Evening star., 1936-04-19

FR Ne.lv. still entitled to a
The license from the Government
to fly passengers, mail and express,
back and forth, day and night, in
fair weather and foul, over an air.
line division, constitutes the bread
and butter of the pilot and his family.
1t has been required since January,
1888. Let Bureau of Air Commerce
airline inspector lift" this ticket for
any infraction of the regulations and
Joe Pilot stops earning money. But
rarely does Federal inspector have
to take such drastic action. These
master pilots don't stray off the res
ervation of good conduct.
Qualifications Explained.
What is the background of the
pilot who flew you to the West Coast
last week? What are the oualifca-
tlonS of the man who will take YOU
off the ground at nightfall and de-
liver you halfway across the conti-
nent by midnight?
Well, first, he had to prove to the
Bureau of Air Commerce that he was
seasoned with experience, the mini
mum being 1900 flying hours. or, in
miles, distance equal to nearly five
times around the world. AS a
guarantee that this experience was on
modern equipment and in accordance
with modern methods of airmanship.
he had to acquire it within the last
eight years.
Now, 500 of the 200 hours must have
been spent in croSs-country flying.
This eliminates the pilot who might
have piled up all his flying time right
over the home town airport. with
one foot on the ground, as it were.
Further rs hours must have been spent
IN solo night flying and half of this
cross-country over lighted airways.
Then he had to take a severe
written examination on the Com
merce Department regulations govern.
ing scheduled operation of interstate
airline services and practical and
theoretical use of directional radio and
other available airway aids to naviea-
ton, including tests in meteorolosv
with respect to weather analysis and
forecasting.
Flight Tests Severe.
After that came the practical
flight tests under supervision of a
Bureau of Air Commerce airline in
Spector, to determine if he could not
only fly blind but perform and re-
cover from unusual maneuyers; what
ne would do if he became lost In a
log; and how he would find his way to
an airport, either on or of the fixed
route, by means of the radio beam.
There are at present IL airline in
Spectors, 10 of them "old-timers" with
the Department. Several have had
airline experience. When giving
tests for IS. A. T. R." there is not
very much hazard involved. The in
Spector is prepared to grab the con-
trols IN the event another plane ap-
proacheS too closely or the pilot is
unable to keep the ship under con-
troll. There is no record Of any in
spector having been injured while
giving tests.
In the final phase of the flight test,
the pilot is supposed to be lost in fog:
and it is his task to orient himself by
radio and fly directly to the airport.
To make it confusing and difficult for
the pilot, the inspector puts the plane
through series of steep turns to the
right and then to the left, stalls a
couple of times, banks in excess of Is
degrees, Skids, slips, Spirals and NAV.
be tops it off with loop. He may
even have the ship flying upside down
when he turns it back to the pilot
with instructions to " bring it to level
position and on a compass course
due East . now turn on your radio
receiver, pick up radio beacon, find
one of the four courses, identify it
and fly on it to the transmitting sta
ton, and then to the airport, locating
yourself at 200 feet over the edge OF
the field"
Invisible Airways Charted.
Radio beacons are located about
every 200 miles on the Federal Airways
System, to provide directional guild
ance-they are invisible airways-
particularly in bad weather, when air.
men cannot check their courses
against landmarks on the ground. The
signals are received by the pilot
through headphones. If the letter
"a" represented by dot and a dash,
is heard continuously, that means the
plane is to one side of the course.
If it is the letter IN" (dash, dot the
craft is on the other side of the air.
way. If one long dash is picked up,
it means the plane is exactly on course.
Every few seconds these signals are
interrupted by the transmitting sta
ton identifying signal in the form of
dots and dashes.
There are 140 radio beacons oper-
ated by the Department of Commerce,
spaced at 200-mile intervals along the
$4,000 miles of lighted airways. II a
pilot is not experienced in the usage
of radio, he is likely to pick up the
wrong beam and either be led astray
or taken to another airport. That Is
why the inspector does his best to
get the future airline pilot hopelessly
lost and then insist that he find him.
self by means of the radio beam and
let it lead him home.
When the pilot picks up the beam
and starts to fly toward the trans
mitter, which may be so to IS miles
avay by now. he is required to tell