Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-16
A|RP[ANE OUTPUT
GROWS WITH RUSH
Estimates of 5000 Craft al
End of Year Increased
to 1000.
Sv Consolidated rrcSs.

| EV consolidated f'fCSS.
NEW YORK. September 15.-The
aeronautical industry is starting tho
last lap of 1923 with rush.
Two weeks ago it was estimated there
/ would be 5000 commercial planes in
use in the United States at the end
of the year. The figure now has been
revised to 5000 with the virtual GER
tainty that the total will reach IL 600
within the first few months of the next
year.
The announcement Friday that the
Curtiss Flying Service had authorized
| the building of $50 new commercial
planes is typical of the piling up of
orders which is keeping things hum
ming in acroplane factories east and
west This year will show an increase
of about 400 per cent over last year
in the number of planes in use.
Outside of Government work, the
Curtiss order is the largest construc-
ton assignment in the history of the
industry in America. The planes will
be used in the newly organized nation
al "air taxi service, which not only
will feed rail and air rail lines but will,
as its name implies, make available
aeroplanes for short jumps between
cities. The company also will estab-
lish 25 training schools for aviators
and "air universities" where problems
of technique. fuel and operation may
be intensively studied by advanced
students.
Failure Is Discounted.
1t happened that this news was made
public on the day of the final failure
of the air derby racers tor reach Los
Angeles in nonstop fight. Informed
observers of the industry agree, how
ever, that the occasional failure of the
aeroplane to live up to the pressing de-
mands of stunt exploitation is not in
the least checking progress, or dampen-
ing the newly aroused enthusiasm of
capital. looking toward aeronauticS. For
reasonable distance and lift needs,
within the limits of sound engineering
design, the aeroplane has risen above
the useful load level and has an as
sured earning power well within the
margin of sound finance,
1t is predicted that from now on the
greatest technical advance will be made
in the building and operation of planes
designed to carry profitable load of
passengers or express up to perhaps 200
or 800 miles, and that trans continental
and trans oceanic flying will await
slower, but inevitable development re-
sulting from concentrated engineering
and experimental studies.
Safety Conference Here.
To the end that the contemplated air
universities may confer postgraduate
and not post-mortem degrees, there is a
new and intense concern for safety in
aeronautics. The first conference on
safety will be held here October 4 and 5
at the annual meeting of the National
Safety Congress. This meeting, spon-
sored by the Daniel Guggenheim Fund
for the promotion of safety in aeronau-
tics. will attempt to line up technicians.
pilots, operators, manufacturers, engi-
neers and educators to make the flying
machine fool-proof and jinx-proof
Fog is still the ghost in the attic, and
much of the work of the conference
will be directed toward banishing this
specter. The new pink moon beam, now
in use at Mitchell Field, provides a
splendid beacon to homing flyers, but 1t
is the vast stretch of fog hanging low
over dangerous mountains which still
is formidable Laboratories throughout
the country are at work on sound de-
vices, comparable to the depth finder
used on ships. which will disclose the
nearness of land to fog-bound aviator.
Copyright 1927