Evening star., 1936-04-18


Commerce.
of his flight from washington to New
ark.
Kinney's flight was of an expert
mental nature-or at least the radio
approach for a landing partook of
that character But similar adven-
lures on the airways more often are
connected with regular, routine opera
tions.
For example: An airliner north
bound from Indianapolis to Chicago
was heading for bad weather. The
dispatcher wanted to contact the pi-
lot by radio and have him return to
Indianapolis. but reception was poor
on the short wave frequency being
used and the radio operator on the
ground could not be certain that the
pilot had received the message.
THE airline therefore called the De-
partment of Commerce intermedi-
ate landing field at Wolcott, Ind,
and requested the airways keeper
there to relay the message to the air.
plane. The keeper replied that he had
heard the airline attempting to COM
municate with the pilot, realized the
difficulty and had already put the
message on the air from Wolcott
Also. he had placed flares on the field
as an additional warning to the pilot,
in the event his radio was not func-
tioning. However, the pilot had re-
ceived the radio message and was on
his way back to Indianapolis
Communicating with the pilot fire.
quently is the contribution of the Bu-
reau of Air Commerce to the solution
of a difficulty. Such was the case
when Pilot Ray Brown was on his way
from Akron to Columbus. Ohio with
the right wheel of his landing gear
dangling at an odd angle from a
broken support.
The landing gear broke as Brown
was taking of at Akron. Bystanders
noticed the damage as soon as he was
in the air, but Brown headed for
Columbus and it was evident that he
did not know Of his predicament.
The president of a flying service at
the airport haStened to a telephone
and put in long distance call to the
Bureau of Air Commerce radio station
at Cleveland. The operator there
turned from his telephone to the
radio microphone and began broad
casting the warning to Brown. AS the
10 20. 49, III g. IL,
receipt he repeated the message at
intervals of a few minutes until re-
ceiving word from Akron that Brown
had returned to the airport and
landed.
Brown said he had received the
warning when he was flying over Bar
berton Lake, and his first impulse was
to put the plane down on the water.
Discarding that plan because of the
uncertainty of being rescued from the
water, and also because the airplane
almost certainly would be lost, he de-
cided to attempt a one-wheel landing
at the Akron Airport.
Back at Akron. he circled the land
ing area and began his glide to the
ground. Maneuvering his airplane so
that the initial impact was taken by
the one good wheel, he landed. The
one wheel broke under the strain. as
he had expected it would. but the
craft slid along on the bottom of the
fuselage until coming to rest and
Brown stepped from the plane unin-
jured.
A MONG the consistent users of the
= lighted and radio-equipped air.
ways are the Army Air Corps pilots.
and the War Department relies upon
airways' assistance in plans for ma
tional defense. In peace time, the
Army pilots fly the airways when pro-
ceeding from one post to another. or
when engaged in practice cross-coun-
try flying.
At st. Louis, on a January day in
1884. the radio operator in charge of
bureaus station there was of duty, at
home, when he heard the drone of
airplane engines. The ceiling was
about 300 feet, visibility a half mile
when the operator looked from the
window of his house and saw two
Army airplanes flying at low alti-
tude along the route of the highway
which passed his house. Shortly aft
erward he saw them flying back in
the opposite direction, still following
the highway.
Realizing that they must be search
ing for the airport, the operator called
his station and instructed an assistant
to send a special broadcast, telling the
pilots that they had been seen. giving
them their approximate position, and
telling them the direction to the air.
port. No answer was received from
the planes, and the message was re-
peated. Again no answer came back,
but the operator in charge, at his
home, saw one of the airplanes change
its course and start for the airport.
A few minutes later the Army pilot
landed, and thanked the men at the
station for the special broadcast. The
other pilot did not receive the message.
He had to give up the search for the
airport and fly to field near Les
lie, Mo.