Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-07
AVIATION
BY JOSEPH S. EDdERToN.

!
of the laws which govern normal
human existence. Nothing Is lar
Their from the truth. The opera
ton of an airplane Is based upon
engineering principles just as
sound and just as understandable
as those which govern the con-
struction of bridges and sky
scraperS.
Among those who refuse to fly
are some who believe that If an
airplane motor should fail in the
air there is nothing left for the
lucklesS occupants but to prepare
themselves for a great fall and a
reverberating boom, after which
they may pick up their harps and
spread those celestial wings which
never fail.
If all the pilots and passengers
who have come through a forced
landing unscatched were to be
gathered together there would be
great company indeed to testify
to the fact that motor failure is
not the devastating horror it has
been painted. In fact, motor fail
ures and forced landings consti-
tute a regular part of the train
ing of every pilot at the best
training Schools-the motor fail
ures" being caused by the in
structor'S thumb on the ignition
switch.
Land Facing Wall.
One veteran Navy pilot has
gone SO far as to say that no
forced landing, even under the
most impossible conditions, need
result fatally. He says that a
good pilot can land plane
against a brick wall and walk
away from the crash. This feat,
he explains, may be accomplished
by judiciouSly Stalling the plane
at the last moment with wing
turned to the wall to crumple and
take up the major portion of the
shock.
The idea which also has been
entertained by many that any
kind of an airplane crash must
necessarily prove fatal has been
exploded, along with the tabled
"air pocket" In the Navy, where
pilots as a matter of routine do
things commercial pilots would
be fined 500 for talking about,
So per cent of all the major
crashes are bloodlesS, according to
naval records.
Department of Commerce re-
cords for an entire year show that
97.75 per cent of all licensed
planes in the United States flew
without a single fatality and that
in all scheduled flying over air
routes there was but one pas
senger killed. OF 200 accidents
only 81 occurred to licensed
planes, resulting in the deaths of
II licensed pilots and % pas
SengerS. Only seven deaths, six
of them pilots, occurred on
scheduled flights over air routes.
All the others were in the course
of miscellaneous flying, including
air service operations; and in ex-
Fermentation, including contests,
races, oceanic flights and similar
affairs.
Pilots Take no Chances.
In fact, the safety OF air trans
port has become so great as to
be used as model for motorists!
The Automobile Club of Southern
California, in a campaign to re-
duce highway accidents, has
pointed out that, while an auto
mobile accident occurs for every
10000 miles of travel, the chief
air transport line in that vicinity
has operated it's planes nearly g.
100000 miles without an accident
of any kind. The greater safety
of flying, the club stated, was at
tributable to the fact that COM
mercial pilots take. no chances.
There is going to be an unpre-
cedented expansion of commercial
passenger transport flying in this
country during the next few
months. Before the end of the
Summer it will be possible to fly
in comfort to any part of the
country. These lines are being
established because the operators
are convinced a sufficient portion
of the public has become educated
to air travel to make the eX-
penditure of vast sums for aerial
development a profitable invest
ment.
1t is their opinion that the pub
lie has a we'll founded and justifi-
able belief in the safety of the
air transport system, in COMPARE
son with the old established
methods 0f travel