Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-12
BY ]. DIN HOWE.

A MERICA'S airships, in commits
~ sion or In process of construc-
II ton, an considered the safest
4 "A in the world. In the most mod
ern structural methods, In de-
vices designed to insure their safe and
easy handling in any weather and es-
pecially in our exclusive and unlimited
supply of non-inflammable helium gas
for their imitation instead of the hy-
drogen gas used abroad. there is every
reinsurance to prospective airShip pas
sengers in this country.
The factor of safety in these levia-
thans of the air in America Is even
greater than in Germany, where they
originated, and where a great volume
of passenger traf1c has been carried in
commercial airships without the loss
of a passengers life. Even so, Ger
many's Graf Zeppelin sails round the
globe and goes where she will over the
world under command of the greatest
airShip skipper Of them all, DR..
Eckener, with her gas tanks filled with
hydrogen.
Loss Of Life Accompanies PROGRESS.
This is the answer of American air.
ship designers, constructors and navi-
gators to any uneasineSS In the popular
mind over the fate of the worlds
largest airship, the English R-l0l, near
Beauvats, France, last Sunday morning.
whose crash and destruction bv fire
wiped out as well so many prominent
British lighter than-air leaders.
This disaster will be no deterrent to
the further development of rigid dirigi-
BILE airships in the United States, in
Germany or probably in England it.
self. Calamities and loss of life have
accompanied the progress OF every
means OF transportation we have-and
stin do, for that matter-the steam
ship, the railroad, the automobile, the
airplane, even the trolley and bus line
without hating that progress.
Nature seldom fails to. resent mans
forces and often takes up his chal-
lenge when he least expects 1t. Since
joseph and Etienne Montgolfier sent
up the worlds first balloon, a paper
affair inflated with hot air, in France
In 1888. the course of lighter-than-ai
aerial navigation has been studded
with tragedy-;aS is true of mans at
tempts to master the air in heavier
than-air flying machines through the
centuries before and since.
Those best able to analyze the facts
ABOUT the loss of the R-101 naturally
are not being quoted, especially while
the causes of the crash are under in
'csAo~~SAOAAS
De That the human element, so often
at fault in catastrophe, again was to
blame rather than any structural
weakness in the great airship, due to
ner having been cut in two and
heightened to IT'S feet by a new section
amidships, as has been suggested. The
R-l01 simply ran aground. as a shin
OF the sea might, either from defect
IA ner structure or errors In plotting
ano navigation. More than likely It
was case OF mistaken judgment.
The R-101's position In the air was
analogous to that of a seagoing vessel
on a lee shore whose captain chooses
70 make his precarious way along close
70 the coast instead of standing boldly
out to sea-and in that fashion comes
to grief. O0
R-101 Heavily Loaded.
Storm clouds and fog were hanging
so low over France week ago that the
H-1O1s ceiling" was rather less than
l,50O feet, which does not mean def
mite visibility to this height over any
considerable area, but because Of the
nlly contour Of the country, an actual
ceiling" Of perhaps 400 to 800. de-
ctdedly too small a space within which
70 maneuver heavily laden airship In
an emergency.
Her pilot could have stood out TO
sea" by nosing up through the clouds
to an altitude which would give him
ample air room, but his craft. at the
beginning Of 6,000-mile Journey to
India, was so heavily loaded that he
would have had to dump much water
ballast and crude oil fuel to gain alti-
tude. He chose the other course. and
In calmer air would have been all right.
AS 1t was, there was evidently an at
tempt to drop water ballast, but too
late.
Lifting Gas Contracted.
The cold air accompanying the storm
caused the ships lifting gas to contract
and lose some Of the power. Even SO,
the R-101s navigator might have
stopped his engine and the huge air
ship would have floated as q free bal
loon-nothing like as safe stealing
along close to the ground as though
well up in the air. but safer than with
engines at full speed in the endeavor
to gain dynamic lift from pointing her
nose upward and forging ahead. At
that time, clearly something must have
gone wrong with the ships steering
gear for her to crash into the hill as
she did
Once she bumped into that hill full
tilt the fatalities were bound to be
heavy, for but one of the myriad cleo
trio wires on an airship had to break
and single spark contact with one of
her hydrogen tanks to cause an IN
slant explosion. The R-101, moreover.
may have had slight leaks in her hy-
drogen gas ballonets. which would give
no trouble under ordinary conditions.
U. S. Contributes HeIium Gas.
Britain undoubtedly will 60 on with
airships once the feeling of horror over
the R-101's end subsidies She still has
the R-100, which made the notable
transatlantic round trip between Eng
land and Canada last Summer, and Sir
Denistoun Burney, her designer. There