The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-02-08
Followers of AUiatiOn Must
Study ocean of Air"

WASHINGTON, Feb. S.-The ocean
of air" which followers of aviation believe
some day viii be filled with great air
liners plying their way from city to city
on regular schedules, must be studied
from a meteorological standpoint and tn
whims and fances of the elements must
be reduced to easily understood data be
fore the dream of world wide commercial
aviation can become a reality, according
to c. lie Roy Messenger, government met
eorologist here.
Mr.. Messenger, in a paper discussin
the effect of air conditions on commercial
aviation, says that meteorology is tn
mainstay of aviation, regardless of tn
confidence a pilot may have in his motto
and in his plane.
The ocean of air." he says, constant
is changing and does not contain steadtas
currents such as the gulf stream and tn
Japan current which are found in ocean
OF water. lie points out that even tn
prevailing belief that far above are stron
westerly winds which never change some
times is shocked by facts revealed through
scientific study of aerial conditions.
Because OF the constantly changing con
ditiOn of the aerial routes through which
the air liners of the future would travel,
Mr.. Messenger declares that before big
commercial aviation companies can oper-
ate on large scale, great masses of data
on air conditions at all times of the year,
in all places and under all circumstances
must he gathered He suggests placing
consulting meteOrologists on the stats OF
all aviation companies, these men to study
the air as 1t affects aviation and to decide
daily what altitude and what route Il
plane should take from one city to an
other.
Air conditions are SO changeable, Mr..
Messenger says, that a plane travelling be-
tween the same two points might have to
take different route almost every day
in order to make the trip with the least
danger. Also, a plane flying from New
Iork to Chicago might lind certain route
the best, while one travelling from Chicago
to New York on the same day might find
an entirely different route more favorable
Some Of the things which airplane des-
patchers. or traffic managers, on aerial
commercial lines will have to consider, he
says, are the speed and direction Of tn
wind in the area to be traversed, the FIRE
quency OF low clouds and fog, the fire
quencv and intensity of thunderstOrms
the vertical temperature distribution, tn
normal values of precipitation at flynn
fields and the effect OF atmospheric pres
sure on aerial instruments, particularly
the altimeter.
The changing conditions in the air max
it impossible to gather the necessary in
formation in a single pathhndng hIgh
| over an area, he continues, but by gather
ing data in numerous flights at all time
Of the year and under all circumstances
system of averages could he dc'l9ed
which would aid greatly in despatchns
| planes over aerial routes.
| Mr. Messenger discusses the various net
geological factors in aviation in the fol
! lowing manner:
| ''Nind-It is necessary in commercial
aviation to take advantage of any condi
| tions which will aid in economy OF time
| fuel or will be conducive TO greater. safety
| The pathfinder. then, must determine the
enced and direction of the prevailin