Evening star., 1926-09-07

In Philadelphia, today, two aero
nautical conventions begin annual
sessions, the Society of Aeronautical
Engineers and the National Aeronau-
teal Association. These organiza-
tions will face problems which are the
bases of developments almost revo-
lutionary in their Importance afect-
ing transportation Of passengers ana
maitland light freight.
How long will it be before aviation
will become so safe that every man
may own his airplane f1ivver?" was
asked officials of the Department Of
Commerce, and two replies came:
within two years"
1T may come tomorrow.
Within the last fortnight, para
chute was tested which retarded the
fall of an airplane, so that, with en-
CINE killed at a height of 5000 feet,
the .OOO-pound machine glided gen
tly to the ground. Parachutes will
soon be regularly required on all
pa ssenger machines. and later upon
every machine, not alone for 1ndividu-
al aviators but for the saving OF the
whole machines.
During 1925, the airplanes of France
travelled II 900, 900 miles and killed
only IS victims to every 1855
miles. 1t is alleged that that beats
the record of automobiles for safety.
and there seems to be no question as
to it's superior safety over horses and
mules, or even to pedestrianlsm. (fhe
Bible, centuries ago, said. "A horse
Is a. vain thing for safety.D And all
that was without the modern i'm
vrhich have dQVplOnp0
within the last six months. Today
there are machines with cabins as
luxurious as those of private yachts.
and they carry 20 passengers besides
crews The passengers dine and
sleep aboard. while travelling above
the clouds and over mountains and
lakes.
The great airplanes are equipped
with three engines of 200 horsepow-
err each. Imagine Phoebus racing
through the skies with her six horses
and few running goddesses and
suddenly meeting a f1ivver of man
rushing by her with the power of 500
horses at a gallop of $50 miles an
tortoises were they all! A Joke in
travel Let them get out Of the
cerulian pathway and let some hui
man show them how to fly!
On the race track of the Equator
the sun travels around the world
25, 900 miles-in "a hours. That Ia a.
little over 900 miles an hour. At
the latitude Of As degrees the speed is
only about 500 miles an hour. for the
distance to go in a. day is onehalf.
At the latitude for which our fathers
wanted to fight Great Britain
"5440"-the sun travels at a rate Of
approximately $50 miles An hour.
And now man can almost tread on his
heels in flying around the world in a
day:
Tomorrow Old Sol will see more
spots on earth than DR.. Abbot ever
found on the sun. and they will be
fiooks Of airplanes whose riders live
in Alaska. do business in Manchur!a
and dine at the club in Scotland, then
swing around the rest Of the circle
to the office in time to open business
the following morning.
Around the world in so days? No.
around at the latitude OF Sitka In -
hours. or OF Washington and San
Francisco in less time than II now
takes an express train to Cross the
continent from Washington to San
Francisco. That is not a mere dream
of the underlined future. it IS the fact
which today's conventions are making
real for tomorrow.
It has been two or three years since
the Government established Great
White Way" across the continent, to
light the path for mail planes. Every
10 miles there is a beacon, and at
greater intervals there are landing
fields with millions of candlepower
illumination.
But II a plane scars above a cloud
bank or fog the aviator may pass out
of sight Of all the lights and be lost
in the sky. Now there are radio sig
nails which talk to the flyer constant
lv with Morse dashes while he IL on
the right. path: IL he veers to the
right or left OF the path he hears in
stead OF plain dsshes a dot and dash
or a dash and dot until he is guided
hack TO the plain dash. lie does not
need to see in order to know that he
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