Evening star., 1934-10-14


of the F. A. l., which because it al
ways in the past has met abroad has
not become familiar to many in this
country. The F. A. l. lacks, except
indirectly, the actual support Of gov
ernments in the nations it represents.
1t is an aeronautical league of ma
tions without official portfolio. Never
theless, it wields great power and has
dictated much of existing international
air law.
Primary functions of the F. A. I. are
to assure international regulation of
aeronautic sports; to favor the de-
velopment of international touring;
to safeguard the interests, material
and moral, of aeronautics in all the
countries represented, and to concern
itself with everything relating to
aerial activity, directly or through
its permanent or temporary COM
missions.
Organized in 1905 by representa-
tiyes of eight nations-Germany, Bel
gium, Spain, the United States, Great
Britain, France, Italy and Switzer-
land-the F. A. I. now numbers ma
tional associations representing "a
QaLlOLE Oh LIl6 NOLlO
The worlds first pilot licenses were
issued by the F. A. l., the first Tor
balloons and dirigibles in 1905, the
first for airplanes in 1908. They were
recognized oficially by governments
of adhering countries and are Stlu
in many nations the only recognized
certification of plotting ability. In
this country, before passage OF the
air commerce act in 1926, the F. A. l.
brevet was the official badge of pilot
ing ability. The F. A. I. brevet still
Is an international requirement for
pilots participating in world record
flights.
Standard Rules Treaty.
The F. A. I. drew up the first draft
treaty providing for standardized IN
ternational air traffic rules, registra-
tion Of aircraft and so forth. This
draft is the basis for the existing reg
ulations of the International Con-
yention on Air Navigation.
The creation Of the F. A. l. air
touring Garnet or customs clearance
r,aper has made possible air touring
in parts of the world where it has been
q virtual impossibility because Of con-
fiicting national laws. The plane OF
q holder of the Garnet is passed by
customs officials Of adhering coun-
tries without delay or payment OF
heavy guarantees or posting OF Gus
toms bonds. Sixteen European coun-
tries now are members to this Gus
toms agreement.
The Washington conference has
sought to still further the growth of
international air touring by breaking
down useless international rules pro-
hibiting the use of aircraft radio so
essential to receipt of weather in
formation and air navigational aids.
With aircraft speeds now above the
4OO-mile-per- r-hour mark, it became
necessary to refine the international
agreements as to recording Of world
speed records. At such tremendous
speeds the most fractional error in
clocking speed over the fixed interna-
tional 3-kilometer speed course multi
plies to q considerable amount in
working out the official speeds. The
conference agreed on electro-photo-
graphic timing, with an allowable
tolerence Of not to exceed 1-lOO OF
q second. Even with this low toler-
ance 1t was ruled that a previous
record must be exceeded by at least 8
kilometers or about miles per hour
before an official new record can be
certified. This is intended to guard
against errors which might creep in
and to make certain that new records
will be authentic beyond any question.
New Development Problem.
Development of new airplaneS,
which do not attain their full speed
until they reach the higher attitudes,
has presented a new problem which
baffied the session and was referred
for further study to special interna-
tional commission. Present methods
of timing speed fights cover only low
altitude operations and will not work
in the case of airplaneS travelling at
10000 feet or higher.
With aircraft now climbing into the
stratosphere, the method Of determin-
ing precise attitudes reached also has
assumed the character of serious
international problem. Where for
merly accurate pressure records were
regarded as sufficient for determine
now is belief in the minds of many
of the international delegates that
temperature, humidity and pressure
readings should be combined to in
sure accuracy. The difficulty of GER
tifying the accuracy of such appara-
tus. sealing it and installing it Off
cially however, is so serious that no
universal agreement was reached on
the new proposals. The United States
was credited with such accurate altl-
tude-recording equipment that this
country will be permitted to continue
the present pressure method OF check
ing.
Women Plan First Show.
Washingtou's woman pilots, several
Of whom have attained national fame,
today are undertaking their first big
show, the first Eastern all-women's
air meet. The girls are doing the
Job almost entirely ION their own"
without the support Of local aviation
or civic bodies.
The meet viii be held at College
Park Airport, College Park, Md, start
ing at l o'clock this afternoon, and
those who have witnessed the pre-
liminaries say the girls are really
going to put on good show. The
public is invited, with a promise Of
free parking space from which the
flying can be seen.
The meet is being held in connec-
ton with the first local convention of
the 99ers, national organization of
woman flyers, and the local girls will
compete with the best woman pilots
from a number of the States, among
them Melba Beard, who is coming
5000 miles from California for the
meet.
To handle the arrangements the
Washington girl flyers have organized
the washington Women Pilots Asso-
citation, which probably will become a
permanent group. Mrs. Genevieve
Savage is president, Edna M. Gardner
vice president, Helen Frigo secretary
and Johanna Busse treasurer. All
four are frst-rate pilots who are not