Evening star., 1946-10-27
New Safety Regulations
For Air Travel Expected
Fire, Night and Fog Hazards Cited Following
Several Spectacular Accidents fatality
Rate, However, Held Low
By Joseph Hanlon


plane is on a clear day, when the pilot
can see where he is going. Proof is
found in analysis of the last IL do
mestic airline accidents, on which the
Civil Aeronautics Board has reported.
Seven occurred at night, and of the
five during daylight hours bad weather
was factor in three. OF all u, day or
night, foul weather which kept the
pilot from seeing clearly was men
toned as contributing cause in all
but four.
Two of the IL were caused by fires
originating aloft-one on clear day
and one on clear night. In four
others fire after the crash helped COM
plete the destruction. The fire danger
is one which has been giving increas-
ing concern to CAB. 1t resulted in
sweeping order a few weeks ago set
ting out long list of fire prevention
procedures and installations, applying
to all airline planes now in service, as
we'll as those yet to be constructed.
The recent increase in airplane acci-
dents last week prompted Chairman
James M. Lands of the CAB to call
conference in Washington at which
Government officials and representa-
tives of the airlines and the pilots sat
down to figure out what needed to
be done.
New Regulations Expected.
The meeting was behind closed doors
and no conclusions were announced,
but the study is continuing. This week
Wallace S. Dawson, director of the
CAB Safety Bureau, is in Seattle, Wash,
Operations Committee of the Air Trans
port Association. New regulations look
ing toward greater air safety are ex-
pected.
There are two big differences between
airplane accidents and railroad wrecks.
One is that the passengers seldom can
walk away from the scene of an airplane
wreck. The other is that CAB, which
regulates the airlines, unlike the Inter-
state Commerce Commission, which
regulates railroads, has very hard
boiled attitude toward accidents.
CAB Chairman Lands told airline
operators a few days ago: "It is you
who will kill the American traveller or
carry him safely to his destination. In
this field there is no excuse for negli-
gence, and no penalty for misfeasance
can be too severe"
What spurred CAB to a new empha-
sis on safety were four crashes this
month, one the worst in commercial
airline history, when 80 persons aboard
a New York-to-Berlin flight of the
American Airlines lost their lives The
DC-4 Skymaster crashed and burned
October near Stephenville, Newfound-
land
Night, Fire and Fog Combine.
Five days later another DC-4 OF
United Airlines crashed near Cheyenne,
Wyo., killing. two of the 46 aboard.
An Eastern Airlines DC-4, flying from
Miami to New York, missed the Wash
ington National Airport and crashed in
a field October II. but crew and pas
sengers escaped injury. And day later
a TWA Constellation. with only crew
aboard, oyershot landing field at New
Castle, Del, and was demolished. The
crew escaped.
In none of this recent series has the
CAB inquiry been completed, but the
role of weather and fire is again note
worthy. All occurred in darkness with
fog adding to the difnculty at Cheyenne
and washington. In each instance ex-
cept the Cheyenne crash the plane was
destroyed by fire after the crash.
Anxious, as it is to assure the safety
of air travel, CAB points out that the
record of the airlines for the last fiscal
year, ended June 30, has not been "too
bad" Only two others in the last 10
have closed with better records. On
the basis of fatalities per 100000, ,00C
passenger miles, the record was 1.8 for
fiscal 1916. The better years were 1910
when there were no fatalities on COM
mercial airlines, and 1943, when the
index figure was Is.
Illustrative of CABS insistence on safe
operation is what happened last summer
when the Civil Aeronautics Administra-
tion-a sort of policeman for the Civil
Aeronautics Board-grounded all Con-
stellations operated by American COM
panies, wherever the planes happened
to be.
The basic soundness of the Constella-