The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1943-11-26

WNU Service, Union Trust Building,
Washington, d. C.
The army air force has been
around the world 1874, 078 times! That
is what air miles add up to-three
billion, three hundred and fifty-two
million in the fiscal year 1943.
Just how safe is the job of pilot?
Not the job where you have to
count on the enemy fighters and the
ack-ack, but the job of learning to
be pilot.
"Ninety-five out of every hundred
army air force cadets are going
through their flight training program
with no personal injury of any kind"
says Col. Sam Harris, chief, army
air force office Of flying safety.
The Office of air safety is the in
stitution which has built safety into
training programs as highly en-
phasized part of the whole regime.
It has three main principles.
Initial Phase
The first is prevention and in
vestigation," and the keynote here
is experience. The 54 officers who
take care of this end of the work
have a total air experience of SO
years, 318 days in the air. These
men, known as regional safety Of
ficers (RSOs) are assigned to each
air force and command in the Unit
ed States.
Here is an example of how the
RSO works. He goes to a certain
field. He meets some cadets who
say they haven't had any breakfast.
He puts that down in his notes. He
looks the place over, notes ditch
parallel to a runway. He orders the
ditch filled, talks with the mess Of
ficer and has breakfast served ear
lier. Then he tackles the boys
themselves. He gives them a talk
on the Importance of instruments.
Three separate moves and the ac-
cidents are cut down there.
The second principle is flight con-
troll" Here is where the flight con-
troll officer, traffic cop of the air,
comes in. For traffic control is as
important in the air as on the street.
The men of this force offer a
Pilots Advisory Counsel. This serv-
ice leads pilots through or around
dangerous traffic or weather condi-
tons.
Suppose the flight control officer
in the Seattle center knows Lieu
tenant Smith is headed in that di-
rection. He also knows that ''cold
'front.' is moving across his path.
So he radios Smith, tells him to
make for an alternate airport.
No. 8 on the list of safeties is
safety education"
Safety Education
Most of the accidents in training
in the United States are due to per-
sonnet error-the fault of the human
being, not the weather or the ma
chine. This education comes through
special movies, through manuals,
through cartoons and posters.
Here are some of the slogans that
help:
Hitler and Hirohito cheer
when you forget your maps
when you pay no attention to tele-
phone wires +. when you jam on
your brakes when you don't
check your gas -. :"
Other points are driven home with
a little sardonic hunor such as
when pilot thinks he's pretty hot,
he's usually close to burning" "To
grow old in the natural way, pilot
has to use his luck sparingly 80"
. The. first six months of 1913 COM
pared with all of 1912, show these
percentages of reduction of acct
dents:
In primary schools $3.50
In basic schools $50
In advanced schools S 11%
And just see the table for acct
dents as miles flown 60 up!
1921-30--Miles flown, 155, 1918, 600
accident rate, Ill.
1943-Miles flown, 1851 $40, 600
accident rate, ZIG.
That's how America is learning
safety in the skyways.
War Brings Recognition
To Psychiatry
There will be so many changes
after the war that a lot Of words
will not even have the same mean
ings. New things and new thinking
win appear and people will have to
learn the new words in order to
think the new thoughts.
Already the war has caused psy-
chiatry to be adequately recog-
....-i 3, a.aordixaes A. nr Rioh