Evening star., 1936-12-06
"Hedge-Hopping Days Only Memories, as De-icing
Is Perfected, Traffic Control Adopted, Storms Are
Defed, and Overshoes Provided for Wings

ried and the pilot can use whichever
seems best at the time. Further work
on rain and snow static is being
undertaken by the Radio Technical
Committee Of Aeronautics. inaugu-
rated by the Bureau of Air Commerce
IN June. 1885. Its membership Il
drawn from the Bureaus of Standards
and Air Commerce, the Army and
Navy Air Corps. the airlines and the
radio manufacturers. Wind tunnel
tests at Langley Field are to be begun
shortly with moisture on antennae.
Experiments, successful in the main.
with the miniature or localizer beam,
at such airports as Cleveland, Chicago
and Oakland, give promise of the time
being close at hand when ships can
land "on dime" in conditions of zero
visibility. At present, Air Commerce
regulates the allowable ceiling and
visibility at each airport, basing its
Judgment of what is safe on prevailing
terrain and wind currents. Pitts.
burgh, for example, has a required
ceiling of 300 feet in daylight and
400 feet at night, and mile visibility
at all times. Anything less than that
automatically grounds all ships at this
point.
A MOTHER recent development Is
= the air traffic control work being
done at Newark, Chicago, Cleveland
and Detroit and very soon to be ex-
tended to Pittsburgh and Washington.
Its importance Is so great that the
Government hopes to extend it to all
major airports as rapidly as funds
allow. Under this new system q crew
Of five men works in a central office
at the airport. at least two of them
on duty continuously and three during
rush periods. They do not use the
to coordinate all information con-
corning incoming and outgoing planes
at all times. They maintain constant
communication with the airlines' traf.
fic Offices at the port, with the Air
Commerce Office and that Of the
Weather Bureau and with the airport
control tower
Using a double check of o huge
blackboard and table map with tabs
that represent planes in flight, they
keep track OF the exact location Of
each, its direction, speed and altitude.
They have complete authority over all
movements and can issue orders to
any ship to change its speed or its
altitude if there is danger of its COM
ing close to other ships. Every effort
is to keep all planes on schedule, but
rather than allow the possibility Of
an accident in bad weather, they can
keep a plane out Of the way Is long
as is necessary to clear other traffic.
The airlines have been doing this
with their own equipment. but Air
Traffic Control has authority over all
ships, including Army. Navy and pri.
vate planes.
The greatly increased range Of
flight of the newer planes is another
pre- eminent factor in maintaining
continuous service. 1t is very seldom
that a band" of storm extends over
an area greater than 400 miles. With
detailed information as to its char
acter, planes can frequently fly around
or over it, or at the worst, mail and
can be put aboard a train
at one side and picked up by another
ship at the other. Higher altitude n.y.
ing also permits choice of more favor
able air strata as regards wind veloc-
ity and direction and temperature. It
Is frequently possible to climb from
10 degrees below zero on the ground
TO 20 above at several thousand feet
up. This is not important to the pas
who fly In q heated cabin,
Continued on Sixth Pasal