Evening star., 1934-01-07

spaces of our air Journey death-defying whirl
through the perilious, crowded maze Of streets!
THE aids to air navigation which are fur
] nished by our Government are listed BY
Col. Clarence M. Young as follows
Beacon lights at 10 to is mile intervals.
2-Intermediate landing fields so spaced that
in conjunction with airports, they make landing
areas at intervals not exceeding so miles
3-Radio communication stations for the
broadcasting weather information to aircraft
in the air; the transmission of important mes
sages bearing on the safety and reliability of
flight
Radio range beaeons for the transmission
of radio beams which aircraft may follow and
keep on course regardless Of conditions of visi-
bility.
5-Marker beacons, which are low-powered
radio transmitterS marking important inter-
mediate landing fields or other strategic points
along routes.
6-Teletypewriter circuits for: (a) collection
and transmission of weather information to
airports and airways communication stations
and (b) transmission of weather maps and (c)
reporting positions of aircraft flying along the
airways
OF these six systems that Of the iadio range
beacons is the most fascinating and of the
greatest value in air navigation at night. Dark
ness and fog may obliterate the revolving bacon
lights, but through the unfailing effectiveness
of the radio range beacons, a pilot may keep
straight on his course.
An improvement of this device has been
worked out by the Bureau of Standards. The
continual buzz of q code signal in the pilotx
ear is both monotonous and irritating. The
new contrivance weighs the same as the ear
phones and is encased in sturdy box which
fits snugly into the dash-panel of the cockpit.
In this box are two strips of metal called
reeds" mounted side by side. The tips Of
the metal white and can be seen through
the face of the instrument. When the beacon
signals are received these two reeds vibrate
vertically.
IA /HILE the two reeds of equal length,
w the airplane is on its course. If the
plane deviates to the left, the line on that
side becomes longer and the one on the right
shorter. If the plane goes off-course to the
right the exact opposite is true The longer
white reed shows the direction to which the
plane is of-course.
A very recent improvement has been the in
vention of an indicator, like that of the am
pheres indicator on the dashboard of an auto
mobile. A thin, white needle shows not only
to which side the plans is of-course, but tells
the number of degrees as well
Neither Of these two devices has been adopted
into very wide general usage as yet.
The radio range beacons function day and
night, but they become an absolute necessity
only at night when visibility is poor.
The pilot also has access to weather informa-
ton through the periodic joining of the radio
range beacons with the radio communications
system. Weather reports, obtained hourly from
every section Of the country through the facila-
ties Of the teletypewriter circuit are astound-
ingly accurate
While the radio range beacons serve only Is
guide to aircraft in a ght. the radio communi-
cations stations constitute medium for the
transmission Of radio telephone messages be-
tween pilot and statiois operator. If a forced
landing is necessitated, the airman Immediately
establishes contact with the nearest station and
makes known his plight.
With all the new developments in aeronautical
construction forced binding is now u1opy>
s.,s . Continued on fifteenth Page