Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1927-12-08
FLYING MADE
SAFER II
Discoveries May Have
Gearing OF Safety
OF Ships

have
been made safer. cheaper and easier
TO control nj low speeds, than was
possible at the beginning Of the year.
C~oincident with these advances in
the scientific phases of aviation, out
lined By DIR. Joseph S. Ames, provost
OF Johns Hopkins University and
chairman Of the National Advisory
Committee for aeronautics, has come
q distinctly beneficial surge Of public
confidence in the art Of flying.
That is a development Of the last
year which DR.. Ames views as most
interesting. The public has been
persuaded by the achievements Of
aviation 70 recognize its commercial
possibilities. Today, the United
States has more privately owned air
planes than any other nation. They
are no longer viewed as mere We
hicles Of hazardous, expensive sport,
but as valuable saeans OF quick trans
%portation for business and profess
Aional men and OF swift delivery for
needed articles.
In the scientific field, DIR. Ames
finds four distinct advantages which
have grown out Of the patient work
Of research. IL has been made pos
sible to increase the strength Of
airplane structures, the problem Of
control at low speed has been go
per cent solved" mere reliable
motors have been evolved, and one
of the major questions OF balance
has been answered with a change
ia the shape OF wings.
The engineer has been ready 70
make a sound airplane structure If
greatest stresses would be en-
countered during flight. The
scientists job was TO tell him how
the loads were distributed in the
form of air pressure at different
points, by completing that task this
year, he has made 1t possible for the
manufacturer to work more efficient
~. at q lower cost, and produce
planes which are safer. One rarely
hears, now, Of a plane breaking apart
In the air and, DR.. Ames observes,
there is no longer any reason for
such accidents"
Control Of planes at low speed,
q difficulty encountered most fire.
quently when they were taking off or
alightinE, has been a battling prob
lem for many years, but within the
last month or two, several schemes
have been tried out which have
proved more or less effective. DIR.
Ames regards the Handley Page
automatic slot invented in England.
rs the best thus far developed. At
tached TO the forward edges of the
wings, this device opens automa-
tically when the speed of the plane
drops TO the danger point and pro-
vides the air pressure needed for
maneuyering.
The development Of more reliable
motors Is an obvious advance.
Without them. the t-rans-oceanic
flights which thrilled the public this
year might not have been so success
full, and popular confidence in avia-
tion might have been retarded.
An equally important, though less
romantic achievement has been the
solution OF the problem OF wing bal
ance. Heretofore, the center of
pressure against the wings has
shifted forward or backward with
each change In the angle at which
they are driven forward. To over
come the ~unbalancing effect of that
shift. IL has been necessary 10 pro-
vide large tail surfaces. but now a
wing has been developed which Is
so shaped that the center Of pres
sure remains at the same point.