pre-
cisely the same dlrectional advan,
tages
Leading airplane companies. such
as are now making planes for service
across the continent; or parts of II, will
probably be compelled TO erect th2if
own radio stations, but eventually
believe the federal government will
recognize its duty to aircraft MS well
ms sea craft and establish a comprc-
hensive system Of stations. These
stations will be of great value to niv
service flyers, mail pilots, forest FIRE
patrols, ETC. as well as to civilian
flyers, and In addition could be used
for other radio purposes as well. Per-
sonally am Of the opinion that tho
mir traffic win In the near future be all
such stations could handle The Amer.
lean people are far too progressive noi
to grasp rapidly the advantages o.
multiplied speed in The transportation
Of passengers, mails and freight"
Chance Your Kew.