The New York herald., 1921-01-02
CIVILIAN FLYING
ON BUSINESS BASIS
BOOMS IN ENGLAND
Many Tests of New Ideas
Will Be Made When the
Weather Improves.
NIGHT TRIPS LOOKED FOR
Demands of Passengers Spur
Building of Larger and
Safer Machines.
Special Gable to TIE NEw YoRK HERALD.
Connnioht. 1921. BIZ TIE NEW YORK HrEA.p

! Special Gable to TIE NEW YoRK HERALD
| Copyright, 1921, by THE NEW YORK Herald.
New York Herald Bureau.2
London, Jan. 1.
| A great boom in civilian flying in
England and on the Continent is ready
to be launched as soon as the weather
improves, making possible the applica-
ton of many tests that have been 60
Ing on for several months. In this re-
spect England is leading, with Ger
many a close second, on plans and
| preparations for commercial aviation
on a sound business basis.
A striking feature of these arrange
ments is the safety first" slogan
Taking fliers already in the game"
has been found Improbable, as any
thing now developed must be safe,
sane and practical 1t is not a question
Of taking romance out of the air, but
is simply one of making the office
books balance for the air navigation
companies and for the business men
patronizing them.
The day of "if the weather permits"
| is gone, as aviation promoters realize,
and their entire attention is now d.
rected toward equipping their air
planes and preparing their fiiers for
| flying day or night, in sunshine or
otherwise. They have mapped out
routes and drawn up schedules and in
tend maintaining them to make civilian
flying a paying business.
| Great Air Port at Waddon.
The centre of activity here is now at
waddon, near Croydon, which is becom-
| ing the worlds greatest air port The
wireless direction finding apparatus,
which has already proved Of value on
many occasions, enabling aircraft to cor
rect their course in thick weather, is be
| ing extended.
This will enable confused ali pilets
to get telephone directions and to learn
| conditions ahead of them, to get belated
| instructions, to receive messages Tor
| themselves and their passengers, to conf
| municate with ships and. IL necessary, to
| ask for information which will enable
them to land on water This will be a
great step forward because heretofore
pilots have always been on their own
! initiative after taking off.
Great preparations are being made Tor
night flying. The experimental light
house erected a few months ago has
| proved a success to such a degree as TO
inspire the optimistic prediction that
night flying will soon be almost as popu-
! lar as flying by day. Electric landing
lights. indicating the direction of the
| landing and adjustable according 10 the
direction of the wind, are being installed
| and trial tests arc progressing with
view to ascertain the value of powerful
searchlights for locating ai-dromes and
for lighting up temporary Instructions.
1t Is planned to have searchlights cast
| ing great vertical beams which Will be
seen for miles. making il, as one expert
put It, as certain to direct an airplane
| as IL is to direct train over the steel
! tracks of a railroad. Also all buildings
in the vicinity Of airdromes will be in
dicated by small lights. an arrangement
| by which pilots will soon learn to find
aid and guidance
Landing Lights Improved.
New improvements have been FOR
warded on the war system OF varied col
ored landing lights as signals, although
these signals were most effective In war
time even with enemy airplanes lowering
over them. Every pilot, II is expected,
will have his own light arrangement and
| will land when his colors are flashed out.
In case two or more pilots approach
landing at the same moment. in order
20 avoid crash in coming down in the
darkness no pilot will land until he
gets signal. He will signal his APP
proach either by means of wireless
| telegraphy or telephone or by lights un-
| der the wings of his flying machine.
| This has all been worked out, with con-
| sideration given to lessening the possi-
pility of crash.
4 A system OF lighthouses win be placed
Il ~ iii ts.
| land TO guide airships the same way
ships al sea are warned. and when fogs
veil the course air pilots will get wireless
communications directing their flight.
4 The larger airplanes have already
proved their utility. and the growing
| tendency OF these flying machines has
p, caused companies here using discarded
war airplanes to go out of business.
| An important incident in this connection
was the failure here a few days ago of
n well known air company which was
pioneer I'm the Paris-London service.
This company used the de Haviland
airplanes. carrying two or three pas
sengers each. and, while its flying ma
chimes travelled rapidly and safely, the
company found 1t could not make the
service pay in competition with slower
but larger Handley Page machines,
which are able to carry from ten to a
dozen passengers and a vast amount Of
mail, express and packages.
Finds New Plane, Money Gives out
The announcement OF the suspension
OF this pioneer company brought out
statement by the concern that II had
found an airplane which would make its
business paying proposition. but was
unable TO get the capital needed for the
| outlay.
Companies In France using Breguets
were said to be meeting with tho same
difficulty. Indeed, the demand for tho
larger airplanes has become Imperative.
with these larger flying machines hav-
ing multiple motors. with the conse
quent lesscning OF motor trouble. they
are prevented from making schedule
time only by heavy rainfall or densest
| fog.
The Netc York Hordld Of PdrIs IL be-
ing delivered in London by airplane In
less than half the time required by the
fastest Channel service and It Is rare
that subscribers here are disappointed
by not receiving their copies on time.
Continued on Fourth pdoe.
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