Evening star., 1928-12-18
FLYERS APATHETIC
!. TOWARD RADIO USE
Indifference to Development 0
Wireless Attributed to Many
Flight Problems,
By MARTIN CoDEL.

An apathetic attitude toward the
adaptation of radio to various phases
bf fight is found among the rank and
ile of airnen.
At the international aAeronautical
Exposition in Chicago exhibits OF radio
facilities for aircraft were conspicuous
by their absence At the International
Civil AeronauticSs Conference in Wash
angton only few papers on radio were
np for discussion.
This indifference toward radios tre-
mendouS possibilities as an aid to air
navigation Is more apparent than real.
However, 1t is due, one leader in the
Industry explained, to the absorption
Of aircraft designers, producers and n.y.
erS in the multifariouS other problems
bf fight. That this is true is attested
by the fact that the National Advisory
Committee on Aeronautics, whose labo-
Fatory at Langley Field visited last
week end, is not actively engaged in any
work on aircraft radio problems.
Aviators admit a. distaSte for learn
Ing radio telegraphy. relatively un-
exciting phase of the flyers curricula,
outside the military, most commercial
Airmen simply will not trouble to learn
radio. They will agree that radio offers
some present safeguards to flying and
promises many more in the future. But
They leave this development almost
boleIy to the Army, Navy and radio
eompany laboratories. Few, If any,
civilian flying schools offer radio
bourses.
Wright Keen Student.
This twenty-fifth anniversary of the
Hrst powered airplane flight finds one
bf the keeneSt observers Of radio de-
ReIopmentS for aircraft in Orville
Wright, the man who few the flrst
plane. During the international confer
ence at Washington and subsequent
Hunket of the gathering of world air
notables to Kitty Hawk, N. c., the
scene of the birth Of aviation, Mr..
Wright had occasion to confer with
some of the leading men working on
the perfection of radio devices for air.
craft.
All through the conference sessions
hnd on the Kitty Hawk trip group OF
General Electric Co. scientists was mix
Ing with the aeronautS to get ideas
largely about radio aids for aviation.
Such men as Ray Stearns. DR.. w. D.
Coolidge, DR.. e. F. w. Alexanderson and
Or. A. r. Stevenson, jr., were on hand.
DIR. Irving Langmuir of vacuum tube
fame was left in Dayton with an attack
of influenza when the conference party
went there to visit Wright Field Their
presence revealed an intense interest In
radio aids to flying among some OF the
leading radio scientists.
DR.. Alexanderson predicted that radio
would ultimately make flying safe, and
described his own radio echo" method
for determining absolute altitudeS so
that ayiators can always know their
height with precise relation to the
ground they are flying oyer at a given
moment.
DelIinger Tells Of Progress.
At one Of the conference sessions DR..
D. H. Dellinger, radio chief Of the Bu-
Feau of Standards, told of the radio
beacon, visual indicator, pole antenna
Ind receiving sets being developed for
aircraft.
Capt. F. C. Hingsburg, who Is in
bharge of installing the Governments
extensive radio beacon system on the
civil airwayS, was present throughout
the parley.
The Federal Radio Commission at
tended one Subsession at which the pa
per Of DR.. Dellinger was presented. FL
mer Sperry Of gyroscope. aircraft nlu.
aminator and plane-building fame paid
high tribute to the Bureau Of Standards
chief and his assistants for their pio-
peering work in aircraft radio.
At the same session w. G. Fisk, Ra-
hio Corporation of America engineer
discussed the new lightweight trans
nnitter and receivers being developed for
aircraft beacon, telegraph and telephone
signaling.
All of this interest in radio for air.
craft seems to be concentrated in only
b few men, but they are an exceedingly
important lot. Their achievements dur
ing these next few years of aeronauti.
cal progress will undoubtedly contribute
vastly toward safe flying.
Copyright, 1928. by North American
NAUenanAr Alliance