Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-29
BY Radio to The Star and the New York
Times.


to the South Pole presents problems
very different from those of other long
distance flights. Usually on such flights
Transatlantic, tranScontinental, long
distance record flights, or even the COM
mander'S flight to the North Pole-tlle
problem is one of getting of the ground
with SUFFICIENT fuel and equipment.
Here, however, the plane took of
with q load far below its maximum, and
the limiting condition is the load which
it could carry to a service ceiling Of
10000 feet in order to hurdle the Queen
Maud Mountains and continue over the
10,00O-foot Polar Plateau.
When to this are added the difficulties
of changeable weather in unknown
country; the overcast skies, which make
landings more dangerous than in a fog,
the sudden billiards. and navigating
over areas Of unknown magnetic Yaria-
ton and across lines of longitude which
change every few minutes, it can be
seen that South Polar flight is about
as hard a task as was ever attempted
in an airplane.
VeritabIe Wall InterpOsing.
A glance at a profile chart of this
country will show the unusual char
acter of the territory to be covered.
From the take-off at Little America to
the base of the mountains the barrier
is low enough to offer no obstacle. In
deed, from that point Of view no better
flying country in the world could be
found, although there are points where
1t would be dangerous to land.
But the heights, with the exception of
one small hump of 900 feet above sea
level, are all less than 500 feet. Only
q few miles from the base of the
mountains the height is only Sc feet
above sea level. This comparatively
level stretch covers distance of more
than 400 miles.
1t is about 7S0 statute miles from
Lite America to the South Pole, max
little farther than the commanders
North Pole flight.
Then with startling rapidity the con-
dition changes. In little more than
so miles. the altitude of the surface
Jumps from Sc feet to 10000 feet, max
ing the line on a profile chart almost ar
upright wall.
Must Find Gap for Passage.
This height Of 10000 feet also is moi
the top of the mountains, but the tor
of the Axel Heiberg glacier, and the
mountains themselves rise several thou
sand feet higher on each side. At least
two of them are more than $4,000 feel
high.
Where this range can best be crossed
whether through the gap OF this glacier
or through some other opening in the
Jagged and towering heights which
fringe the Polar Plateau, could be de-
termined only after the plane reached
the mountains.
After passing the outer rim of the
Guardian Range there is a drop Il
1000 feet, and then another lonl
hump of 10,400 feet to be crossed be-
fore reaching the plateau around thu
Pole, at an altitude of 5000 feet.
In good weather this latter part o.
the flight should not have presented
any special flying dif1culty, as the loaC
of the plane was continually decreasing
Take-Off Load, Ceiling and Speed.
The Floyd Bennett, as the big Fore
is named, after Comdr. Byrd's compan-
ion on the North Polar flight, can take
OF at the base with q load of 1880
pounds. This would provide plenty Of
fuel for a nonstop flight, but the cell
ing, or possible height, to which the
plane could go with such . load woulC
not be sufficient to get 1t over the
mountains.
For this reason the take-off load was
somewhere around II, 500 pounds, which
gave a service ceiling Of $4,000 feet al
the mountains and an absolute ceiling
of $4,000 feet.
In other words, with this load the
plane can ny at $4,000 feet with re-
serve rate of climb of 100 feet q min
ute, and, II necessary, 1t could be forced
up to $4,000 feet, although at such an
altitude speed rapidly decreases and
fuel consumption increases.
The speed, for instance, at $4,000
feet, with the load carried over the
mountains after flying 400 miles, would
be 80 miles an hour, whereas at $4,000
feet it would be only IS miles an hour,
and the plane would be correspondence
that much less eficient.
Byrd AverSe to Nonstop stunt"
This limit on the take-off load i'm
mediately brings up the question as
to whether the flight should be attempt
ed without stop or whether a halt on
the way back should he made at the
mountains.
1t is conceivable that with 800 gal
Ions Of gasoline, which will be about
the fuel load, the flight under the most
favorable conditions might be stretch
ed back to Little America or so near
that it would fall short only a few
miles.
Head winds or q slightly greater fuel
consumption, due to climbing or cir
cling for some navagational or survey
purpose, would quickly reduce the fuel
to point where it would not be possible
to fly all the way back without an in
termediate landing.
Comdr. Byrd feels that the pos
sibility of forced landing due to lack
4. for he lye
of nonstop flight
Purposes Of the Flight.
After all, this flight is largely for the
purpose of obtaining more information
as to the extent of mountain ranges
seen by Capt. Roald Amundsen running
toward the Weddell Sea, of learning
whether high land can be seen on the
other side of the pole, and to survey
with an aerial camera the almost un-
known territory over which he viii
fly.
He plans. therefore, to land on the
way back at a base on the barrier al
the foot of the mountains and refuel
before returning to Little America.
During the latter part of the flight
he hopes to be able to see over Carmen
Land, q range of mountains joining
the Queen Maud range from the south
and beyond which may lie a plateau
other mountains or even that long.
discussed possible connection between
the Ross and Weddell Seas.
Landing anywhere away from the
base in this country is hazardous, par.
ticularly at times when extraordinary
light conditions conceal the surface oil
the snow. Landing so feet up" as
aviators put it, is one of the easiest
things in the world to do down here
and 1t generally means a crash.
In clear, sunshiny weather, wher
shadows are cast by the SaStrugi, those
wind carved ridges in the hard surface
of the snow, the pilot can tell his dis
lance from the dazzling snow field be-
meath him with some degree of &C
curacy, and on some dull days also thu
surface irregularities stand out clearly