Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-06
BY DIEUDoNNE CosTE.
ipeclal Dispatch to The star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, September 6.-What is
| the future of transatlantic aviation?
Naturally that is a subject I have often
pondered / do not like to generallze
in field in which one mans prediction
Is as good as anothers, but have, OF
| course. some lunches.
l believe that the airplane is more
serViceable than the dirigible; that
when transatlantic air routes are IN
augurated on a commercial basis the
flights will not be nonstop, as ours was,
and that the huge DO-X, in which the
Germans propose to carry a pay-load
across the Atlantic. will be found to be
too large for practical purposes.
All these opinions center in one prob
lem, that of speed. No one Is going to
make a success of commercial trans
atlantic aviation unless he can provide
reliable service at a very substantial
saving of time over the four or flve
DAYS in which the express ocean liner
now makes the crossing. My guess IS
that 40 hours is the minimum that VIII
nav. If aircraft cannot provide reliable
40-hour service, they are beaten before
they start.
Winds Retard DirigibIe.
Right at this point the advantage of
planes over dirigibles begins to be seen
DIR. Hugo Eckener has done marVels; he
has shown the Zeppelin to be safe ana
sturdy; but, as yet, he has not been able
to cross the ocean in face of adverse
winds at a speed greatly in excess Of a
fast ocean liner. II a transatlantic
dirigible service were to operate steadily
for six months or SO, think that this
shortcoming would become extremely
evident.
The airplane, on the other hand, has
sufficient speed to overcome strong adj
verse winds 1t will be pointed out at
once that the dirigible has the advan-
tage of being able to remain longer
aloft, even after its fuel is exhausted,
whereas all transatlantic airplanes TO
date have had to carry so much fuel
that room remained for little else.
1t is for this reason that I believe
transatlantic air service will include
quite a few stops. These stops may be
made on land; they may be made on
floating airdromes such as l under
stand to be under construction here in
America. They will enable the plane
to carry pay-load large enough to pro-
vide real profit.
Medium Sized Planes Likely.
When any transatlantic service is in
augurated, mail will be its mainstay
during the long period of demonstra-
ton that will be required to convince
most people that it IS a safe mode of
travel This has something to do
with my opinion that medium-sized
planes, much smaller than the DO-X,
will be used.
So much time would be lost in wait
ing for profitably large cargo Of mail
TO accumulate cargo large enough to
load the DO-x, for instance-that
steamships could give nearly as good
service. Would 1t not be better at first
to have a number of smaller planes
flying at short intervals and fully
loaded than a few large planes?
This brings us to the much-debated
question as to the relative reliability
of small planes and large multimotored
planes. An airplane is dependent upon
the steady functioning of its motors
just as human being is upon his
finest products of pure science. They
are approaching the point of being
utterly reliable.
II huge plane can still remain aloft
and retain maneuverability and high
speed with two or three motors dead,
then 1t has an undeniable advantage.
But If the failure of the two or three
vantage whatever. Indeed, 1t suffers
disadvantage in that the more motors
the greater the number of things that
may go wrong and cause forced land
ing or disaster.
Much Remains to BE Done.
II We are to regard the airplane motor
as perfected machine-and it is hard
not to do so after listening TO the never
falling drone of our HiSpano for hour
upon hour as it pulled us through
are forced to the conclusion that
even a single-motored plane is at no
disadvantage in comparison to the
largest multi-motored craft.
But do not want to give an i'm
preston that I take for granted the
early establishment of air service be-
tween France and the United States.
1t Is not impossible, but, in reality,
much work is necessary before it can
be accomplished. We must have more
information about meteorology over the
North Atlantic and about the materials
u2-d II airplane constru"t on.
Our flight, / feel, b.1ught out big