Evening star., 1940-09-19
$4,000 Students
Start in Program
0fPiIot Training
Beginners Are Required
To Pledge Military
Service This Year
By JOSEPH S. EDGERTON.

More than 10000 college students
in 670 colleges and universities this
week are starting civil aviation
training in the second year of the
full civil pilot training program
under direction of the Administrator
Of OWL Aeronautics. Under
speed-up program. they are to COM
plete their training by January 81,
194l.
At the same time, approximately
$4,000 students who began training
July l are completing courses which
are qualifying them for Federal
private pilot certificates and the
last of them is expected to be cer-
tificated by September 80.
The $4,000 new students, for the
first time. have been required to
pledge themselves to enter the mill
tary air services if qualified and,
for the first time, the great civilian
program has taken on a distinctly
national defense char2 ctcr.
Training Is Underway.
New quotas for the fall and winter
course already have been made, it
was announced today, and contracts
now are being completed with the
instructors who will train them and
the airport owners who will provide
training facilities and airplanes.
Flight and ground training already
is under way, particularly in some
of the Western colleges which have
early fall opening dates.
Enrollments total 1900 primary
students and 1915 secondary stu
dents, according to reports to c. P
T. c. headquarters here Most Of
the secondary students, who will re-
ceive advanced training in larger
and more powerful types of air.
craft. are graduates of the summer
course
The total Of 67O participating COL
leges compares with 499 In which
summer training has been carried
on and with 430 during the past
scholastic season.
The minimum age of students has
been raised from 18 to 10 years, the
maximum age remaining at 26
years, to conform more closely with
requirements of the Army and Navy
air services, it was announced. All
applicants are being required to pass
the regular military physical exam
ination before being accepted.
5000 Secondary Pilots.
More than 1000 young men now
are completing secondary training
in the summer course and. with
more than 5000 already enrolled for
the first semester of the new school
year, and 5000 scheduled to be en-
rolled for the second semester, be-
ginning February l, it is expected
that by June 80 the c. P. T. P. will
have turned out 5000 secondary
pilots, each with 80 hours of fly
ing time.
Although the speeding up of the
training program, under the terms
of Congressional action, has re-
accident rate in civil pilot training.
the rate for the past summers
training program TO date is approx
mately 300 per cent better than the
best safety record ever made for
n-Governmental civil training in
light airplanes and approximately
1900 per cent better than for such
training in heavy airplanes. accord
ing to returns for 2l2 months end
ing September Is.
Since the summer course began
July l three students have been
killed out of $4,000 trained: II have
been seriously injured and 9 re-
Ceived minor injuries, according to
figures compiled by the Safety Bu-
reau Of the Civil Aeronautics Board
This bureau has no connection with
the c. P. T. P. which is carried
on under direction of the adminis-
traitor.
Less Than 40 Treated
Reports received by the Safety
Bureau from aviation insurance
companies which have written poll
cies on every student pilot in the
program show that less than 40 stu
dents have had hospital treatment
since July l and about half of this
number were not admitted but may
have received treatment for minor
injuries. such as cuts or bruises.
OF the II students seriously in
iured, not more than five are in
hospitals today, according to pre-
linlinary estimates.
In the entire 20 months of the
Civil Pilot Training Program four
primary students and one secondary
student and five instructors have
been killed. OF the five students
killed two were in fatal accidents
last year and three this year.
These deaths occurred during ap-
proximately $4,000 flight courses,
10000 last year and $4,000 this year,
involving total of more than 1,l00,-
600 hours of flying.