Evening star., 1935-09-01
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would have been two-place (passen-
ger) closed sea biplane.
To garage" ship in one of the
local hangers will cost the owner
anywhere from $40 a month to S25
or $50, depending on the ships size,
value and the field he is dealing with
Even a small ship will take up in
a hangar the space that five auto
mobiles of average size would occupy,
so, relatively speaking, the safekeep-
ing of an airplane is much cheaper
than an automobile.
Some folks don't seem to take all
this into consideration" ruefully said
one owner to me. They come out
here and howl at paying $40 month
for hangar space and seem to think
they're buying the field. II we could
get what it is really worth in the way
of overhead, help to wheel the ships
in and out. and so on, the business
would be much better-but what are
you going to do?"
This man is one of the pioneer
operators of private fields around
Washington, and from him I learned
much in the way of the difficulties
In running field.
THE Government spends lot of
money on the Federal Airways, which
is all very fine and necessary, but
if they would take just a. part of
that each year and help the private
fields 1t would do lot toward stim-
ulating private flying. If they would
only level the field and keep it in
shape it would be big help, for you'd
be surprised at how badly cut up
an airport can get just from the ships
landing and taking ot-especially if
the ground is a little soft after
rain," he added, "but, of course, the
mail routes and big lines have to be
taken care Of first and, If a private
flyer has ship equipped with radio
and all that sort of thing, he does
benefit because he can get the re-
ports and the same service as trans
port ship"
THE Federal Anyways System that
he mentioned embraces nearly
10000 miles Of lighted and radio
equipped air routes, furnishing guild
ance and assistance to airmen at all
times. Facilities provided on such
an airway include rotating beacon
lights at 10 to Is mile intervals; in
termediate landing fields so located,
relative to airports, SO that landing
areas are available at intervals of ap-
proximately so miles; radio commune
cation stations for weather broadcasts
and emergency messages to aircraft;
radio range beacons for directional
guidance; radio marker beacons for
assistance in locating strategic points,
such as intermediate landing fields,
and In some cases giving directional
guidance over short distances, and
Neather-reporting service, involving
the use of teletypewriter circuits and
point-to-point radio.
These airways established by the
Department of Commerce are for the
use of every pilot and plane, regard
less of the nature Of their activities,
, provided they are qualified to make
o cross country flight.
Before you can start learning how
to fly it is necessary to submit to a
thorough physical examination (Which
will cost you $lo), and if you pass
It you can be sure that you are in
good shape and your coordination
is good. After that you can go to
any of the fields where instruction
is given and either sign up for the
course at q fiat rate. which may be
answhere from '$39.50 for as much
dual instruction as necessary and the
first solo hop" on up to a $45 rate,
or you can take dual instruction at
81 an hour until you are qualified
to solo and then, in either case, the
solo rate is from S. an hour up, de-
pending on the type Of ship.
The average student will learn well
enough to solo in 5h to 6 hours
which means $3.50 to $42; some will
solo in as little as 4 hours. others
will take 8 or 9-and one student ]
heard of never did get to the point
where the instructor would permit him
TO solo,.