Evening star., 1935-10-06

hangar and field employees. 2,871 oper-
ations and Office employees and 159
stewards and hostesSes. During the
six months they useC 15,482, ,736 gall
Ions Of gasoline and 44e,918 gallons
Of oil.
The average fare rate on June 80
on the domestic airlines was $50 cents
per mile. The average length of the
trip made by individual passengers
was 436 miles.
The lines started 39,441 trips dur
ing the six months and completed &c.
1923 of these trips, for a performance
f1gure OF $3.50 per cent. OF the 42,005
trips which were scheduled during the
/ six months, 8766 per cent were COM
pleted.
OF the seating space available in
airliners during scheduled trips. 56 per
cent was occupied during the period.
The day of the "gadget man" has
arrived at Americas airports. Re.
tractable undercarriages, flaps. radios,
special instruments and all the other
new and numerous gadgets on air.
craft call for the services of a me.
chanic with a fair for monkeying
with pumps, diaphragms, watch mech
anisms. radio circuits, etc, 1t is pointed
out by Jerome Lederer of the engi-
neering division of Aero Insurance
Underwriters.
This will soon become a special-
lied branch of maintenance and pos.
sibly the most interesting" he said.
Lederer believes that the advantage
OF the so-called safe airplane is not
that it might actually be safer, but
| rather that 1t gives the pilot greater
range within which to make mistakes
and escape the consequences.
1T Is a part of the American char
acter to use thing up to and beyond
its limits" Lederer explained. IF an
airplane were designed to take of and
land on 25-foot circle, there would
be many people trying to take of and
land on a 24-foot circle, with the re-
suit that there would be large num-
Der of accidents. Nevertheless, re.
duction in the skill required to oper-
ate safely would draw more people into
flying and thereby probably lower the
accident average as well as ultimately
reduce the cost Of flying"
A large part of the accidents in
miscellaneous flying appear to be due
to stalling and then whipping or SPIN
ming into the ground An obvious
antidote, Lederer said, is a WELL
designed slot. Another serious cause
Of accidents is poor landing technique,
the solution for which, he believes,
is the three wheeled landing gear and
flaps. A third serious accident cause
is engine failure in fight. The anti.
dote, says Lederer. "is two completely
independent power plants (probably
located inside the wing and driving
one propeller, thus also offering good
control and visibility"
These" he said, ARE merely our
thoughts as to a desirable type Of
ship for the private market. There
are probably other ways Of accom-.
plishing the same objectives. Such
| aircraft will come, due to the inertia
Of human nature, through a process
Of gradual evolution rather than rev.
| olution."
Great expansion in the charter and
air-cab branch of aviation Is foreseen
! by Lederer, who expresses the opinion
that the operator who provides good
maintenance, diligent and experienced
pilots and the proper equipment should
be in a fair way to realize on his
| investment.
"One retarding influence" Lederer
says, "is the absence of Government
regulation over this type of service.
We are not anxious to suggest un-
necessary regulations to the aircraft
industry, but, in common with the
charter operators, who themselves
have suggested the idea Of submitting
to Government regulation, we believe
that regulation of the type that air.
lines receive should help the charter
operators. 1t would establish mini
mum requirements for themselves and
their competitors. 1t would not tend
to differentiate between airline safety
and air-cab safety and the adver-
tising done by airlines would then
help the air-cab men. Air-cab OPP
erations and safety records would
not be confused with other types of
| miscellaneous flying, so that some
precedent would be established for life
insurance companies TO study the
advisability Of extending their in
surance to cover flights with the reg
ulated charter operator"