Evening star., 1949-04-09
By w. n. Shippen, Jr.
ANiotion Editor Of The Stor

Avioiien Editor Of The ssor
Both pilots stepped out of their
seats the other day. while their
twin-engined DC-3 was in its final
landing approach to National Air
port at 120 miles an hour.
It was Randy Mulherin's idea
for demonstrating his faith In
gadgets. Those riding behind
Randy were demonstrating their
faith In the judgment of the chief
Of the Federal Always Flight In
spection Division.
The nearest man to the controls,
while the radio-guided airliner
jockeyed itself into exact landing
position above the end of the run
way, was an Evening Star photog-
rapher. who knew nothing about
airplanes except what he had read
IN the papers.
Neither the fight inspection
chief. however. nor his co-plot,
Norman r. Hodkinson, was far
away. They had crouched behind
the photographer and replaced
him to take over the controls be-
fore the wheels touched down. 1t
was a normal landing except for
q slight bounce caused by the
RADIO directed glide angle.
The Civil Aeronautics Admins
tration technicians demonstrated
their latest automatic landing
techniques for the National Air
port Club. made up of airline
officials and CAA employees.
Members made several flights
In which the CAA planes auto
pilot was locked into the airport's
instrument landing system.
The latter system consists of
two directional beams thrown
from the end Of the north-south|
runway. one controlling the right
or left direction, and the other the
UP and down movement.
Ordinarily, these beams merely
register on two needles in the
cockpit to enable pilots to make
their own corrections manually in
thick weather.
The CAA experts were showing
ref1nements which enabled them
to make $50 automatic landing
approaches or complete touch
downs during % months of ex-
periments in the worst weather
Washington has to offer.
The device, according to Mr.
Mulherin. now can be relied upon
TO bring an airplane at any de-
sired predetermined. speed into
precise landing position In the
center Of the runway and at an
altitude of 20 feet. Because the
radio glide path is a little steep,
Mr.. Mulherin makes one small
manual adjustment at this point
by lifting the nose slightly to let
the plane settle while the direc-
tional beam holds it in the center
OF the runway. He can make the
whole approach and landing with
out once looking at the ground.
The regulation foul weather ap-
proach Is to hook into the land
ing beam near Mount Vernon at
around 1900 feet, set q predeter-
mined air speed. lower landing
gear and flaps and let George"
hold the course. glide angle and
adjust the. throttles. ..u,v GAVIN,
- The CAA plane is equipped with
q new electronic gauge, which re-
cords the distance to the airport
in miles or fractions of a mile.
Once locked into the beam a pilot
scaA pten where he is at any mo-
ment without waiting for radio
marker signals on airport ap-
proaches.
The device also Is adapted to
cruising across country by lock-
ing into radio ranges with the aid
of another gadget, which holds
any predetermined altitude.
CAA technicians here have i'm
proved the system both by refin-
ing airborne instruments and cor
recting deviations in the guiding
beams thrown from the ground.
Mr.. Mulherin believes the
equipment Is virtually fool-proof.
not too expensive and soon will
be available for general CONNER
cial use to cut down weather de-
Lave