Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-19

air transport planes arriving
and departing every "a hours, at an
! average rate Of three every hour OF the
day and night
Seven air transport lines, including
! three airmail routes, now are operating
| out Of the Capital, or will be tomorrow
when Eastern Air Transport inaugurateS
| its new airmail-paSsenger line from the
Capital through Atlantic City to New
York.
The latest conner to the Capitals
aeronautical fold Is Continental Air
i ways, organized In Chicago. which on
Friday undertook high-speed passenger
express operation between Washington
and Chicago, using Lockheed OrionS
with retractable landing gear. The
scheduled flying time for the 300 miles
| is 8 hours and SIS minutes; the total
elapsed time, including stops at Pitts.
burgh and Canton. Ohio, hours ana
is minutes.
The schedule Is close-clipped and
does not allow any time for lettering on
| the part Of the pilot anywhere. HOW
closely such q schedule can be kept
even with the Orions remains to be
seen. The plane selected for the ser.
vice Is one Of the cleaneSt in design OF
| the low-wing types which have come
| into widespread prominence lately as q
result Of the activities Of Frank M.
Hawks, Charles A. Lindbergh and
others of their fast-flying ilk.
The Orion in flight IS nothing but
wings. fuselage and tail. The landing
gear disappears clearly into the wings.
the openings being closed. There are
! no struts or bracing wires and no part
| of the exposed surfaces presents any
obstruction to the free flow Of air. The
| high-compresSion Wasp motor Is COM
pletely cowled.
Answers Cry for Speed.
The pilot is in a raised cockpit above
and ahead CT the passenger compart-
| ment, which seats six passengers. An
answer to the cry for more and yet
more speed, the Orion. according to
Continental ofncials, has a cruising
speed Of 1873 miles and o top speed OF
224 miles per hour.
| If Continental can maintain its Sched-
ules, the flying time between the Capt.
tai and the Pacific Coast, now down to
, 81 hours westbound and % hours east
bound, will be reduced to something
like 28 hours West and as hours East,
with the goal Of ocean-to-ocean in q
day on the verge Of realization.
Tomorrow Eastern Air Transport is
| to inaugurate its Washington Baltimore
Atlantic City mail and passenger serv-
ice, fruit Of the Watres- McNary ailmail
act This is the third Of three new
mail routes out Of Atlantic City to be
in augura.cd this month by Eastern Air
Transport, now operating through more
than a score of cities between New
York and Miami.
One round trip a day Is to be flown
from here to the New Jersey resort city,
| and service will be maintained through
builds up beyond the capacity Of the
single plane, others will be added as
may be necessary.
Eastern Air Transport, 1t has been
announced, has bought out the New
York Always, subsidiary Of Pan
American Always. which operated q
spasmodic service between Washington
and Atlantic City last Summer and
which had just made an inaugural
fight this year when the purchase was
| concluded
Seven Lines Operating.
other airlines operating out Of the
Capital today are Eastern Air transport
to New York, Atlanta and Miami; the
New York, Philadelphia and Washing
ton Airvays Corporation, better known
as the Ludington Line, operating hourly
service to New York and from Phila-
delphia to Atlantic City: Dixie Flying
Service, subsidiary Of Ludington, 10
Warm Springs and Hot sulphur
Springs Pennsylvania Airlines to Pitts
bilrgl1 and Cleveland; Richmond-NeW
York Always Corporation and the new
Continental Always. Except Tor the
night airmail planes Of Eastern Air
Transport, all these lines are operating
| from Washington Hoover Airport,
which l. assuming q rank OF ever
increasing importance among American
air transport terminals.
| So important has the local airport
become that the Department OF Com
merce has directed that 1t be mace the
subject Of a special study now IN pro-
gress with relation to the handling OF
air trafac. The department has created
a local subcommittee Of It's Committee
on Air Traffic Control to examine the
local situation and to report WIN
recommendations.
The committee which will conduct
the study here Is composed OF airport,
railway. airway and highway trafnc ex-
| nerts. It's chairman Is Albert G. Ooer,
| r., vice president Of Washington Ar
port Inc, and its members are John n.
| son. University of Maryland; Roy w:
Crum. Highway Research Board; Paul
F. Collins, Ludington Line vice presi-
dent: z. G. Cross, Eastern Air Trans
port and Pah j. Rabbit, washington
Airport Inc, secretary.
| The results Of the local study and OF
studies at other leading airports are to
be pooled by the Department Of Com
merce for the benefit Of all airport and
airline operators.
Mountain Terrors Allayed.
Back in the time Of Columbus the
| terrors of the Atlantic were wildly por.
trayed by those who knew nothing OF
| the ocean. AS ocean travel developed
the Legendary terrorS one by one dis
appeared-the mighty sea serpents, giant
octopi, or octopuses, as you prefer, ana
the immense whirlpools. Today the
ocean traveller knows he has nothing
to fear but the weather on the average
| ocean crossing.
In the same way aeYonautical prog
ress Is robbing the dread Alleghenies OF
many Of their natural terrors to the
night flyer. When the nights begin to
lengthen next Fall we may expect 70
see regular night passenger service
across the backbone Of the Aleghenles
on at least two lines where formerly
only the hardest Of the night mail
pilots would fly.
One of the passenger lines will cross
the portion Of the Alleghenies known as
the Graveyard Of the Airmail" because
Of its hazards to the night flyer. The
other will cross between Washington
and Pittsburgh Both lines now are
being flown regularly every day with
passengers, and as the length Of the
days decreases the latest schedules on
| both lines will neceSsitate crossing the
mountains after dark.
That these services can be maintained
with the safety necessary to passenger
operation Is a tribute to the advance
ment Of air transport operations. 1t Is
made possible by a network Of weather
observation stations. interconnected by
instantaneous teletype communications
lines, by modern planes and motors, by
radio and by the Department Of Com
merce aids to night flying.