The New York herald., 1922-07-29

Three men representing news agen-S
cies and a photographer went along
as passengers.
Here is an account of the flight as
given by Capt. Kepner at Aberdeen
to THE NEW York HERALD:
I'VE left Washington with crew and
four passengers at o'clock standard
time and stopped at Aberdeen for IN
additional supply of hydrogen We
had planned to get away earlier. but
because of unfavorable weather con-
ditions there was some talk about
postponing the trip. 1t finally WIS
decided to make the fight anyway
and we left Aberdeen about 6:l5
o'clock.
Trip of 45O Miles.
There was no further stop until we
returned here this morning after hav-
ing been in the air eleven hours and
fifteen minutes. The total distance
covered in the fight was about $50
miles, not counting the oircling Of
New York city We could have made
the trip in much shorter time with
favorable weather conditions.
I'VE picked up the lights Of Phila-
delphia about $3.50 and about IL o'clock
we began to look for the lights of New
York city. There was a stiff breeze
and it was raining hard. All was
black beneath us because of the heavy
fog and dense Clouds About 11:15 we
spied sharp glow penetrating
through the clouds and fog and on
coming down a little recognized 1t as
Coney Island. We then discovered
that we had missed the city by four
or five miles. This was due to our
having been blown from our course
by the raging winds and to some ex-
tent the rain. The wonder Is that we
did not miss it altogether. We could
see no lights from that point except
Coney Island.
II have heard many reports of how
bad the fog is about the city Of Lon
don at night. do not think, though,
that London could even compare with
New York city last night. The fog
was terrible in it's density. 1t was
almost impossible to see anything.
Lieut.. Moon then tried to establish
communication with the city by radio.
In this attempt he failed because,
suppose, We were on the $50 meter
wave length and our messages were
obstructed by broadcasting instru-
ments. He heard several radio in
struments in the city humming away
but could not make himself heard by
them.
Recognized "L" Road.
After picking up the lights of
Coney Island we felt our way about
and tried to get our bearings. We
came down to about $50 feet and one
Of the newspaper men recognized an
elevated railway which he said he had
ridden over several times and which
went from Coney Island to the city.
So we hovered about 1t and slowly
followed an elevated train toward the
city. Soon we came out in upper New
York Bay, and fearing we would COL
lide with the tall buildings, we went
up higher--to about 500 feet. At that
height we could see only the lights OF
Coney Island.
"Then we came down a little and
about Has saw lights beneath us.
The roar Of our engines told the city
Of our approach. and soon the search
lights began to play on us. They were
very dim because Of the fog. We were
moving slowly at low altitude when
there suddenly appeared directly In
front Of us tall building.
"If the ship had not been under
perfect control probably none Of us
would have lived to tell about the trip.
The searchlights Immediately shifted
to the building ahead Of us, to warn
and guide US, but We were on the
lookout for such an emergency and
changed our course so as to rise above
G,~-Al.>..sA Throa