Evening star., 1936-04-18
Airways.
Continued From Page BID

the operator went out to the antenna,
which was of the old loop type. One
of the coarse bending wires had
parted and grounded itself in the
snow.
The antenna pole was covered with
the ice and the operator had nc
climbing equipment. Nevertheless, he
thought Of the two pilots down the
airway depending upon these signals
climbed the pole with an improVised
splice and made temporary repairs.
There was only brief interruption OF
the signals and as the operator re-
ported mo one complained of it be-
ing out, so it was concluded that 1t
had been kept going at time when
it was needed badly. except for very
short interruption.
In another case, quick action on
the part of radio operator pulled a
pilot out of a dangerous predicament.
One morning a southbound mail
plane had left Richmond, Va, for
Charleston, S. c., with good weather
all the way. Just before reaching
its destination, however, a bank OF
dense ground fog moved over the
Charleston field. The Bureau of Air
Commerce radio operator at the air.
ways radio station at Charleston i'm
mediately broadcast a special report
to the mail pilot. But, due to hav-
ing bucked headwindS along the way,
the plane did not have sufficient gas
to return to a clear field at Florence,
S. c., or to continue on to one at
Savannah Ga. In spite of constant
coaching broadcasts by the operator,
the pilot was unable to find an open
ing clear enough for safe landing
and the situation became more and
more serious.
Something had to be done and done
quickly, for a forced landing was in
immediate prospect. At this point,
the radio operator received a flash
of inspiration. There was just a
chance that the navy yard field. 4
miles away, might be clear. He tele-
phoned the radio station there and
found that the field was free Of fog.
The next step was to instruct the
pilot how to find the navy yard.
This he did and also warned him OF
certain hazardous distractions there.
This pilot had never landed at that
particular field, but by following the
operators instructions he found the
field and made a safe landing.
The airline dispatcher drove the
mail over. navy ward attendants re-
fueled the plane and the trip was
continued with but little delay.
REACON lights, spaced on an aver
age of II miles throughout
the $1,000 miles of airways, have
justified their existence on many oc-
casions by enabling lost airmen to
orient themselves and proceed either
to their destination or land at one
of the many Department of Commerce
intermediate landing fields spaced, in
conjunction with airports, at 50mile
intervals
A newspaper plane rushing pictures
back to Chicago from the Kentucky
Derby was caught in storm and the
pilot, unequipped for instrument fly
ing, soon was hopelesSly lost. For so
minutes he and his newspaper man
passenger milled about in the fog try
ing to find an opening that would give
him sight of the ground. The fuel
supply was rapidly diminishing and
the airmen began to entertain pros
poets Of bailing out. While this
offered an escape for themselves, it
spelled defeat to the waiting news
paper for the photographs. So they
decided to wait until the last drop
of gasoline passed from the tank into
the engine.
Then came a break in the storm
and coincident with their first sight
of the ground the flash of a beacon
light struck their strained eyes. They
headed for it Immediately, found 1t
to be only an airways beacon with no
landing facilities, but noted the arrow
on the ground pointing to the next
beacon. Setting his course by these
directions, the pilot pushed onward,
and in another few minutes he caught
the flash of another light Immedi-
ately following it was a green light
which blinked out code. The green
meant a Federal emergency landing
field. They flew straight to it, found
the field outlined with boundary
lights, made safe landing. The
airways keeper sold them some fuel
from his emergency supply, produced
clearing weather report from his
teletype circuit into Chicago and sent
them on their way.
Thus in speedy and efficient fash
ion does Uncle Sans new safety
system" operate for the benefit of the