Palisadian., 1922-11-18
UNITED STATES
FLYERS IN LEAD
.8
Virtually Every World Air Record
of Any Consequence Is Held
in This Country.
INTEREST IS AGAIN REVIVED
One Years Record Proves That Fed
erat licensing Of Pilots Would
Have Saved Many Liyes-last
Year One Of Achievement.


Have Saved Many Lives-Last
Year One Of Achievement.
Washington.-The manner in which
America has assumed the leadership
in aviation over the rest of the world
comes as a surprise to those people
who were under the impression that
Europe was leading the world In aero
nautics. From the time the Wright
brothers. in 1903, were able to demon
strate actual flying until the World
war broke out In 1914, European ma
tions made far greater progress In
aviation than did America.
It was not until 1917, when America
entered the war, that this nation was
compelled to begin the colossal task OF
training engineers and creating pro-
duction facilities. And with the ending
of the war, in 1918, the pressure which
forced this expansion was Withdrawn,
and it was two years later. or last
wear. before a marked increase In pub
lie interest was noticeable, and Ameri-
can aviators began to come into their
own again.
The year 1921 is marked by three
outstanding aviation events, one or
universal and epochal Importance
During. June and July there were held,
100 miles off the Virginia capes,
series of experiments in the course OF
which aircraft flown from land bases
bombed and sank one after the other,
a submarine, destroyer, light
cruiser, and a dreadnought, the most
modern examples of warship construc-
tlon.
In the autumn the conference on the
Limitation of armament was held IN
Washington, and it is asserted that
the bombing tests cleared the way,
more than any other single event, for
a possible solution of the international
competition in capital ship construc-
tion.
Service is Widespread.
The most valuable service which air.
craft provides is speed, and this is es-
sential in the three classes Of use to
which aeronautics is catering, nation
al. civic, and commercial. Airplanes
are now used for national defense. in
cluding army, navy. and marine corps;
air mail. forest patrol, coast guard,
customs and revenue service, warning
and relief in disaster. In civic lines
they may be used for city planning,
road and building construction, rail
and water terminal problems, and fire
and police zoning.
In commercial lines, aerial craft are
used for passenger service, freight
transportation, messenger service in
banking, aerial photography. collection
and dissemination Of news. sport. and
pleasure, and committing. At the
close of 1921 there was total of 146
air terminals, both land and water.
within the United States.
One hundred and twenty-five estab-
iished companies, operating 500 to 600
two and three place machines, made
13O,736 flights, covering 2,907.245
miles and carrying 122,512 passengers
In the IL months, October 1, 1920, to
October l, 1921. In making their re-
ports these companies were careful to
itemize forced landings and crashes.
Yet the number of accidents in
which persons were killed or injured
totals but "a.
Analyzing the causes to which the
"a accidents are attributed. it is found
that of the six fatalities, three were
due to "stunt" flying, two to gross
carelessness on the field, and one to
storm Not single person. passen-
ger or pilot, lost his life In straight
commercial flying. With federal regu-
latlon controlling stunt" flying and
enforcing proper field policing and
protection, 1t is believed certain most
of these fatalities would have been
avoided. OF the 1882 persons car
ried only q were injured in flying
and In ground accidents.
Should License Pilots.
1t Is estimated that during the calen-
dar year 1921, 1,200 aircraft were en-
gagged in civil flying in the United
States, and that these flew 100000
miles and carried 250,OO0 persons. A
survey shows that ia accidents Oc-
cured, not including those that in
volved government-owned aircraft. The
ia accidents resulted in death to 40
persons and injury to SO. OF the ia
accidents, 40 were attributed to the
pilot, which shows need for federal
examination and licensing of pilots.
Virtually every world record of any
consequence is held in this country.
The worlds altitude record, speed
record around a circuit, seaplane rec
ords, endurance records, were all made
by American pilots within the last
year. One million miles of air-mail
flying without a fatality is another
record of the last year.
The army air service has perfected
many new types of combat and bomb
ing planes, ready for service, far su-
perior to anything In Europe