Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-14
PERFECT IS WORD
APPLIED TO PLANE
No Such Thing as "Fair Con-
dition" Permitted, Says
Transport Executive.

There are no airplanes in fairly good
condition" flying in the American
transport services. There are only two
kinds of airplanes-those in first-class
condition and those in bad condition.
Those thai might be claSSed as fairly
good must, from the point Of view
OF air transport, be listed as I'M
Serviceable This is the ultimatum of
Col. Paul Henderson. vice president and
general manager of National Air Trans
port, given before the first national
aeronautical safety conference held this
month in New York.
The control of aircraft in scheduled
air transport services means hard Work
on the part of the ground personnel
work made up of a multitude of details,
much Of which is mere drudgery-Col.
Henderson said.
He pointed out that ground vehicles
will operate, perhaps with not 100 per
cent efficiency, but at least with some
degree of success, with many minor
things the matter with them. A leaky
packing box will not stop locomotive;
one missing cylinder will not cause
motor truck to fail. Minor difficulties
with aircraft, particularly with aircraft
engines, however, must result in aban-
donment of the trip for the sake of
safety, he declared.
Precautions Before Start.
CAS- a consequence, every little adj
justment. every bolt and nut, every
piece of fabric. every valve, valve
spring, every bearing, every turn
buckle on an airplane, must be exactly
right before a scheduled trip is under
taken" Col Henderson said. Because
of the Importance of small things the
control CT aircraft in air transport, If it
is properly organized, becomes an inten-
Sive effort, all directed at the job of
making certain by frequent inspections
And reinSpectionS that every part of the
ship is as it should be- These inSpec-
&ions must be carried on by men who
know what they are about. Inspection
by an uninfOrmed inspector would be
as bad as no inspection at all"
He explained that after every trip,
no matter how long or how short, each
National Air Transport plane is in
spected in scores Of essential details
BY two men, each working indie
Dendently and acting as a check on
each other Each inspector signs an
inspection card and is responsible for
the thoroughneSS with which the work
Us done. They cover the plane from
nose to tail.
Repairs on aircraft fall into two
classes; service repairs and overhaul
repairs. Service repairs are those nee
essary from day to day because of
breakages and wear and tear Over
haul repairs consist of the complete
tearing down of the unit, measuring
with great accuracy of all its parts,
rejection Of those worn beyond certain
tolerances or corroded or otherwise in
bad condition, and the complete re-
building Of the unit with new parts
wherever needed.
Much Detailed Work Done.
Somebody" Col Henderson con-
tinued, has been quoted as saying
that there is good deal more to
aviation than dying An hour or two
spent around the repair base of the
National Air Transport would convince
any one Of the truth of this statement.
1.-THE actual flying of the airplanes,
their dispatching, and so forth, is
relatively simple matter except for
that part Of the task intrusted to the
pilot, and no statement of mine can
exaggerate the skill and intelligence
necessary on the part of the pilots
They are sent off on their scheduled
time, except when the weather condi-
rive on time or ahead of time or be-
hind time. depending largely on the
weather encountered en- route. Tail
winds make for arrivals ahead of
schedule. Headwinds make for late
arrivals. Fogs, Snowstorms and heavy
rains result in delays and call upon
every ounce of skill, courage and abil-
1ty which the pilot has. The aim of
every transport operator is to keep his
flying equipment in such condition as
will insure on-tiIne arrivals, except for
the unknown influence of the weather.
I'm August just passed in the flying
pr over 225.000 miles N. A. T. ships adj
hered to the schedules set down for
4hem with practically 100 per cent eff
cheney except where their flight was in
terfered with by wind or fog. In other
words, we appear to have licked the me-
chanical job of schedule flying. We
have gone long way toward licking
the weather, but still have an equally
Song or longer road to travel from that
particular angle. A year from now
hope that at a meeting of this charac-
ter much progress may be reported in
the matter of overcoming the obstacles
brought about by rain, fog and snow.
Safety Is Supreme Goal.
THIS meeting is safety meeting
every act of everybody seriously en-
gagged in air transport is prompted by
ewo tllings-Safety and efficiency. How
well we have been able to watch out
kor the safety of N. A. T. operations
may be evidenced by the statement that
Eince May IL, 1926, N. A. T. airplanes
have flown a total mileage approx
mating 100000 and that we have had
but two fatalities. Each of these fatal
accidents was brought about by weather.
Every indication is that in one instance
either the pilot or the airplane was
Struck by lightning, and the other. a
very severe and unexpected late Fall
thunderstorm, SO confused one of our
pilots as to result in his flying into the
ground with his ship wide open.
I'm each case the fatality was brought
About by something over which neither
the pilot nor any of the personnel of the
National Air Transport had any con-
tr0l whatever. Better weather reports
might have prevented one of these ac-
Hidents. I feel that nothing in the
world could have prevented the other
However, 100000 miles of scheduled
dying, the greater part of it at night,
with two fatalities is, I am sure, at
this stage of the development of this
art a commendable record from the
point of view of safety"