Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-16
AVIATION
BY JOSEPH S. ED0ERToN.

high speeds are both too low for en-
Gent operation.
I'm contrast to this" he continued.
Fan autogyro may be set down YER
tically on any spot selected BY the
pilot. In q rough wind its flexible
structure does much to iron out the
discomfort Of bumps. Its efficiency In
pay load Is high, and will be higher no
doubt as commercial models appear.
It's efficiency and safety in vertical de-
scent are greater than in q parachute,
while stability in forward speed Is the
same as that Of an airplane."
Capt. Carroll Is one Of the country's
foremost test pilots. and has flown all
types of the autogyro, as we'll as vir-
tually all types Of airplanes. When
the safe airplane competition OF the
GugRenheim Fund for the Promotion
of Aeronautics was held last year he
was selected as one Of the three finest
test pilots in the country to conduct
the tests.
Test pilots for the Navy at the Ana
costa Naval Air Station put an auto
gyro through its PAGES here, and q
number Of pilots of the station and the
Navy Bureau Of Aeronautics tried out
the ship In solo flight.
mo one found the slightest difnculty
in soloing this plane, since 1t Is prac-
tically impossible to get into trouble"
says q report issued by the Bureau OF
Aeronautics. "It Is rather surprising
for pilots accustomed to high-speed air.
planes to come in for landing in the
autogyro at surprisingly steep APP
proach angle, level out at about 10
feet from the ground and have the
plane come to a dead stop In the air.
From that point the plane settles YER
tically to a soft landing with no notice
able forward movement Of the plane
thereafter The particular model DEM
onstrated at AnacoStia had self
starter for the rotor, which eliminates
a prior difficulty in getting the rotor up
to take-off speed, formerly accomplished
by charging around the field several
times.
"Autogyro flying, aside from the fact
that a large rotor Is buzZing around
overhead, Is normally identical with
the flying Of standard airplane. Max
ing vertical descents, however, II some
what different, since the control sur
faces naturally fail to function under
this condition. One has merely to ease
the stick forward 10 regain normal
control. This is q much simpler prob
lem than falling on on wing and
recovering from the subsequent dive,
Refueling of transport airplanes in
fight will become necessity when
long-range night flying becomes COM
monty accepted, in the opinion of Clar-
ence M. Young, Assistant Secretary II
Commerce for Aeronautics. Mr.. Young
believes that there viii be direct
through travel by air from coast to
coast, with a night flight as part Of
the trip.
"When that time comes" he said in
a recent address at the Army War Col
lege, 1T don't know how they are going
to get out of refueling, at least during
a substantial portion Of the night hours.
They cannot carry enough fuel to last
eight or ten hours, because that would
mean sacrificing too much pay load.
with 800 gallons Of fuel, which
might be necessary to last eight or nine
hours, If they could cut down the
weight of the fuel from, say, 1890
pounds to 1000 pounds and leave the
balance Of 1880 pounds for pay load,
pany.. There will need to be some de-
velopment and some experience gained,
but the thing has been fundamentally
demonstrated. It Is needed economi-
cally, and am sure 1t will be accom-
plished."
Air transport lines in the United
States hung up an enviable record for
safety during the first six months Of
annual report Of Clarence NJ. Young,
Assistant Secretary Of Commerce for
Aeronautics, just made public.
Durin; the six months there was but
one fatal accident for each 2,617, 121
miles flown, three times the mileage
per fatality in the same period last
year. This means that for every fatal
accident mail, passenger and express
planes few the equivalent Of lit times
around the earth at the Equator.
There were but six fatal accidents IN
all transport operations, totaling nearly
1900, 900 miles.
This record Is the more remarkable
when it Is consideres that 1t does not
represent merely the operations Of pas
senger lines, which remain on the
ground rather than risk the safely OF
their passengers by flying through dan
gerously bad weather, but also includes
airmail operations, during which pilots
buck all kinds of weather by night as
well as by day.
Civil aircraft in the United States
few the prodigious total Of 66,669 ,92S
miles during the first six months Ct the
500 900 miles over the same period in
1929. These figures are too tremendous
for the average mind to grasp. When
it is considered that the earth Is some
81, 900 900 miles from the sun and that
In year civil aircraft will travel one
and one-half times this distance or
more, the volume Of air travel In this
country becomes impressive.
As in the past, the human element
remained the greatest factor In air
craft accidents, STA per cent Of IL tie
accidents during the six months being
attributed to errors on the part Of per-
sonnet. Power plant failures resulted In
1902 per cent Of the accidents and air
plane failures in 878 per cent. Mis-
cellaneous accidents, caused by small
or rough airports, terrain, weather,
darkness and other causes, totaled 1855
per cent. Only i.4l per cent Of all the
accidents were the result Of causes
which could not be determined. the
smallest percentage for this classifica-
ton since compilation Of accident sta
tistics began.
Prolonged Process Shortened.