Evening star., 1931-11-22

which will lower an entire AiyplanS or
the cabin Of a plane, as a means or OBJ
Waiting the necessity for paracnutes for
individual passengers, has produced an
immense parachute which has success
fully lowered a weight of 5000 pounds.
The great parachute, which has a
diameter of 30 feet, is designed to carry
normal load of $500 pounds, or the
equivalent of the loaded cabin OF a 12-
passenger plane. 1t is the work of Maj.
E. L. Hoffman, Army Air Corps, as
signed to the parachute branch of the
Material Division, Wright Field, Dayton,
Ohio. Maj. Hoffman is the designer of
the Hoffman triangular parachute
which is coming into fairly general use.
The giant Hoffman parachute is made
Of silk and is designed to be housed in
the top Of the airplane cabin. A pull
of lever by the pilot is all that is
needed to effect its release. pilot
chute, tucked away in the tail of the
plane is the first to release. The little
parachute drags out the big one, which
has been found to open fully within
three seconds after pulling Of the lever.
With load of $500 pounds, the rate
Of descent Is approximately 18 feet per
second.
Those engaged In the experimental
work, the Air Corps has announced,
have high hopes for this new type of
parachute. They declare that it would
be a simple problem to so construct
the cabin of modern passenger plane
that the mere pulling of a lever by
the pilot, when an extreme emergency
arises, would free 1t entirely from the
rest of the plane and at the same
time release the big parachute to lower
it to the ground.
The cabin parachute, Maj. Hoffman's
cI1 rrsi11 oh
80 pounds per passenger seat. An in
diWdual parachute weighs about 20
pounds. The advantage Of the cabin
parachute over one designed to lower
the entire plane not only is found in
the possibility of smaller size but also
in the fact that in case of fire in a
motor or gasoline tank the cabin Is
released from the flaming portion of
the plane, saving passengers from death
by fire Mai. Hoffman estimates that
the cost of the giant cabin parachute
seat for installation and maintenance,
or $1.80 per day :or 12-passenger
plane.
Robot Proves MettIeL
Eastern Air Transports robot pilot
recently licensed by the Department
Of Commerce to fly passengers and
mail, had a real initiation three days
ago when called upon to fly q big 18-
passenger plane through thick weather
which had nearly all airline operations
stopped. It was the inaugural flight for
the automatic pilot, and the queer COL
lection of gvroscopes, switches, electric
motors, pulleys and cables responded
as do all good transport pilots when
caught in a tight place.
The robot was switched on soon after
the big plane took off from Newark Air
port and flew the ship most Of the
way to Camden The landing and take
off at Camden were made by human
pilots. but the robot took over the con-
trolls for the flight to Baltimore. After
the landing and take-of there the
automatic pilot again was turned on
and flew the plane only a few miles
out of Washington.
The weather by this time was so
thick that the big plane was nearing
the Department of Commerce minimum
ceiling level. Suddenly an Army plane
loomed up ahead, also flying toward
Washington. Instantly Pilot s. r. ia
cobs, skipper" of the big ship, shut of
the automatic pilot and took over the
controls, knowing that his robot had
no eyes and not knowing what the
Army plane would do.
The Army pilot continued for a mo-
ment, while the passenger ship over
took him from the rear. Jacobs could
see that the Army man was looking