Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-10
WHO |SF|T TOFLY
TESTS ARRANGED
Commandant at Mitchell
Field Overwhelmed With
Requests for Training.

BY the Associated Press.
mitchell FIELD, y. Y, July O.
81 many requests for training as air.
nlane pilots have been received at
this Army air field since the recent
Atlantic flight that an imaginary
'perfect applicant" has been concocted
by the c0mmandant, Lieut.. Col. Ben
jamin u. Foulois. TO answer the
question. Who is fit TO fiy?"
More than 80 letters are received
at the post daily from men or all
ages and stations in life who want. at
least theoretically. to align them
selves with Lindbergh and Chamber
lin and Byrd.
Each one of these applicants Is, so
to speak. stood back to back with the
ina ginary perfect applicant" to see
how he measures up. and in scarcely
one instance out of a hundred does
he meet the test.
Knows What Is Required.
Col. Foulois is a strict measurer OF
aeronautical timber. but his strict"
ness arises from personal knowledge
of the requirements. He Is the nrst
airplane pilot the Army ever had
In 1909 the Government decided that
1t ought to take note of the new
plane for the rmy. Col. Foulois,
then a young balloon officer of ~,
was selected as the first pilot because
of his slight stature, then considered
an asset, and his knowledge of aero
nautics. He was taught to fly by
Orville Wright.
The satisfactory air applicant, &C.
cording to Col. Foulois. is between
90 and % years old, he is unmarried,
and he has both a we'll balanced nina
and a we'll developed body, the two
co-ordinated to a high degree. PreVl'
Gus experience in flying or as me.
chanic is not necessary. but he must
be quick to learn and retentlve or
what he is taught. He is preferably
q high school graduate and OF the best
character and habits.
Reports Very Few "Get By"
At first glance this might seem a
measure that almost any one or the
correct age could meet. and yet the
fact remains that few get by. Probably
more fail in the rigid physical test,
known in the Army as the SOB test,
than in any other. Col. Foulois him.
self has taken this test twice year
ever since his appointment as pilot
IS years ago and has never been
grounded yet, but at least so per cent
of the young men, who get as far
as that test are discarded because
they do not meet its requirements.
Although the great majority OF
applicants, stirred to enthusiasm by
the recent long flights. do not make
the grade, Col. Foulois said that the
Army is finding youths Of the type
which measure Up to the. "per'ect
applicant"
These applicants who are accepted
are given a one-year course, at BROOKS
Field and Kelly Field, both in Texas,
and discharged as second lieutenants
in the Air Reserve and as pilots fitted
to take up aviation as career.
Passed to Commercial School.
officials at the field said that many
of the applicants who could not quite
meet Army requirements were turned
over to the Commercial FLYING School
at Curtiss Field. NJ, NJ. Merrill, gen.
eral manager of the school, said that
whereas 81 students had taken the
10-hour course there last year, the
ocean flights had aroused such en-
thusiasm in flying that there would
be about 500 this year.
Merrill said that everything was
done to discourage most Of the appli'
cants from taking the course, as 1t
was almost certain they would never
carve out careers for themselves as
flyers.
"Thev will learn. though, when they
set their mind on it," he said, but
about 95 per cent Of them go back to
their old Jobs after a little. There
isn't much money in being pilot.
There aren't enough planes to go