The Cordova daily times., 1921-11-18

0', international New S,rlicr, WASHINGTON Nov. IS. Dis semination of nationwide weather
 forecasts, specialized and adapted to the use of fliers, and the establish ment of a transrOntincntal system of
 air routes are among recommendation
 submitted to Secretary of Commerce
 Hoover by aircraft manufacturers of
 the United States as requisites for
 safe flying and the prevention of se- i rous accidents in commercial avia- 1 tion.
 1 Twelve hundred aircraft were en
 gagged in commercial flying in this
 country during the first six months
 of 1921. according to the report to { tho Commerce Department, and in this period there were forty bad aCcj-
 dents. exclusive of injuries to govern
 mcnt-own"d machines Thcs" m 'shaps resulted in the death of fourteen per. sons and the injury. more or less so- riou-lv of riftytwo. In eighteen in stlncs rhur" were no casualties
 In addition to their suggestion, for
 goycrunnnt weather reports and ,Hr routes. the u.uuun'.r.p. aon.I ,W .rnt n.ur .ou'' our. n. w.1. .... br tnu usa .. ~ou.d un,l.r.. with ,nr.".s .r sufficient uo. .r {, uoo. .a -au.rmurr.y. and uat .a no~ n1 emergency lmdur fields sufficiently
 close together to insure gliding to safety Wnr" also uorr~sary The need for competent conservative pilots was likewise stressed
 Seventeen of the forty accidents during the first half of the yoar were attributed to the pilot either because Of carelcssncss. incompetence. bad judgment or for other reasons
 There is no doubt" it was stated
 that a good pilot can guide a poor machine to safety with grrator chance of success than a poor pilot can op- crate first-cass craft Therefore. at
 the very top of the list of government
 perd is placed the examination and
 licensing of pilots.
 During the war more than 17.00o young men were trained to fly. The art Of flying can not be retained per petually without practice, nor can it l be maintained at high degree of competency without roEul2r cXamiaa. tion."
 Inadequate landing fields or the total lack of landing facilities are , blamed for ten of the accidents.
 The Army Air Service points out
 in this connection that the govern
 ment acquired many terminals during
 the war but that most of these have
 now been abandoned The remainder 1 have been added to the Air Mail cities
 or private enterprise. but the United ! States is lacking in air ports for even . the 1900 commercial craft in opera
 ton. survey made by the Manufac-
 turcrs Aircraft Association discloses 1 that in the United States and its pos l sessions there are only 27l land and
 water air terminals many of which i are concentrated in certain localities Of the 27l listed air ports 145 are con
 trolled by municipalities, sixtynine
 are privately owned. and the others
 are part of the army and navy air
 services and the Air Mail of the Post
 Office Department
 While only two accidents are at
 tributed to the lack of weather reports | and two to the lack of clearly-de- l fined routes or limitations in travel. ! ing between or over cities" the Air l Service declares. "it is certain that 1 aerial transport cannot develop until l these factors are met As an illustra.
 tion, two of the worst accidents in our flying history are attributed to these causes. As one was naval and the other military they cannot be in cluded in the civil table, although in their results they are as harmful to civil flying prospects as though they had occurred to private individuals" The Air Service call6 attention t0 the fact that stunt flying was respOn
 sible for half of the reported acci- dents and asserts that "stunting is necessary to testing and essential to warfare-and it is behevcd advisable that all pilots know now to stunt. so that in case of an emergency, when only a stunt will save their craft. they will be able to act quickly. The habit of stunting is dangerous, fatal in many instances and always harmful to civil