Evening star., 1943-02-21
Future Of Air
Traffic
BIZ Frederic J. Hnsktr.

Discussion on Capitol Hill as to post
war use Of the airplane. and more par
ticularly what country or countries will
rule the skies, will give most people
something TO think about if some inter-
national agreement on aerial traffic il
not reached. With the accelerated pro-
gram of air transportation before the
war, and that emergency being the
means of developing better and faster
planes, it is inconceivable that when the
war is over the use of the airplane will
not be increased a thousandfold. Not
only is this more than probability in
the United States but to larger or
lesser degree throughout the world.
There are so many phases to the prob
lem of international agreement on the
use of the airplane in the postwar per-
iod that each is long chapter in itself.
But the primary one is the problem of
trafic. When Wilbur and Orville Wright
saw their first plane take the air in
sustained flight at Kitty Hawk, N. c.,
they were witnessing a miracle that had
sprung from their own dreaming but
even those visionaries did not conceive
sorts would be navigating the blue that
traffic rules would have to be established
by Federal authority, and even consid-
cred from an International standpoint.
1t is doubtful if they realized that the
time would come when the skies would
have to be staked off and controlled so
that plane daShing out Of London or
Paris headed for New York or WASH
ington, and plane making an AFTER
dinner business or pleasure trip across
the Atlantic would not meet head-on
and cause the greatest collision OF all
time.
Only small percentage of the total
population of the United States ever has
flown and OF those who have, it Is doubt
fW whether many know the intricacy OF
the air traffic rules which must be-
obeyed if their safety is to be insured.
Street traffic rules are simple in COM
parison. The automobile moves only in
two dimensions, but the airplane moves
in three
In daytime, in fair weather with clear
visibility, air traffic is relatively simple
but even then because of the high speed
| OF planes, not entirely So Now, however,
night flying is as much matter OF
| course as night travel on railway trains,
| and it is when flying must be done by
| instruments that the traffic rules come
most into play. Each year sees heavier
traffic at most airports. Time was when
| hours elapsed between landings but
! nowadays. at some ports, planes come
down like gulls. A plane must approach
the port in definitely prescribed man.
| ner. 1t must circle the field counter
clockwise before landing and even then,
unless its pilot receives the signal to
drop to EARTH must continue in the air
| The control tower may be aware that a
| plane in distress is at hand and the able
| plane is kept aloft until the distressed
one has come safely to rest.
The manner of receiving planes at an
| airport is interesting and fascinating.
The train -dispatcher's JOB can scarcely
be compared Through radio conmuni-
cation, the control tower knows what
| planes are on their way and where
| they are. They may be approaching
| from several different directions. If it
appears some are coming too fast. dis
tant planes will be warned to loaf along,
to prevent a traffic jam.
When a group of planes is arriving
the control tower is a busy place The
control engineer is like a iuggler who
must keep many balls tossing in the air
! and. in this case, to drop one means
| death. Assume these planes are ap-
! preaching the port along several air.
| ways. The control tower flashes the
orders. One is to approach at 1900 feet
altitude and make his circle of the field
at that height. The plane just behind
him is ordered to 2,00o-foot level and
told to stay there, cirsling Another
arrives and it is sent to 5000 feet and
so on, in lOoo-foot steps, upward.
When the 1500-foot plane is safely
landed, all come down a step to the next
level. Thus, one by one, the planes are
landed with new arrivals taking the
upper levels and descending only in
turn at order of the control tower. Then
word may come that a plane in distress
is nearing. That plane takes the right
OF way under all of the lowering, cir
cling planes and the limping vehicle is
grounded first
1t must be remembered that all this
Is often done in total darkness. When
100 many planes approach, even for the
vertical tiers, then the control tower
sends them back on their tracks but at
levels at which they will not encounter
new arrivals. A plane will hv swav
until 1t runs into a beam, then turn and
retrace its path through the air. It
may. go through a sort of Virginia reel
for some time before its predecessors
at the port have landed and made room
for it.
All this is done from the ground. The
pilots can know nothing of what is going
on. They only know the radio orders re-
celVed. They will know, of course. the
purpose of the aerial dance and that
there are planes below and above them.
but they will be unable to see ANYTHING.
Even in daylight, if there is fog, they
cannot see the ground.
While the only real congestion now
experienced is at and near airports, strict
traffic regulations must be observed out
along the alrWays. AirWays are charted
crlsscross in the skies like land boule-
wards and the planes are kept upon
them by means of radio impulses which
register on the planes instruments. To
the grounding it is bit surprising to
hear pilot talking about keeping to the
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