Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-23

absolutely unknown land, flying directly
into the path from which come the
pressure waves that control to a large
extent the storms of Antarctica.
The origin and cause Of these waves
is unknown, so we shall have the con-
diton of flying over an unknown area,
never before seen by man, toward the
threat of storms which we can neither
anticipate nor avoid. In these side
flights, however, may lie the greatest
successes of the expedition, as they Will
result in the mapping of vast territory
hitherto unknown, and so they Will be
worth all the risk.
| They will not be long flights, Of
| course, and will be started from inland
| bases. so that it will be possible to dash
out and back again as precaution
| against being caught in storm Every
| fight will be over a predeter-
mined route which will be held 10
rieidly. so that in the event of forced
| landing the crew may be rescued by
another plane. 1t can readily be seen
that a sudden storm with snow would
blind the pilot. so that 1t would be i'm
possible to keep going, and If he should
| be caught in storm there would he
| only two possible maneuvers-elther
| to land at once and wait until 1t was
over, which would be safest, or Try 10
| beat the storm back to the base. That
might be possible, as the pressure waves
move at a velocity of only 40 miles an
hour. and, fortunately, directly toward
our main base. 1t is for this reason
that the Bay of Whales offers, OF all
known parts of the Antarctic, the best
base from which to direct operations by
| air
It can readily be seen that flying in
i the Antarctic is very different from
! Arctic flying. There are few storms in
the Arctic during the Spring months.
but there is the constant danger OF log.
In the Antarctic, on the other hand,
there is little fog but constant danger
| from storms There is no other part OF
I the world where the weather is so un-
certain, or cher, so certain in its
| constant menace. In the Arctic, also,
it is possible to fly at low elevation
above sea level which makes it possible
to utilize the full efficiency of the plane.
but in the Antarctic nearly all flights
| must be at height of many thousands
| of feet above sea level, which limits the
CAPACITY of the plane and makes forced
|. landings with load very dangerous.
There is the satisfaction of having
| solid surface instead of floating ice
| on which to come down; but Antarctic
&. cold is much more severe than that Of
| the Arctic in the Summer months. In
the Antarctic it never gets above freez-
| ing In flying, of course, lower tenn
| peratures would be encountered.
We hope to carry out most OF our
| extensive program, and believe that we
shall be able to do so. The personnel
of the expedition is all that could be
asked; no better men ever went into
Ax1Ha
in them and am proud to be at their
head. Our equipment is of the best
| both aeronautic and scientific. Nothing
which foresight could provide has been
overlooked. And so we push off in the
hope that we shall be able to accom-
plish all that is expected of us, and
that our expedition will carry step
further the glorious tradition Of achieve
ment which has already been made in
the Antarctic.
tCopyrisht. 1928. by New York Times Coz