Evening star., 1937-02-21

NSOIltulueO ETOm f1ISl HdRe.1
to Washington and turned over to the
accident board of the Bureau of All
Commerce, composed of expert tech.
nicians on the bureau staff. It Is their
duty to advise the director as to their
decision, which he reviews before II
Is made public. e
i want to emphasize. the major
continued. that the study of an acci-
dent Is not an attempt to place blame,
but to get facts. and we can never say
positively. This happened but only
This is the probable cause We pro-
gress from the mistakes of other men =
as well as our own. and after every
accident there has resulted some
change in building or regulations
which has been constructive.
This is pioneering means Of
transportation, and obsolescence is 50
last that three years sees a complete
turnover. There is risk in it. but then
there Is risk in anything moving over
40 miles an hour. If you study pilots,
youI f1nd the type of man who went
West in the early days, but on the
other hand. the demands of the pas
sengers themselves are continually a
pressure to put schedules through in
spite OF everything. Will Rogers was
grounded once in Boston by weather.
He had q speaking engagement in New
York and hired private pilot who
was willing to take him on the chance
they'd get through. Later, when We
were holding conference at the BIZ
reau that led to new and more stri1-
gent regulations, this pilot protested
and said, When the airlines stop fly
ing is when start One If the elder
airline pilots said to him, The 90.
pilots in our cockpits are human-your p
co-pilot must be God!' Shortly after
this the private flyer, was killed. 80
mo pilot" said the major. should.
ever have to apologize for lateness-s ;
we have overadvertised speed ..e
DAN BEARD, chief test pilot for an
other airline. here for ohserya-r
ton purposes, added his testimony
"One Of the most important phases
of these investigations" he stated. is
that all findings are open to the entire
industry, and where defect Is dis
covered it is Immediately broadcast.
As an example, In one crash We found
the carburetor heaters were at fault. O.
Working back from their icing, we Is
found why the engine slowed down, . c
new heater was developed and every.4
body benefited" 60
David l.. Behncke, president of the e
Airline Pilots Association, present at
this particular investigation at Mat.
Schroeder's request, approved what
was being done, but felt that . still
more thorough study should be mads u
OF all conditions involved in all acci.- e
dents by Q completely disinterested =
body other than the regulatory one
His organization Is sponsoring 0 bill
in Congress calling for change Of all
safety control to the Interstate Com
nierce Commission on the basis Of It's
long experience in making rail travel
safer and the fact that it is q con< =
ttnuing, non-political agency. He
spoke for the anxious men in tbs
cockpits, too often blamed for acct. =
dents. their brother pilots and many.
Of the company officials feel. when q
they can ne longer speak for them <,
selves. They are the men whose 70. >.
sponsibility 1t is to bring their passen--l
gers through to happy landings. who =
must take good ship down out of- =
clear sunlight where they can see to- 4.
the horizons edge, into q binding
mist that may hide the devils Of sharp
rock or jagged mountain top, their =
one dependence the radio signal irf7
their earphones. II their predeces.
sors were those who looked on ths =,
bright face OF danger and went 0Ht =
smiling, step by step, they, too, are
helping to conquer It. 7..s7s
The major must have felt some So
what the same way about all this, be- :
cause he looked across the hangar at
the smashed ship there and said. II
knew the pilot well-they don't COMA :,
Any better-and, boy. we're going "a
Ind out Tor you what happsns4" -,.1s