Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-12
Air Sense Enabled Lndbergh Meet Crises of Great Flight

excess power is highly desirable. But
YOU can see what a handicap it Is on
the very long hops.
Weather reports over the Atlantic
are still of doubtful value. as Lind
bergh's trip shows. He struck bad
weather where 1t was least expected.
We experienced similar trouble on our
transocean flight in the very place
where reports from the weather bu-
reaus had represented the conditions
as ideal. We ran into $50 miles Of fly
ing through fog and rain before reach
ing the Azores. That fog and rain
were what forced the two other ships,
the NC-1 and NC-3, down to the sur.
face.
T INDBERGHS plane was 50 small
IL that it did not look much like an
cean.going craft to the average per-
son who saw 1t. But all pilots who
had examined it knew its qualities.
Lindbergh's gasoline line consumption
averaged 10 gallons an hour. When
he landed on the airdrome at lie Bour-
get he had left. according to the latest
reports, about 10 gallons. These would
have taken him about $50 miles FAR
Their under the same conditions.
At the present time doubt II larger
planes could equal such performance
i'm fuel economy. That Is really con-
servation of weight. And every ounce
of weight you save means that much
more speed. So you see when Lind
bergh picked the Ryan monoplane and
prepared for his flight he was really
exercising the judgment that comes
with training and experience, plus air
sense" This last Is an attribute which
the younger generation will probably
possess to greater and greater degree
with the constant development OF
| flying, the perfection of airplanes and
their growth in popularity.
Linbergh's accomplishment Is an
| epochal one in more ways than appear
on the surface. To the man in the
street he is a daredevil youngster who
has braved unknown terrors and sue
cessfully made the first nonstop
| fight from New York to Paris. This
| fact, coupled with an engaging per-
sonality, appealing youth and happy
| faculty of doing the right thing in q
graceful and obviously sincere way,
has made him the popular hero of the
moment on both sides of the Atlantic.
| Coming after so many tragedies and
occurring at a psychological moment
| in Franco-American relations, his
achievement stands out as a historic
event. 1t has for the moment at
any rate entirely changed the cur
| rent of feeling between America and
| France-for that matter. all Europe.
That may or may not last. But
aside from this popular alteration
! Lindbergh's achievement has a quality
that will always last. And it will last
with the very people whose regard he
naturally holds highest-cross-coun-
try pilots and all the others who really
know flying. BY visioning an objec-
tive which with proper preparation
and equipment could be reasonably at
tained, and then putting thought into
action, he has given untold inspiration
to other flyers to go out and do things.
At the same time he has provided
much by way of renewed public in
terest in the practical side of aviation
and its possibilities. For the industry
itself he has in few hours forcefully
demonstrated to every one the prog.
ress which has quietly been made in
I the last few years and the glorious
future which beckons to the wings Of
the world.