Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1933-10-12


e sible to insure virtually safe land
l. ings. Some of them do this by pro
. viding extra wings, which ar
e brought into action only when land
b ing. These extra wings are placed
:, at such an angle that they make i
g possible to slow the ship down yer,
!. quickly and reduce the speed 81
: that the impact with the grount
: will not be dangerous. They act il
: the same way that four-whee
l brakes operate on an auto. The use
: of newly developed alloys, which arr
much stronger than duraluminum
is aiding in the production of planes
which are stronger and at the same
, time lighter than those that have
been possible up to this time.
That air navigation is at last be-
: ginning to strike the popular fancy
is proved by the fact that in the first
half of this year passenger traffic
increased % percent over same
period of last year, and the amount
of express carried increased % per-
alr-mail carried showed a drop of
16 percent-this being due to the
boosting of airmail postage rates
last year
The government is doing a fine
service in doing everything possible
to make aviation safe. The depart
ment of commerce maintains a SER
les of beacon lights of 100000
candle-power, which are spaced
about 10 miles apart along the
great airways. intermediate land
ing fields are designated at dis
tances of 80 to so miles apart, for
4 landings in case of engine trouble,
fog or other emergencies.
In addition, system of radio
beacon signals is being put in force.
to direct the airman's course either
at night or when the visibility is
bad. These radio beacon signals
have been described before. In gen.
eral, the air navigator pursues a
course through the air which is
marked almost as plainly as the
edges of a road-but the bound
aries are not visible to the human
eye.
Along one boundary of the route
the radio beacon sends a continuous
stream of "a" signals
dot and a dash. Along the other
boundary is another stream of "N'
signals-namely a dash and dot
Along the center of the course goes
a steady stream of dash signals.
AS long as the pilot hears steady
flow of dashes he knows he is keep
ing the middle of the road. When
he veers to the left he hears the
ga" signals, and when ne gets too
far to the right he hears the en-
signals.
These routes through the air are
two-way routes. The airmen keep to
the right. just as in traffic on a
road. And the course is wide
enough SO that there is little chance
of two planes colliding. Pilots of
the mail planes have long used a
sort of amateur system of "blind
flying" they had to in order to get
there and back.
The new system substitutes scien-
tific methods. The highest rating
the department of commerce awards
to pilots is the much priced IS. A.
T.. meaning scheduled air
transport rating This means that
such pilot can fly course as cas-
lily and exactly by the use of instru-
ments as he can by following ground
landmarks.
The Transcontinental & Western
Air lines has shown what can be
done in the way of fast and reliable
long distance commercial aviation.
This line has shortened up the fly
ing time from New York to Los An
geles to "a hours. Passengers can,
if they choose, stop off for the night
at Kansas City, and this lengthens
the time to SO hours.
Most persons make the trip i'll
just one jump, since time is usually
the most important object. Think
what it means, for people to be able
to be on the Atlantic coast one day |
and on the Pacific coast the follow
ing day. In cases Of great emer-
gency such quick cross-continent |
trips may be worth a great deal.
The Transcontinental line has |
erected an air station at Kansas |
City which cost $3O0,00O and which |
is the largest of its kind in the |
United States. Here the great |
planes are regularly inspected and
repaired. 1t will be a surprise to
many people to learn that plane
can operate safely only for about
800 hours, or say 10000 miles and
then it has to be put in the shop
and taken completely apart, micro
scopically examined, and then thor
oughly rebuilt, with the addition of
new parts in place of any parts
found faulty. After this, the mo-
tors have to be run at full speed
for 10 hours, as a final test.
The distance from ocean to ocean
is only 2,440 miles if great cir
Gle course is followed. Ocean navi-
gators have to learn all about 'sgreat
circle sailing" but people travelling
by land seldom hear this spoken OF,
as the distances usually are not
great enough to justify taking such
routes. The great circle of the
earth which takes in New York on
the one end and Los Angeles on the
other passes very close to Kansas