Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-07

Above-a plane sliding through the gloom.
TIL aviator gropes aimleSsly through the VOID.
A patch Of light CLOVIS ahead and he swings
down to hunt for a landing, His wings barely
miss a tangle of wires; he goes hedge-hopping
over barns and dwellings and suddenly the
solid mass of a skyscraper looms ahead OF him.
He twists away from a crash, climbs through
the low-hanging ceiling of mist, circles des-
perately and tries again and again, by sporting
the reflected light atop the curtain which nloes
the earth, to break through to a safe glide
on a level landing field.
The next great step in aviation will be the
conquest of this battling enemy of the airman.
We still remember Lindbergh's hunt for the
lights Of lie Bourget and Byrd's miraculous
escape from disaster when he came down on
the coast Of France.
Scientists and practical airmen are concen-
trating on the invention and the use OF tnstru-
ments that will make fog flying nearly as safe
as sunlight air travel and fog landing almost as
safe as clear-weather landing.
To fly in fog is to fly blindly, without any
of the familiar landmarks which enable a
skilled pilot to set his course along a ribbon
of rails or over the winding course of a river.
Blind flying" is the name given TO 1t in
aviation circles, and Army birdmen are at the
present time being given instructions at Boiling
Field to enable them to sail confidently through
the heaviest murk without losing their way or
coming to grief.
This course is not merely for novices, for it
includes some of the most distinguished and
experienced flyers. A Douglas observation
plane is equipped with a canvas canopy en-
veloping the cockpit in which the pilot sits at
his instrument board. Unable to discern even
the outlines of the plane, he is taken aloft and
forced to depend upon the instruments which
face him. Emergency control is provided for
by having a second pilot in another cockpit
which is unScreened.
Riding in complete obscurity, the bank indi-
Gator tells him when the plane is lifting side
ways; the turn indicator moves if he does not
keep the nose Of the plane straight ahead, and
another instrument warns the aviator if the
ship dips up or down. Then the compass
shows him his direction.
TRAINING for instrument flying is OF the
- most vital Importance, because pilots are
inclined to trust their senses rather than
their instruments, and men have been known
to come out of a fog bank flying upside-down
without realizing the plane had turned over.
Driving through an atmosphere of impene-
trable darkness, pilots have a tendency to pull
the stick until the plane stand up on its tail,
sending the surprised flyer into a spin.
Similar instruction, to give pilots complete
confidence in their instruments, has been given
in France, where it was noted that SO per cent
of the accidents in 1926 and as per cent in
1927 were due to bad weather.
With the development of the radio beacon
the danger of an aviator wandering off his
course is expected to be practically eliminated.
The pilots instruments receive radio impulses
from the point toward which he is flyiAg. If
he moves of the route, to the right or the left,
an indicator notes the fact on a dial and CEN
tiers itself when he moves the ship back on the
course.
The radio beacon may be heard as well as
seen, for it is possible to arrange for the note
of the signaling station to be carried into the
headphones of the flyer.
But while the aforementioned instruments
may keep a flyer on a level flight and the radio
beacon may keep him on the course, even in
weather Of the most intense blackness, what is
to tell him the earth is rising into a mountain
to confront him? How is he to keep an even
distance above the earth when he cannot see
its changing contour under him?
THE altimeters now In use are barometric.
But the pilot must know not how far
he is above sea level, but what is his distance
from the earth's surface.
DR.. E. F. w. Alexanderson, consulting engi-
neer of the General Electric Company, has in
VeHCeu an HlStTuHneuC WHICH Is expected TO keep
the aviator informed of the changing surface
beneath him.
The instrument, known as an echo altimeter,
Is an adaptation of the sonic depth finder,
used to take ~soundings of the ocean depths.
Euipped with red, green and yellow lights,
1t gives a visual warning of the altitude of
the plane above the earth.
When the green light flashes on the cockpit
panel the pilot knows he is $50 feet above
the ground; when the yellow light shows it
indicates the plane is only 100 feet up, and the
red light warns him that the earth is only so
feet below him.
The entire apparatus is contained in a box
about 10 inches cube, and the visual recording
indicator may be installed on the instrument
board in full view of the pilot.
This is a meter on which ground distances
up to 5000 feet may be recorded. but as the