Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-02
LANDING OF AIRPLANES IN FOG
BY RADIO BEAMS IS NEW GOAL
Commerce Department and Bureau of
Standards Perfecting Apparatus at
College Park Test Station.

Landing Of airplanes through dense
fog by radio beams, which viii keep the
pilot informed ct every instant Of his
exact position with relation to the land
ing area, will be possible in the near flu
ture, in the opinion Of officials of the
aeronautical branch of the Department
of Commerce and the Bureau Of Stand
ards, as result Of more than year of
experimental work at the Bureau of
Standards airplane radio test station,
College Park, Md.
The landings will be made entirely by
radio. A small radio range beacon similar
to those now in standard use on the air
ways, will mark out the direction of
the runway for the fog-blinded pilot
Another beam will mark out on a plane
at right angles to the directional beam
the path to be followed in the glide
down to the field. A third radio marker
beam will inform the pilot of his prog
ress along the directional and gliding
beams, showing him where the limits
OF the landing area are located.
Many Experiments Tried.
The aim of the experiments, it is ex-
planned, is to permit airplanes to land
at an airport in fog so dense that the
ground Is invisible. During the year of
experimental work many methods and
devices have been tried.
Each Of the three elements of the
landing system is being perfected by
detailed study and trial flights" 1t was
reported by the Department of Com
merce. Many technical problems re-
main to be overcome. AS the elements
OF the system are tried in combination
some OF them may be entirely altered.
Inc work has advanced to the point
however, where the bureau is convinced
that IL Will be possible to give instan-
taieous position in three dimensions to
pilot in such manner that he may
successfully land in dense fog"
Inc plot Landing in fog, it was ex-
planleo, must be given instantaneous
information on his three co.ordinates
IN space. In other words, he must be
Buloeo 10 and along a suitable runway.
must know how far along this path he
mas gone and must know how hinh he
is above the ground.
:. rms information is given bv a small
directive radio beacon, the second by a
marker beacon and the third by a land
my peam: Inc pilot receives the indi-
catlons OF each by visual instrument.
or two of them by visual instrument
| and the marker beacon either by visual
| or oral means.
Runway localizing beacons. which
guide the pilot into the line of the
runway, have been installed by the Blu
reau OF Standards at College Park and
at Mitchell Field, Long Island. where
Lieut.. James H. Doolittle, Just resigned
from the Army Air Corps made his IA
: nous "blind-landing" demonstration
under auspices of the Daniel Gugren-
helm Fund for the Promotion of Aero
| nautics last year.
At College Park all three elements of
the system have been installed~the
runway localizing beacon, marker bea-
! cons and landing BEAM The first two
are Identical in principle, with the di-
rective-range beacons and marker bea
cons developed for use on the Nations
| airways for guiding airplanes from one
airport TO another and for informing
the pilot OF his position on the airway'
Working on Third Element.
The Bureau of Standards now is at
work on the third element Of the sys-
tenn, the landing beam. This beam is
intended to mark out landing path