Evening star., 1928-04-08

ton that was turned in by the Better
Business Bureau, and z. Med. Kintz,
counsel for the staff, went up TO inter-
view the man reported. He was said to
be running school Of flying, bore the
title Of Commander" and had a fight
license for a transport plane.
AS no such license had ever been
made out to that particular aspirant
for aerial honors. the department had
him on toast, and the official asked him,
What are you? A commander in the
Navy?"
"Oh. no." said the commander" 81
teach flying and am commander Of the
4 see" said Mr.. Kintz. "And what
do you teach?"
The head of the school promptly re-
piled that he taught science and the
theory Of aviation, and the official at
once wanted to know, What science?"
"Oh, weather and clouds and ne
teorology," replied the commander.
Mr.. Kintz persisted, What do you
mean by meteorology?" and received
the astonishing reply. Why, meteor
ology Is the science of instruments, be-
cause aircraft instruments use a meter"
so we took his license away" said
Mr.. Kintz simply, as it seems the man
had made misstatements in his appli-
| cation. and the next day or so It vas
learned that he was not pilot at al,
but an airplane mechanic.
k
I IEUT. JESSE LANKFORD Of the
II United States Army Air Corps Re-
serve, who is head of the License Divi-
| sion, has found that it pays TO inVesti-
gate all cases of applicants who write
| in and claim to have flown with this or
| that inspector and want their Licenses
"at once"
The department looks it UP, and may
find that Lieut.. Lockwood, who was one
of the first inspectors with the bureau,
may not have been out Of the Office
at all on the very day that the ap-
plicant is so sure that he passed his
fight test with honors at far dis
tant city with that noted test pilot.
Sometimes men send in q motorized
| statement as to the number Of flying
hours they have had. and on care
| full checking up, 1t is soon disclosed
| that these imaginary hours in plane
| at the controls are merely fights OF
| fancy, not fact. These pilots are out
Of luck when the postman comes
| around.
| The department now has on its staff
about "a fight inspectors who are
based at different cities scattered
| throughout the country. When
/ manufacturer or an owner OF plane
| wants the bureau 70 look it over. no
| tice is sent to the nearest inspector.
who hops of in one Of the 10 new
planes ewned by the Anyways DlvSlon.
! This inspector must, of necessity. be
| q skilled pilot. but he must also know
ships from prop 70 rudder. and, BY tax
| ing one good look at a plane. ana
| judging from its age and general con-
| dition. be able to decide correctly IS
to whether it may be safe TO pass II
as airworthy without cutting the Iao-
ric
According to Daniel Scarritt. now
acting chief Of the Bureau OF Regula-
tions Division. he has found planes OF
all ages and conditions that had 70 be
tested. and II Is not always simple
matter 70 make such decision II the
owner las only paid an inStallment OF
two on She plane il is little short Ct q
tragedy for him If the inspector has TO
cut the fabric, as, Of course. he has no
comeback, for he has asked 20 have u
registered. and 1t is the inspector that
has to take over the rpsponsthility for
its airwarthineSs.
| The cficial naturally wants to be
4
| gins to do any cutting. but on several
noteworthy occasions it has been
measure that unqueStionably has saved
the lives Of score or more people
| One such instance occurred n Texas,
where Inspector Scarritt was looking
over a ship and became suspicious OF
certain tiny wrinkle in the fabric The
more re examined the plane and
thought about that wrinkle. the more
suspicious he became. He finally cut
the fabric and it was instantly
disclosed that q grave engineering fault
had been concealed by the cloth
| There was q fitting with a split bolt
and Sorie diagonal wires that were Try
ing 10 revolve around this fitting, which
was supposed 10 have q compression
member. Four other planes Of this same
| type ard make Of plane ON that one
| field were then tested and each one had
the same serious defect. As some
students had Just been taking their test
fights in these planes it was sheer good
luck that no accident had happened.
but in due time it could hardly have
failed TO have caused 3 tragedy. as 3
spar might have broken and wing
been carried away.
s. x&
mot so long ago the same inspector
vas looking over ship near
Washington that had been returned
from the factory after 3 major over
haul following 3 crash. A new wing
had been added and the other one re
paired. as the owner explained 70 Ar.
Scarritt
However. there was certain small
wrinkle that the ofncial kept looking ~,
He still mad \ vivid memory OF those
other ships down South. 80 ne just weas
ahead and cut the fabric. anyway.
1t was case Of learning that, IN avi-
alton at least, every little wrinkle has
meaning all its own. In this partle-
ular case It meant broken rio OF TIE
plane,
II was out in NehraSSa testing sport
model oiplane," said one Of the tnspec-
tors. The passenger and pilot Sat SIDE
by side. 50 hooked back and saw that
the whole tail group moved with the
taipper,
II cut the gun and asked the de-
Signer. seated beside me. How about Il,
eh?' and he said cheerfully, on. we1rv
going to fix all that or the new model
IT didn't move enough, YOU see. sn1
there Was danger os DEVELOPING taa
fiutter and carrying away, He knew
about IT, but 1t wasn't worrying him
any"
In the early days Of aviation It was
considered that II man had grit ana
courage enough ~ 40 un st all AND
could BE- taught to handle she cNntsOs>
Of the plane. that Was al that wa>
required, Ii was soon discovered, how
ever. that something more than mere
courage was necessary II crashes weF&
not 60 Be the regular order cf the daN
and the theory that the nSsAs S0ygecaS
put forward as 70 the 2o>G health N
the pilot began Co receive Consideration
Among the very earliest Of the pse-
neerS In this branch NJ aviation nssCt-
cine that soon Sprang up IN spite cf tAe
resistance Of various other branches ~
the service VAS Maj, Bauer. who now