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

Washington, was reading newspaper
and yawning comfortably. I envied
him mis- peace of mind. Another
passenger was fooling with ventilator
tube, which emitted a peculiar sound
when turned at a certain angle to the
wind. Thomas A. Morgan, a vice preSi-
dent of the Transcontinental Air Trans
port, dropped into the seat beside me
and We chatted about this and that
for while, while Atlanta and our land
ing drew closer and closer.
Jerdone came out of his compartment
and walked back through the cabin,
smiling down as he passed. In few
moments he came back and returned to
the controls. Casey" Jones. one of the
Nations foremost aviation pioneers, who
staged sensational comeback in air
racing at Chicago last September, and
who Is one of the big air transport
executives, came up and looked down
at the strut with a very grave face So
Gid Ralph S. Westing, big jovial East
ern Air Transport executive. WeSting
refused to look bothered. Hinshaw
Gown. Il think We will get down all
right" HinShaw said. 81 have gone
through things that looked worse than
that.' He went on to relate calmly
and with apparent enjoyment some of
his experiences. Atlanta now was quite
close. Stone Mountain, with its rudi-
mentary monumental sculptures, slipped
by below.
Tell Them Field May Be Rough.
stuck my head up into the pilots
office" and asked Davis if he could
dump the gasoline in the tanks. He
said he could, but that there was not
much left. I asked if he wanted the
weight shifted back into the tail of the
plane as much as possible and he said
that he did, but 10 be careful not to
alarm the woman passengers, Mrs.
Morgan, Mrs. Westing and Mrs. Carl
Byoir of New York.
Get them to faSten their safety belts
and tell them the field at Atlanta may
be a little rough" he said.
Westing came forward with a box of
candy, which he passed around. Every
one took a piece. Most of the man
passengers by now knew something was
amiss. Westing suggested that the
heavy weights" go toward the tail,
take seats and put on safety belts. Casey
Jones came up to me and suggested
that move back a seat, as was close
to the arc of the propeller, which might
cut through the fuSelage If we noSed up.
We were gliding down for our land
ing at Gambler field. Jones and Nor
gan went into the rear compartment.
Jones made certain all safety belts were
fastened. Morgan put on his overcoat,
though 1t was quite warm. Some one
asked if he were using 1t for padding
and he smiled. Most of the men put
on their hats. All the rear seats were
filled so Jones and Morgan stretched
out fiat on the floor and braced them
selves against the seats. Handlong,
with no other seat available, the three
front seats in the propeller arcs being
left vacant, sat on a lounge with his
back in a corner and braced himself
against window frame. I wrote on
page Of notes almost automatically,
"Oleo strut broken. we are going to
crack-up at Atlanta" I stuffed the
notes in my pocket and took off my
glasses, recalling that it was customary
to do so when rough landings impended.
Jerdone looked back through his win
dow to see that &e were all prepared
and went on down over the boundary
lights.
Jerdone Calmly Lands.
With the crucial moment at hand
Jerdone calmly and skillfully mushed
the plane down to the ground at al
most Stalling speed, cutting down every
possible mile of forward speed. At the
last instant he lifted the right wing
and made a magnificent landing on the
one good wheel and the tall wheel, the
dangling wheel bouncing and pounding