Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-01
PROGRAM PHENOMENAL. S. TAKES LEAD IN AVIATION
ENTERS BILLION:DOLLAR
CLASS DURING PAST YEAR
Commercial Firms Strive to Reduce Cost
of Travel While Science Must Find
Way to Eliminate Accidents.

tesCS SHOWS tnat change may have
TO be made In the not distant future.
Concentrating on Safety.
The industry is deyoting its most
concentrated attention to the problem
OF safety. Several developments oc-
Cured during the year which point to
important Improvements. One of these
Is the perfection of the automatic pilot.
which includes gyroscopic control de-
signed to keep the plane stable on three
axes. Now the pilot must keep the
plane under control at the same time
that he is guiding it. With the auto
matte pilot he will simply keep his ship
on Its course and instruments win hold
1t steady.
Another improvement coming Is the
true level altimeter. This device would
give the pilot not simply his height
above sea level but his height above
the ground. 1t would be somewhat SIM
liar to sounding devices now used at
sea and in use would have prevented
the crash Of the T. A. T. plane on a
mountain side in New Mexico and of
the German Lugthansa plane in Eng
land.
Besides, by the first of the year at
least one Of the biggest operating COM
pan1es will have IL ground stations in
operation for radio-telephone communi-
cation with the planes in fight. Pilots
10000 feet up in the air viii be able to
talk with these stations to obtain
weather news and get instructions.
Shortly the service will be extended to
permit passengers to hold communica-
tons with ground stations and the time
is not far of when a business man in
the air will be able to talk with his
Office in the normal course of a DAYS
work. This improved communication
Is an added safety factor Coupled
with the radio directive beacon now
operated on croSs-country flights it in
sures the pilot path through any sort
Of weather.
Solution Of Fog Problem.
Likewise. increased safety is to be
built into the planes themselves. The
safe aircraft competition now being
conducted by the Daniel Guggenheim
Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics
is expected to yield some results that
Will alter the principles of airplane con-
struction, increasing immensely the
safety factor. Already the fund re-
ports "a solution of the hitherto I'M
solved last phase in the problem of fly
ing through fog. Under conditions pre-
senting the densest fog. reaching from
any altitude to the ground Lieut.. James
H. Doolittle, conducting the experiment,
was able to take off from the airport,
| fly from 1t and return to given spot
and make landing"
This important achievement is ex-
pected to be followed by others whsn
the five planes remaining in the con-
test for prizes of $4,000 have shown
all of their possibilities.
In the field of aviation accomplish
ments during the past year there were
extremely important happenings, but
few immensely sensational ones.
The NEST remarkable was the flight
Of Comdr. Richard e. Byrd in which he
and his companions piloted the tri-
motored plane Floyd Bennett over the
South Pole. Comdr. Byrd was the first
TO ny over the bottom of the earth and
the first man in the worlds history to
| fly over both the North and the South
Poles.
No New Lindbergh.
There was no new Lindbargh to draw
the acclaim of the world with a daz-
cling single exploit, but the accomplish
ments Of planes rivaled that of the
Spirit Of st. Louis. Lindbergh, who did
much to popularize flying, withdrew
more from the public eye during the
year. He few the mails to South
America and helped launch the Trans
continental Air Transport service, but
more and more sought seclusion.
One breath-taking achievement oc-
Cured on September when Flying
officer r. 7. r. Atcherley of Great
Britain fio~1 a Rolls-Royce Sc at a
speed of 332.19 miles an hour, the fast
est time ever made by human being.
Then Capt Frank M. Hawks did
something equally as remarkable when
he flew alone from Roosevelt Field, New
York. to Los Angeles in 10 hours and
10 minutes, and then almost immedi-
ately turned around and few back to
New York in II hours and A minutes.
The air event which took the prize
for sustained interest was supplied by
the German Graf Zeppelin, the giant
flying ship, which cruised 1880 miles
around the world during August. This
770-foot sky liner set q record for CIR
cling the globe, its cruise occupying 81
days 8 hours and IS minutes. In actual
fight 1t went around the world In 2S8
hours and % minutes, or q fraction
more than IL days. The American
Army flyers who made the circle sew
eral years ago in plane took Is days
and 6 hours Of actual flying time.
The accomplishment of this craft
lent interest to the two air cruisers
which the American Navy now is build
ing-almost twice the size of the Graf
out at Akron, Ohio, will have a gas or
helium content of 6,50o000 cubit feet.
Less Atlantic Crossings.
The Atlantic crossing fad which so
entranced flyers during previous months
and caused the death of. many was less
in evidence this year. A Montana
youth, Urban Diteman, on october %
hoped of on a west to east flight in
an open monoplane and never was
heard of again. Roger @. williams
and Capt. Lewis A. Yancy, Americans,
few the Atlantic to Spain in early
July, crossing in 81 hours and 81 min
plishing a nonstop flight to Rome.
their objective. One attempt that re-
suited in important information was
that OF the Spanish flyers, Maj. Roman
Franco and three associates, who sought
to fly from east to west. They went
down and fioated for week on the At
lantic in heavy seas before being res
Eagle. This attempt showed the sea-
worthiness Of the huge new seapIares.
An epidemic OF endurance flights
which broke out during the Summer
proved that man can live nearly two
weeks in the air and survive Dale
Jackson and Forest OBrine at st. Louis
kept up for 420 hours and 81 minutes
and then came down only when or
dered.
Probably OF more importance in show
ing the flight possibilities of the air.
plane was the nonstop trip Of Capt.
Dieudonne Coste and Maurice Bellonte.
French flyers, who pioted the plane
Question Mark from Paris 4,486.6 miles
into Tsitsihar. Manchuria, a record
breaking performance.
Ten-Year Dreams Realized.
In the commercial field the year was
marked by realization Of a 10-year
dream of the air mail to have q service
from coast to coast with the loss of
but one business day. On May over