The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1922-05-10
Three Million Miles in
Cross Country Flight

the Secreary of Commerce by the
Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce
of America with headquarters in New
\ Aork.
The ncport is based upon the signed
statements of 1875 operators in all
parts Of the United States, with
equipment numbering 500 planes, or
approXima,- -ly one hal the total now
IN commercial use throughout the
country. k intcrpTctC by officials
as an effective answer TO the query
as to til" hazard of flight invited by
recent accidents.
Three io"ci,ac'as, the report states.
contribrt"f TO he serious embarrass-
ment C American aviation-small
capitalG insufficient terminal facilities
and ponui,I doubt as to reliability.
The correction Of these deficienci, s
and tn" consequent opportunity for
the rapid growth If acr' al transport.
depends, il i tatcd, upon fedora
regulation and reasonable contro'
through an aerial code. The report
has been laid Laforc the house com
mittee Oh interstate and foreign COM
mcrcc which has under consideration
the Wadsworth bill, establishing a bu-
rcau of Civil Acrcnautics in the De
partmcnt Of Commerce.
The report says that flying N the
United States may be placed in two
general ifcations--operating by
established organizations which en-
deavor to maintain regulations, and
demonstrations by the itinerant pilot
or gypsy tl!cr "ExpeIiccne has
taught" says the Aeronautical Cham
Der of Commerce report, chat, in safe
flying, there are the following rcuui-
sites: CD machine sound, acrody-
namically and structurally; (2) an en-
Ginc of sufficient power and proved
liability; (3) competent, conscrva-
ton pilot and navigator; (4) air ports
ard emergency landing fields, suf-
fic:cntty close together to insure Gid
ing to safety; ~ nationwide wealth
CT forecasts specialized and adapted to
the need of flicrs; co nationwide
Chart Of air routes"
The report adds that the establish
ed operators, having fixed point of
esponsiblity approXimated these
requisites, with the result that. in -
months they actually made 13O,73G
fights, covering 2,907,245 miles and
carrying 1882 passengers. Only
"a accidents occurred, in which six
persons were killed. Of these three
were due to unauthorized stunting
two to carelessness in policing the
field and one to storm.
The report continues: "There were
81 persons injured in the "a accidents.
These mishaps were due to causes
which could have been removed by
federal regulation, or supervision orr
had landing fields, air routes and
weather reports been fully available;
had the field help been more discip-
lined; had the pilots been more alert
through consciousness of licensed re-
psonsibilty and had there been gen
eral inspection of aircraft, engines
accessories and supplies. Even so.
the record shows that 6,701 flights orr
13S.440 miles were flown for every
injury sustained.
"Such reports as We're available of
the 600 aircraft in the hands of gypsy
fiers showed that these machines.
which also travelled about 3,000,OO0I
miles and carried passengers prob
ably equal in number to those booked
ty the permanent operators, suffered
ia accidents, resulting in 40 deaths
Twenty of these accidents are at
tributed in whole or in part to made
uuate landing fields or to the total
lack OF terminal facilities.
In 1921, these air ports totallcd but
14G, an increase of 2 over 1920. Four
accidents are attributed to the lack of
weather reports and ten to the lack
of clearly defined routes or limitations
in travelling between or over cities.
Equal in Importance with ascertaining
the qualifications of pilot and naviga-
tor, is inspection of arcraft and en-
gines. Out Of the IA accidents, %
may be attributed to faults which with
proper inspection probably would
have revealed-foT concerning the
plane, nine the engine and nine an ac-
cessory, gas or oil. This inspection
must be made at frequent intervals by
federal authority.
"Twety-nine accidents occurred
during stunning, 20 persons being
killed and 36 injured more than 40
rer cent of the total In other words,
stunt flying in unrestricted areas was
responsible for almost as many cas-
ualties as all other elements combined.
A governmental system of contro,,
limiting stunting for training of test
ing, to certain areas will remove what
is probably the most prolific cause
of hesitation on the part Of the public
to believe that flying is reliable
"From the foregoing it is seen that
flying, even with the burden of unnec-
essary hazard, imposed through the