Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-22

mop III ~ hours, ~ minutes ano
80 seconds, against prevailing
winds.
There have been giant strides
made during the year toward the
goal of safety in air tranSporta-
ton. The most recent was the
flight from Dayton, Ohio, to this
city of an Army transport plane
flown by automatic gyroScopic
controls. This plane also has been
flown by its metal pilot, dubbed
by the Army "Mechaviator," from
Dayton to Detroit and over New
England and New York.
The chief contribution Of the
mechanical pilot to safety is his
ability to take over the controls
from a pilot during foggy, cloudy
or stormy weather, keeping the
plane level and on its course be-
ter than the best human. pilot
and leaving the pilot free to study
his instruments, check his maps
and plot his course, unworried by
the arduouS mechanical and
mental labor of fighting his con-
trolls.
Better, more reliable and lighter
have appeared during the
year, resulting in greatly increas-
ed speeds and a reduction of
forced landings due to motor
failure to less than Is per cent
Of the total number. Better aif-
planes, aerodynamically and struc-
turallye now are available and the
trend toward giant planes, espe-
cially in Germany, has been
startling.
Radio Versus Weather.
The battle against the pilots
worst enemy, fog, resulted in q
major victory during the year
the first completed flight made by
a pilot who saw nothing of the
ground from the time he climbed
into his plane until he climbed out
at the end of the flight. He took
off, flew course away from the
field, turned back, passed over the
field, turned back again and land
ed entirely by radio and his in
StrumentS This epochal flight
was made by Lieut.. James H.
Doolittle of the Army Air Corps in
cooperation with the Guggen-
helm Fund for the Promotion of
AeronauticS.
Continued Improvement Of radio
control and communications sys-
TENS, chiefly of the radio range"
we're outstanding features of the
year. Forty additional radio range
beacon tranSmitterS have been or
dered for installation on the
United States Anyways by the De-
partment of Commerce. The aural
type radio range beacon system
has been in operation on the
Cleveland-New York Aifway for
more than a year and has been
instrumental in reducing the de-
layed and interrupted schedules
Of airmail planes more than 30
per cent. Even more gratifying,
according to the official records,
has been the record of safety in
comparison Of accidents and
losses of equipment.
The radio range beacon system
has been extended west on the
TranScontinental Airway as far as
Omaha and the Chicago Boston
system will be in operation early
n 1880.
Airmail Growth Sound.
Growth of airmail service
throughout the country has been
along sound and conservative
ines. The interdepartmental COM
nittee on airways has just recon-
nended the opening of a Southern
tranScontinental airrnail service,
with other important connecting
routes to open up the South and
The expansion of
foreign air transport
lines to South America, Central
and the West indies has
been tremendous, constituting one
Of the most remarkable transpor-
tation developments of the year.
The building up of great avia-
ton combinations was another
feature OF the year and today the
bulk of the aviation activities in
this country are in the control of
less than 10 companies. Many Of
the remaining small companies
will be absorbed or
will pass out of existence during
the coming few months.
In the lighter than-air field
there also have been great strides
made. The Graf Zeppelin's trip
around the world marked the
of new era Of public in
terest in the dirigible. Construc-
tion has been started at Akron of
two immense dirigibles for the
United States Navy, each of them
nearly twice the size of the Graf
Preparations are being
made for construction of CONNER
cial ships on the same pattern and
an operating organization is being
built up. Great Britain has
launched and is testing two great
dirigibles, each superior
in size to the Graf Zeppelin.
Aviation Legislation.
Aviation legi Station of great i'm
portance has become effective dur
ing the year. Federal regulation
and licensing of flying schools was
instituted and to date % schools
have been licensed for the train
ing of students for one or more
types of pilots licenses.
The licensing laws also have
been amended to provide that
transport pilots shall be examined
and licensed for specific types of
aircraft, thus making certain that
they dc not carry passengers in
types of planes with which they
are not thoroughly familiar. Other
legislative moves toward the build
ing up Of safety have been noted.
The year has been important in
achievements and, it may be, his
tory will reveal that 1t has been
even more important as marking
the end of the imitation period of
aviation and the beginning of