The Alaska daily empire., 1921-04-11

SCIENTIFIC STUDY
 |OF AIR CURRENTS. VITAL TO FLYING.
Hours Saved in Aerial Mail Service by Knowledge of
 Proper Attitudes to Fly.

WASHINGTON, An4il II. - Ihe value to an aviator of Knowledge or air conditions is pointed out by C. LeRoy Meisinger, Government Met eorolgist, in a paper analyzing the results of data gathered by the Weather Bureau and the Air Mail Service.
 MT. Meisinger explains that m- formation of upper air conditions has enabled saving of as high as two hours in the time taken for certain mail trips, of 45O miles and he looks upon the general lack of knowledge of air currents as the most serious present obstacle to i'm mediate commercial aviation on a large scale in this country.
 Europe's vaunted superiority over the United States in commercial aviation is discounted by MT. Mei- singer, who says that every day United States mail planes are flying over laps of such length that the famous European routes seem to diminish in importance.
 To keep the eagle in the air, ' however, the confidence of the Am erican public must be Q maintained, according to MT. Meisinger. He de- clares that expert knowledge of air conditions and application of the value which may be obtained from this knowledge, will reduce acci- dents, increase the safety of flying and create public support of com mercial aviation.
 Through scientific study of the air, commercial aviation can be given an impetus that America will be supreme in this work, Mr Meis- finger says, adding that European aviation companies realize the value of the air factor and have created departments of aeronautical meteor ology.
 On journeys westward, the air mail service has found that gen. erally an altitude of one kilometer (about 3,300 feetD results in the most speed, the winds being most favorable there. On the return jour
  been found to be the most favor able altitude, the winds varying at different heights,
 By flying sat the one kilometer altitude, planes could travel from New York to Omaha at an average of hours and 40 minutes less than similar planes could make at three kilometers, according to the figures cited by MT Meisinger, all being on the basis of plane which had a still air speed of 100 miles an hour
 One hour and 5S minutes of this saving is made on the Chicago Omaha leg, 450 miles; 54 minutes on the lap from New York to Cleve- land 410 miles; and AS minutes from Cleveland to Chicago, 32O miles. In returning from Omaha to New York, a plane flying at an al make the trip in 1 hour and Al minutes less on the average than one flying at one kilometer high according to Mir. Meisinger's figures
 On the New York to Washington mail trip, about 200 miles, it has been found that while a 100 mile an hour plane could fly to Washing ton in 2 hours and AS minutes at one kilometer, it would take hours at two or three kilometers Coming back to New York, 1t would make little difference what altitude the plane took, the time at one kilo- meter being l hour and 36 minutes and one hour and 34 minutes at two and three kilometers
 On the Chicago to St. Louis trip, an altitude of 1 kilometer would make the trip 28 minutes faster ! than if flown at 2 kilOmeters, while coming back 3 kilometers would be the best altitude.
 A plane flying one kilOmeter high from Chicago to the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, would be l hour faster than a plane at three kilOmeters and coming back the plane at three kilometers woald save thirty minutes in the journey.
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