Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-12
Zeft to sts41 PAlMLEye F.ere{ Ml ,J OF
AMBASSADOR AERRIcK. Wh0E W0e1o.'
motored ships, and they are the ia
vorites of the veteran pilots.

motored ships, and they are the IA
vorites of the veteran pilots.
x & x x
T INDBERGH knew that he could
~ observe the state of the sea. the
height of the waves and their direc-
ton, and thereby keep himself posted
on the direction and on the force with
which the wind was blowing. BY esti-
mating these things he could correct
his course for drift and keep it cor
rected. His judgment in this respect
proves to have been most remarkable
perfect.
Then, when he reached the Irish
coast flying at high altitude, he
was able to check his position quite
easily because he had taken the
trouble before departure to study the
topography of those lands over which
he intended to fly. 1t seems to have
been the general belief that radio
ought TO be of the greatest assistance
to any one making such a trip. AS
a matter Of fact. it has been my ex-
perience that radio is of very little
use indeed.
Power for transmission is obtained
by an air-driyen generator, which, of
course. cannot function when the
plane is forced down. That is the one
time when some means of communi-
cation is needed most of all. That
is the time when you really want
help. / have yet to experience time
when radio has proved of any use to
plane in distress We had a dem
onstration of what it could do in
1919 during the Navy's transatlantic
HiCyl, hA ha a
elaborate radio equipment, but at diff.
ferent times they all found it of no
use whatever. One Of the NC planes
would he forced down to the surface
and the radio would go out of COM
mission generator not working.
Ships would be making every effort
to locate it, but. of course, they did
not have n chance. This happened
to each one of our planes.
For a transocean flight of this ma
ture the fact that Lindbergh' had a
sinGle-engine ship actually increased
his chances of success, in my opinion.
Unless tri-motored plane could sus-
tain flight with two of her engines un.
der all conditions. the chance of mo-
tor failure spelling the flight would be
three times greater than that of
single-motOred plane. You would have
just that many more engines to look
out for and be dependent upon, so
many more gasoline lines to become
clogged and thrice the amount of lu-
bricat ton to fail. In other words, you
would multiply the chances of failure
by three. OF course, this does not ap-
ply in cases wfer a ship is not loaded
right up to it's utmost capacity and
where fight cen be maintained with
only two out Of three engines. In that
case three engines are decided safety
factor.
Further. flying with a strong fol-
lowing wind requires slightly more
excess power to maintain altitude than
if you are heading into the same wind.
1t is doubtful in my mind If two out
of three of the motors of tri-motored
ship would furnish sufficient power to
keep a plane in the air unless one-half
of the distance of such flight had al.
ready been covered and the weight of |
fuel reduced by that amount. On |
shorter flights. where planes do not |
have to stagger off the ground with
every gallon they can possibly lift, this