Evening star., 1933-03-26

~ was planted during the pas
\ Department Of Commerce a.
Airport, New York'S air tel
ington.
They took of from College p
Bellanca cabin monoplane, climbs
flew directly to Newark, where
bother. Their flight was not U
ordinary in this respect that they
time they required to cover the 2
In only one respect was the
take off to landing in dense fog
the ground at College Park unit
boundary at Newark and were g
feet Of their landing, they saw ]
outside their plane. This is said
to a blind landing on a fogged-i
historical worth as foretaste o1
accomplish with regularity and sa
There were no special preparations
for the flight. The Department OF
Commerce now has on trial at Newark
a radio system for the blind landing
of aircraft James L. Kinney De-
partment of Commerce pilot, who did
the preliminary flying in connection
with the installation Of the. equipment
at Newark. had flown to Washington
for some additional equipment. but
found when time came to leave that
he had bad weather all along the route
and that all the air transport lines
were weatherbound
Kinney decided that 1t was as good
time as any to give the new radio
a real trial and so, with Harry Dia-
mond radio engineer for the research
division of the Aeronautics Branch
and William Laviolette, radio mechanic,
as passengers, he took of from Col
lege Park, local Department Of Com
merce aerial base
Immediately after the take off fog
shrouded the plane and all sight of
the earth was lost. Kinney climbed
to 5000 feet, tuned in on the radio
range beacon at Hunters Point, Va,
and followed the beam through the
fog until he picked up the beam broad
cast from Hadley Field, N. Y. The
Hadley radio range guided him to with
in few miles of Newark. He then
communicated by radio with the air
port and asked that the blind landing
equipment be put in operation.
Approaching Newark. still in dense
fog. Kinney picked up the runway
beam and finally the field boundary
landing beam and runway beam. he
glided in over the airport boundary
and was over the runway and coming
in for a landing before his plane was
first seen by field personnel, anxiously
awaiting his arrival An instant later,
Kinney first saw the ground-the field
runway directly below. He was by this
time in landing position and i'm
mediately set the plane down for a
normal landing.
Service Tests Possible.
The installation at Newark is the
result of long development of radio
aids to aerial navigation and blind
landing by the Department of Com
merce Aeronautics Branch. The radio
system for blind landings now has
reached a stage of development which
permits its use for service tests at a
busy terminal airport. The first
demonstration Of the system at Newark
was given by Kinney and Clarence NJ
Young, Assistant Secretary of Com
merce for Aeronautics, at Newark on
March l.
The Newark installation was perfected
by the Department of Commerce Aero
nautics Branch at the historic College
Park Airport, where, during the past
year and half, more than 100 blind
landings have been made in connec-
ton with the research work.
While this system makes possible a
completely blind landing, it was pointed
out by the Department of Commerce
in the latest Air Commerce Bulletin,
it will seldom be subjected to so strin-
gent test in actual practice, as visi-
bility is not often so poor that the
pilot cannot see the ground just be-
fore landing, as Kinney did few days
ago at Newark.
The installation at Newark Is avail
able for the use of all airplaneS equipped
with the necessary radio receiving ap-
paratus, major portion of which is
the standard equipment used for two
way radio communication and for re-
ceiving weather broadcasts and the
visual-type radio range beacon signals
along the airways. The additional
equipment required is said to be quite
simple and weighs but IS pounds.
Several of the air transport operators
have indicated to the Department of
Commerce their intention to equip one
or more test planes for trials Of the
Newark system, though 1t Is not con-
templated at this time to undertake
use of the system in regular passenger
operations. Through the use of the
equipment by airline pilots, 1t is hoped
that the possibilities of the system will
be fully developed and its shortcomings,
If any, will be remedied.
Notable Progress Shown.
Army aviation has made some of its
most notable strides in the past two
years In the field of observation air
planes. Within space of two or three
years observation airplane speeds have
been increased from an average of little
more than ITO miles per hour to more
than 200 miles in the case of at least
three Of the new observation types
During that time observation planes
have been divided into two distinct
categories.
OF the new C-3l Douglas observation
plane and the new Curtiss O-40, the
Army Air Corps reports that they are
faster than any observation types in
a like stage Of development" this
statement being taken to apply to the
worlds air powers.
Though the O-31 and O-40 still are
in the experimental stage, aeronautical
science already is progressing beyond
them. There has recently arrived at
Wright Field, the Army's airplane prov
ing ground. an O-43 which is Douglas
successor to the O-31, and there soon
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