Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-05

the other people we might kill If we
came down some place where we were
not expected.
We must have been 30 miles from
Paris at this time. Perhaps we were
nearer or further away, or even di-
rectly over it. / could not tell any
thing about it. We were cruising
around, blind.
Away From Paris.
Following the course set by Comdr.
Byrd, we headed away from Paris. A
place to land was all we were after.
To think of anything else when our
gas was running so low would have
meant running the risk of killing the
whole bunch.
Looking over my shoulder, / could
see that Comdr. Byrd and Lieut..
Neville were exchanging messages. 1t
was conference. Comdr. Byrd
finally passed q message to me to
land on water as soon as we should
come to it. Our course took us to
water We could tell that by the
light from a lighthouse.
We threw out some carbide flares.
BY the light they gave us we could
see dimly the shore line and the
beam of the beacon Of Yer Mer.
Well, l decided that that was as good
a place as we could hope to find.
There was water beneath and shore
several hundred yards away.
| then had to do something I had
never done before in all my expert
ence as a flyer. | had to Land a
plane in the sea. I have landed many
seaplanes in the sea. but never land
planes. That was a new one on me.
Slipped Down Gently.
I slipped down gently enough and
took off speed but the moment we
hit the surface our landing gear left
us. With the weight of the motors
the plane went nose under and tail
up. and Acosta flew out the window
like a shot. I do not know what
made him do it, because the landing,
in my opinion, was a gentle one.
I stuck to the wheel until l felt
the plane strike bottom. We were
in about ten feet of water at the
time. When the plane struck bot
tom I thought it was time to crawl
out. AS matter of fact it was
Comdr. Byrd who pulled me out by
the back of my neck and told me the
flight was finished.
He and Lieut.. Neville We're yelling
afraid | had lost a passenger. and
was certainly glad to. see Acosta's
head come up, finally, over the other
side of the plane. / did not lose any
one.
There seemed to be nothing wrong
with my landing except that I got
everybody wet. But that is to be
expected if you land in the sea with
a land plane.
Fracture of COliarbOne.
Since then we have learned that
Acosta had a slight fracture of the
collarbone. But he did not know
that until the doctor told him. Acosta
himself told me today that it was
not giving him any pain at all. | am
glad that things ended a well as they
did They could have ended worse.
Comdr. Byrd is in a better position
than I am to discuss the scientific
elements of the flight. / shall not
even attempt it. One thing, however,
I should like to says Transatlantic
flying on a big scale, with freight
and passenger carrying airplanes, Is
going to come without a doubt. Just
one-way trip, however, does not
prove much. 1t is necessary to make
round trip.
But there is no reason to believe
that flying from Paris to New York
is impossible. Capts. Nungesser and
Coli must have run into some rotten
luck. That was all. Give me the
plane and the time and I'll do it.
Even with prevailing winds against
them, aviators flying from Paris to
New York could not encounter worse
conditions than those which we had
to meet coming from New York to
Paris.
43 Hours Gas.
On the basis of a contrary wind
most of the way, trip from Paris
to New York would mean enough gas
to last about 43 hours. We stayed in
the air about AZ, and most Of that
time we were over bad weather.
In crossing the Atlantic, of course,
the question arises Of whether it is
better to pass two days or two nights
over the water. Myself, would
like to do 1t in two nights and one
day, rather than two days and one
night. Flying at night, no matter
what the weather conditions, is not
dangerous. so long as you have day
light in which to land.
When you land, it is important to
be able to see where you are landing.
/ am glad / had this experience,
even though it was not very exciting.
What interests me now is the flight
to the South Pole, which 1 hope to
do with Comdr. Byrd in several
months.
I like to fly with Comdr. Byrd for
~ AA~ - M9CcA N~0