Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-12-08
CT. LUDINGTON
On Legal Restrictions for Incompetent
AyiatOrs


AviatOrs
UNIFORM legislation throughout the
~ United States to prevent incompetent,
inexperienced and reckless aviators from
flying il sorely needed, according to c. T.
Ludington, formerly of the Naval Air Serv-
ice delegate to the Second National Aero
Convention and member of the National
Aeronautic Congress.
"Just what kind of aviation ! mean,
said Mr.. Ludington, ''can best be illustrated
by recent incident. Not many weeks ago
crowd of nearly 10000 persons sat wait
ing between the halves of the Yale Army
football game. Suddenly, over one edge of the
Bowl there appeared an airplane of tyne
which those familiar with flying knew had
been brought from Europe as surplus war
material and sold at low price in this
country.
A Dangerous Performance
"As the machine passed over the grand
stand. it was seen to have the slogan Get
'em. Army painted on its lower wing, and
its advent was therefore Immediately greeted
with cheers by the adherents Of that team.
"Now, had this machine flown over the
crowd at reasonable altitude. or had 1t
even sailed away after its first appearance.
there would have been little or no criticism
beyond that Of the poor taste Of the pilot.
and this was not especially offensive. as he
had chosen pause in the game in which to
appcar. However, he elected to amuse him
self by Aging back and forth over the arena
at low altitude.
Even this would not have been so repre-
hensiblc had he not flown to 'stnlling
manner. cutting his motor alternately on and
off and supporting his ship at the lowest
possihIc flying speed. To the uninltiated,
this low -and-slow flying might seem to
indicate that the pilot was exercising every
prccaution, but those who knew realized
that at this speed the controls would not
nlrplane was in danger of falling into a
side slip or tail spin.
Seemingly Harmless but Dangerous
'In addition to this, since the motor was
| Of n type which cannot he 'throttled down.
switch might have caused 1t to stop alto 1,
| gether, with the possibility Of a forced
landing on the field or In the stands.
I'm other words this thoughtless operator
was, for the sake Of thrill, exposing great
| number Of persons to an entirely unnec-
essary and very, considerable danger
the danger, there were cries Of He ought to
Be arrested, His license ought to be
| revoked md He ought to he shot One
man in my vicinity shrugged his shoulders
and remarked oh. why worry? They II
take away HIS lIctnSe Uuu tHci hc CaH uo
| such things any more
"But-and here Is the important point OF
| the story--not one in every 100 persons
| assembled there probably realized that this
| pilot did not need any license to fly his
airplane.
Any One Can Buy Plano and Fly
'"This reckless airplane operator may or
may not have carried the certificate given
| to pilots by the Federation InternatiOnale
Aer0nautique which Is the only one in use
| In this country and which IL of small value.
as 1t Is easy to get and simply means in
| the United States that the holder may take
part in events sanctioned by the Il. !. A.
"It is a fact that in our country any
Tom, Dick or Harry who can get together
a small amount of money can purchase a
worn out or obsolete airplane and set him.
self mp in the business Of carrying passengers,
which business he will probably keep up
until he makes an error In Judgment in
landing in an inadequate field, or his i'll :
cared-fOr and much abused airplane gives
out quite possibly In the air and quite as
probably with fatal results.
Excepting in certain localities, there ia
no legislation covering such flying and none
covering such escapades as have described
In the case Of the reckless pilot who few
! over the football crowd. there IL State law
forbidding such an exhibition, which NAV or
may not have been called into use TO nun.
| ish him.
Identifying the Pilot
''As his machine was not required to carry
Numbers, the only means of recognizing him