Evening star., 1928-12-16

the practicability of their operation un-
der all conditions and the cost per TON
and passenger mile.
A route by way of Greenland and
Iceland would require many hundreds
of miles of additional flying, A plane
leaving New York would pass over
fairly we'll populated country as far as
Quebec, then over northern wilderness
to the coast of Labrador, where base
would have to be established for service
and refueling prior to the flight over
Davis Strait 10 Greenland.
A second base would be necessary on
the western coast of Greenland, ana
still a third on the eastern The inte-
rior of the country is covered by an ice
cap thousands of feet high and is sub
ject to severe storms. Consequently, an
air route would probably follow the
coast line.
Much more satisfactory flying condi-
tions are found in Iceland, which has
larger population and terrain bet
ter adaptable to flying than that of
Greenland. The latter has narrow
strip of shore line between it's ice bar
rier and the sea, with few places avail
able for landing fields, whereas Iceland
contains more open territory which
could be made suitable for landing by
the expenditure of reasonable amount
of labor. The next stop would be at
the Farce Islands, then down through
Scotland to England and Europe.
This route would probably require the
use of land planes and amphibians,
owing to the ice conditions prevailing
during major part of the year, which
would make the operation of flying
boats extremely hazardous and often
impossible. The sub-zero temperature,
storms and heavy fogs all would add
to the difficulties encountered and COM
bine to make the use of the far north
ern route seem impractical as far as
transportation between the United
States and Europe is concerned.
Great Circle Route.
The Great Circle has the basic adj
vantage Of being the shortest distance.
The water gap between Newfoundland
and Ireland, however, is nearly 1900
miles. and our most frequent fogs are
found in the vicinity of Newfoundland
and the Grand Banks. Also it would
be difficult to maintain service stations
so far north of the regular ship lanes,
and at present flying nonstop across
the Atlantic as a commercial PROPOSE
plane, even were 1t possible to carry a
pay load in addition to the fuel re-
quired for so long flight.
With planes capable of carrying a
great fuel reserve and able to operate
at high attitudes above ordinary storm
areas, the Great Circle route would be
feasible, but with equipment now in
view it cannot be considered for any
regular operation.
The ship lanes offer many advan-
tages. They are south of the iceberg
fields and the area of prevalent fogs.
The added distance over the Great Cir
Gle route could be covered in an hour
or two by plane. The air transport
would be in constant radio communica-
ton with ships. And the maintenance
of service stations would be far more
practical than on a northern route.
The greatest disadvantage is that a
flight of more than 1900 miles out of
sight of land would be necessary.
The question of service stations in
midocean has often been discussed. 1t
is difficult to conceive flying over great
bodies of water in land machines as a
regular practice, yet some engineers