The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-28
AIRLINES ALLOW
SMOKING DURING
REGULAR HOPS
Equip Cabins With Radio
Telephones for Pas
SengerS.
BY ERNIE PLYE
scripps-Howard Aviation Editor

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28.-Very
few passenger air lines in the past
have permitted their passengers to
smoke aboard the planes the
order wasn't so much for saiety's
sake, as the danger is slight, but be-
cause the smoke might tend to make
other passengers sick.
But the air lines have received SO
many complaints they decided to see
just what the public wanted.
So they put out a QUESTIONABLE to
all passengers over period Of sew
eral months. The smokers won
by big majority. AS a result,
most Of the air lines now permit
smoking during fight.
People still want to learn to fly.
Applications for student pilot
permits come into the commerce
department at the rate of about $50
a week. Also every week there
are about fifteen new planes and
125 secondhand ones sold. At
that rate all the planes in the
United States would change hands
IN year and half.
Navy Buys GirOs
The navy bought three autogiros
for experimental work Now it
hasn't any o.. 1t gave one to the
marines, sent one back to the fac
tory to have the wheels replaced
with pontoons, and cracked one up
in a vertical landing" when the
motor went dead. . Juan de la
Cierva, the Spanish inventor of the
windmill plane, arrived in this
country two days before Christmas
on his annual visit to see how
things are going with the autogiro
over here.
Northwest Always (Chicago-
Twin Cities carries radio head
phones in the cabins of its planes so
the passengers can listen to broad
cast music. &. Now it has fixed
them so the pilot can cut in every
now and then and explain to his
passengers just what they are fly
ing over.
Some army pilots in Hawaii built
a two-place glider with which they
hoped to set world endurance rec
ord. =. 1t was the biggest glider
in the world, with a seventy five
foot wing spread. But on it's
second flight it cracked up so badly
they set fire to the debris on the
spot. and since then a smaller
glider built by the army boys in
Hawaii has taken the soaring record
by staying up more than tWenty-one
hours.
The fifty airline pilots who fly
airliners in and out of Washington
regularly have been amusing them
selves the last month in trying to
learn what kind of an aerial
maneuver a fly goes through as it
approaches a landing on a ceiling.
Some pilots maintained the fly did
half-loop to get on it's back,
others thought it did a half roll.
1t is hard to tell by just watching.
War Birds in Miami
But after wasting weeks of time
looking at the ceiling, the aviators
decided the fly went up in a half
loop. ..
There will be a reunion of war
pilots in Miami during the air
races there, Jan. 7, 8 and 9.
Living expenses of all war fliers will
be paid during their stay there.
1t doesn't make any difference what
country the war bird flew for. .
They will all be welcome. &c..
Narcisco BasSo is the only Porto
Rican to hold transport pilots
license. -. He and his mechanic
brother, Horatio, are now on a flight
from New York to Porto Rico in
their own plane. ". They hope to
get backing for real long distance
Hight next summer.
Elsie Janis, the famous actress,
now spends most of her time flying
and writing. :. She has bought a
Buhl cabin plane, and hired War
Pilot Mantz to fly it. g.. Recently
she wrote a flying article for United
States Air Service magazine and
directed the editor to send the
check to 1.-THE boys at Walter Reed
hospital"
A recent survey showed that
pilots pay on the air lines in this
country ranges from SIPS to $3.50
a month. . Northwest Always
pilots average the highest pay.
Colonel Charles A. Lindberghs fast
Lockheed Sirius, which was badly
damaged in an accident in China,
has been completely rebuilt at the
factory in Burbank, Cal, and is
ready for him to come and get it..
MpC NkIIIE hDNuED