Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-05-28

letters are subject to conden-
sdtion.
rection, the ease with which
they can climb or descend
into each other is appalling.
Jet aircraft operate efici-
emily only when flying very
fast and very high. and with
their advent. climbing and
gliding turns became i'm
practical
Moreover, another danger
lies in military aircraft forced
to practice instrument flying
techniques, while on routine
training missions. on the
same airways facilities used
by commercial traffic such
that their flight patterns
cross each other. 1t is
strongly recommended that
navigational facilities for use
only by the military for
training during short routine
local flights be established.
John M. Ryan.
y y
The writer of your latest
editorial, Keep Out-for
Safety" displays the grossest
lack of knowledge of flying
that it is possible to have
and still write with author
ity."
First of all, and most i'm
portant, the civil airways are
not commercial traffic
lanes" nor passenger air
ways" as your writer would
have us believe. Secondly,
and equally Importantly,
they are not controlled air
space" The civil airwayS are,
for lack of a better term,
highways in the sky for use
of all aircraft, civilian and
military, and in fact are
used extensively by military
aircraft. These Always are
controlled only under instru-
ment conditions; by this /
mean that when the sky is
clear below and the visibility
is good, CAA offers the pilot
no assurance that no other
aircraft will be at his alti-
tude or on his flight path.
CAA has positive control
only when the sky is OBJ
scured by clouds. In the
last two spectacular mid
air collisions the sky condi-
lions have been clear below,
as evidenced by eyewitness
reports from the ground.
The fact that in both cases
the civilian airlinerS were
right on course at assigned
attitudes does not relieve
the airline pilots one whit
from responsibility for these
accidents, just as the mill
tary pilots were equally at
fault. Three of the last four
years l have spent at a train
ing base in the Western
United States. This base is
situated right on a civil air.
way, one of the busiest in
the country. During that pc
Rod I had several close calls
with civilian airliners while
flying with students, as did
many other instructors. Al
most without fail, we the
military, who fly with "reck-
less abandon" took the eva
sive action to avoid a coll
lision. No apparent action in
most cases was taken by
the civilian craft, although
the pilots in it (there are
always at least two had an
equal and sometimes better
opportunity to see us.
In his last sentence, your
unschooled writer says, I'm
the meantime, public safety
demands that defense au-
thoritieS take whatever steps
are necessary to stop at
once all nonessential mill
tary excursions into the pas
Senger alrWayS. Impossible.
Andrews ALB, right here in
the Washington area, is only
one of hundreds of Air Force
bases in the middle Of a
civil airway. 1t is a minimum
Of over 80 miles to the near
est unrestricted airspace.
If every pilot, civilian and
military, would remember
the words of his instructor,
droned necessarily from the
day he first stepped into an
airplane until he graduated
from his course Of inStruc-