Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-26

| One of the results of the Lindbergh
New York-Paris flight has been tc
| direct general attention to the ali
mail service and to develop numerous
requests for information as to It's
scope and future and what oppor
| tunities it offers to ambitious myers
| Incidentally too, it has brought forth
| numerous applications for jobs as
pilots from aviators who have not
waited to make any inquiries as to
| the chance of breaking into the serV
| ice, but who have fastened to gel
their names listed on the theory OF
first come, first hired.
| Thus Lindbergh has appreciably
| popularized the air mail. A great
| many people know more about ii
| than they did two or three weeks or
a month ago. Then about all they
| knew of it was that there was such a
service, that it was extremely hazard
GUS and that it expedited vastly the
| Transportation of important mail.
Some of them had a somewhat vague
| idea that the Government had been
| building up this service for eight or
nine years, ever since the establish
ment of the first route between Wash
; ington ana Neg York, BIZ. cc.npara'
lively few of them knew that the
Government is getting out Of the
business as rapidly as possible and
turning it over to private companies
| under a contract system.
Even some of the aviators who are
| looking for places in the service have
| been ignorant of the fact that Uncle
| Sam is not taking on any more pilots,
and that Indy did not get the train.
| ing and experience that qualified him
| for his great adventure while flying
| for the Government, but as pilot for
| one of these private companies with
| the contract for carrying the mail
| between st. Louis and Chicago.
Within few months, 1t is expected,
| there will be no more Government
| operated routes. All will have been
| turned over to private enterprise.
There were, when the latest figures
| were made available, 10 pilots in the
air mail service. OF these only 46
were on the Government rolls in the
Post Office Department, while 124
were employed by air mail con.
| estimated, between $4,000 and 10000
miles a day over the transcontinental
route and it's branches.
| Chicago the Great Center,
Chicago is the great center of the
| service with a score or more of planes
| looming away from or landing at
haywood Field every day. The field
is now used both by Government and
private air mail planes, but in a short
| time the private companies will have
their own fields and then haywood
will be turned over to the Army. The
flights that are made from this center
| are to and from Cleveland, Detroit
Minneapolis, st. Louis, Kansas City,
Omaha, Dallas, etc. The private air.
craft companies now operating there
include the Ford Co.. National Air
Transport, Inc, headed by former
| Assistant Postmaster General Paul
| Henderson, and the Robertson Co.
of st. Louis, which is the one that
employed Charles Lindbergh.
| Air mail flying is fairly remunera.
tive, few Of the pilots earning as
much as $4,000 a year, it is stated.
The basic pay of a pilot when he
enters the service is $4,000, and this
is increased 500 for every 500 hours
| town until the maximum of $500 Is
reached. In addition to this pay, the
pilot receives cents a mile for
daytime flying and 10 cents a mile
for night flying. Thus one of them
who flies 200 miles a night, for exam.
pie, may make three or four times
his base pay.
And then the allowances for pilots
who undertake the extra -ha zardous
flying over the Alleghenies and over
the Rockies with their uncertain
weather conditions are substantially
increased. For day flying they are
paid cents a mile and double that
for night work. 1t is among these
chance-takers that the pilots with in
comes Of $4,000 are found.
That the air mail pilots are flirting
constantly with death is undoubtedly
true, and yet during the last year or
two the fatality record has not been
so startling. All told, 80 pilots and
II other employees have been killed
since the first mail route was estab
lished In May, 1918, but 20 of the
pilots lost their lives In crashes prior
to 1923, when the old De Havilan6
planes were in use. The Douglas
models now in use are regarded as
much safer.
Last year only two pilots were killed
and the service points with great
deal of pride to the fact that 1,273,99f
miles were flown for each fatal acct
dent. OF the 46 Government pilots
remaining in the service, all but
have had crashes or have had tC
abandon their ships via the parachute
Accurate figures for the contract serv
ice have not been compiled as yet
since that service was inaugurated In
a small way only a little more than q