Evening star., 1937-01-17
PILOT HELD BEST JUDGE
OF BETTER FLIGHT AIDES
Radio Range Beacons Defended With
1nsistence That They Be Increased
i'm Some Localities.

There is a more serious phase to
this situation than the mere trafic
congestion, since all westbound planes
are required to fly at even and all
eastbound ones at odd attitudes in
units Of 1000 feet, and to the indi-
vidual lines are assigned definite
cruising levels by the Bureau of Air
Commerce airways traffic control Of
flcer for this particular route.
1t is that the weather-reporting
stations, radio stations and similar
facilities maintained by American
Airlines and T. w. A. along their
own routes are of little or no use
to planes flying over that of United,
and that, to obtain information con-
cening conditions along this route,
T. w. A. and American ships must
resort to the time-wasting procedure
Of having it relayed through Newark
or some other common operating point
Of the three airlines.
Weather Data System.
The mechanics Of this is as follows:
The pilot Of an American or T. w. A.
plane flying United's route to Chicago,
desiring weather or other data not
available at the time he took of,
radios his company's ground station
at either Newark or Chicago for the
information. The ground station calls
United's local radio station on the
telephone, asking the operator to radio
the necessary request to the inter-
mediate efaf
United's route. The required data
is then radioed back to Newark or
Chicago, telephoned to American or
T. w. A. and relayed by them to
their planes in flight, the three lines
being unable to talk directly with
each others planes because each COM
pany Is allotted a definite and dis
tinct frequency by the Federal Radio
Commission, from which it is not al
lowed to deviate.
Such information is willingly sup
piled by one airline to another. even
though they may be business rivals,
but it obviously does not take pre-
cedence over the companys own busi-
ness communications unless an emer-
gency is involved. At best such a set
up is neither efficient nor satisfactory.
So far the Bureau of Air Commerce
has taken no steps to change it, al
though, at one time, this branch of the
Government enforced very stringent
regulations about of line flying by an
air transport operator. A simple So
luton, of course, would be to require
naRh line m ctinR 70 re ni,
the Aviation Bureau of the Interstate
Commerce Commission at the same
time setting up identical time sched-
uleS for the New York Chicago route
which it would require all the airlines
to observe.
No Hardship on Operators.
Since these now have, or soon will
have, identical equipment in service
over this run, such action would work
no hardship on the operators and
would do much to safeguard a public
that is certain TO be jeopardized sooner
or later if the individual airlines in
their rivalry are allowed to push their
equipment harder and harder in an
effort to outdo each others schedules.
1t is the story of the railroads all over
again, and the air transport industry
seems headed for the same sort Of
control.
A serious traffic problem has arisen
partly from this triple use of one route
and partly from the practice of max
ing all planes rendezvous at Martins
Creek. Pilots are required to estimate
their Martins Creek arrival time in
advance and there is an increased
tendency toward optimism on these
estimates, if not toward actual cheat
ing, in order to gain precedence at the
homeStretch starting point. AS a re-
suit, several pilots with none -too-great
fuel reserve have been held for periods
Of 10 minutes to half an hour, cir
cling about in the vicinity of Martins
Creek with the weather growing stead
lily worse at Newark, while they waited
for another plane whose pilot had
estimated" his arrival a minute or
two ahead of theirs.
This is a game, of course, that all
pilots can play, but it is fraught with
hazards and is an imposition on the
unsuspecting patrons. 1t is one of
those things that the Bureau of Air
Commerce might well head off before
1t develops serious consequences.
Copyright, 1877