Evening Star Newspaper, April 7, 1929, Page 64

AVIA TION BY JOSEPH S, EDGERTON. UBLIC confidence in dviation has been illustrated, para- doxically, by recent serious aviation accidents. Amon these accidents was the wors crash in the history of the air- plane in this country. This was a disaster which in the earlier days of commercial aeronautics would have set the entire industry back many months, Today, however, an airplane crash is accepted almost as casu- ally as a railroad wreck or a seri- ous motor bus accident, as one of the necessary prices of progress, One of the greatest consolations to be drawn by aeronautical peo- ple from the recent fatal crash at Newark, N. J., is the fact that the public, or at least that por- tion of the public which has taken to the air, apparently has come to recognize that a certain propor- tion of accidents must occur to aircraft, as in any other form of transportation, but that the pro- portion 1s so low they need not he deterred from flying by reason of this perfectly understandable hazard. Railroad wrecks, no matter how many lives they may cost, do not cause any falling off in passenger travel. No motorist is frightened out of his Sunday drive to the country just because there is a heavy weekly toll of lives in high- way accidents. Passengers who escaped in lifeboats when the steamer Vestris sank last year shipped again without noticeable hesitation on other steamships to complete their interrupted jour- ney. Keep Right on Flying. The same public attitude toward aviation has become plainly ap- parent. Because some pilot loses his head in an emergency with re- sults disastrous to his plane and his passengers there is no move- ment to curtail flying as a men- ace to the human race. There is a perfectly wholesome effort to find out why the aceident oc- curred, so that similar occurrences may be avoided in the future and passengers keep right on flying. At Newark MrPort, where a pi- lot, after suffering an apparent mental flurry when one of his motors cut out, tried to land with the wind in a prolonged glide and crashed into a freight train, kill- ing his 14 passengers, there was no public disposition to abandon aviation as unsafe. On the following Sunday there was no falling off in the number of passengers flown from the same field, in identical planes and over the same terrain. Two Sundays later there were more passengers taken up from that field than on any day since the airport has been | open. No map who has the real inter- ests of aviation at heart is at- tempting to minimize the serious- ness of accidents or to fail to take any steps possible to prevent them. Despite their efforts, how- ever, there will be accidents in the future. So will there be railroad wrecks, ships lost at sea, automo- biles driven into trees or ditches. They will not prevent people from traveling in ever-increasing num- bers. Accidents Always With Us. ‘The public today knows that for every airplane which suffers an accident there are thousands of flights made successfully and un- eventfully. There probably never will be an entirely “accident- proof” airplane, just as there never will be a collision-proof au- tomobile or a train which will not leave the track if a rail breaks or tears up. But this need be no cause for any person to stay on the ground any more than a train wreck should cause him to remain a pedestrian all his life. Truly lamentable things sometimes hap- pen to pedestrians as to any other moving objects, so even this form of locomotion is open to objec- tions if you want to carry the thing that far. There seems to be a misconcep- tion on the part of many people of this aviation business as a whole, largely because the art of flying has been more or less wrapped in mystery for so many years. There is an idea enter- tained by many that flying is some sort of a miracle and that things may happen to a plane which cannot be accounted for by any of the laws which govern normal human existence. Nothing is far- ther from the truth. The opera- tion of an airplane is based upon engineering . principles just as sound and just as understandable as those which govern the econ-! struction of bridges and sky- scrapers. 2 Among those who refuse to fly are some who believe that if an airplane motor should fail in the air there is nothing left for the luckless occupants but to prepare themselves for a great fall and a reverberating boom, after which they may pick up their harps and spread those celestial wings which never fail, If all the pilots and gusenzera who have come through a forced landing unscatched were to be gathered together there would be a great compan¥ indeed to testify to the fact that motor failure is not the devastating horror it has been painted. In fact, motor fail- ures and forced landings consti- tute a regular part of the train- ing of every pilot at the best training schools—the motor “fail- ures” being caused by .the in- structor’s thumb on the ignition switch. Land Facing Wall. One veteran Navy pilot has fone so far as to’say that no orced landing, even under the most impossible conditions, need result fatally. He says that a good pilot can land a plane against a brick wall and walk away from the crash. This feat, he explains, may be accomplished by judiciously stalling the plane at the last moment with a wing turned to the wall to crumple and | take up the major portion of the shock. The idea which also has been entertained by many that any kind of an airplane crash must necessarily prove fatal has been exploded, along with the fabled “air pocket.” In the Navy, where pilots as a matter of routine do things commercial pilots would be fined $100 for talking about, 86 per cent of all the major crashes are bloodless, according to naval records. Department of Commerce re- cords for an entire year show that 9775 per cent of all licensed planes in the United States flew without a single fatality and that in all scheduled flying over air routes there was but one pas- senger killed. Of 200 accidents only 34 occurred to licensed planes, resulting in the deaths of 11 licensed pilots and 22 pas- sengers. Only seven deaths, six of them pilots, occurred on scheduled flights over air routes. All the others were in the course of miscellaneous flying, including air service operations; and in ex- perimentation, including contests, races, oceanie flights and similar affairs. Pilots Take no Chances. In fact, the safety of air traps- port has become so great as to be used as a model for motorists! The Automobile Club of Southern California, in a campaign to re- duce highway accidents, has pointed out that, while an auto- mobile accident qccurs for every 10,000 miles of travel, the chief air transport line in that vicinity | has operated its planes nearly 2,- 000,000 miles without an accident of any kind. The greater safety of flying, the club stated, was at- tributable to the fact that com- mercial pilots take. no chances. There is going to be an unpre- cedented expansion of commercial passenger transport flying in this country during the next few months. Before the end of the Summer it will be possible to fly in comfort to any part of the country. These lines are being established because the operators are convinced a sufficient portion of the public has become educated to air travel to make the ex- penditure of vast sums for aerial development a profitable invest- ment. It is their opinion that the pub- lic has a well founded and justifi- able belief in the safety of the air tranzgon system, in compari- son with the old established methods of travel. { | WEATHER FORECAST SYSTEM IS CHANGED New Method Is Intended to Give Great Assistance to Air- plane Pilots. Inauguration of a new system of aviation weather forecasting which is ,intended to simplify methods, speed up dissemination of forecasts and ren- der them of greater value to aviators, was undertaken by the Weather Bu- reau the first of this month, Forecasts of weather conditions and of wind at surface and various levels aloft are issued twice dally at approx- imately 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m., Wash- ington time, and cover a period of 12 hours each, beginning at noon and midnight. ‘The country has been divided into 14 forecast zones and zone forecasts are issued from five central control points, as follows: Washington, zones 1, 2, 3 and 5; Chicago, zones 4, 7 and 8; New Orleans, zones' 6 and 8. Denver, zones 10 and 11, and San Francisco, zones 12, 13 and 14. Akron Air School Planned. AKRON, Ohio (#).—Courses in aero- nautics and aviation are being planned here under a_co-operative agreement between the University of Akron, Air Services, Inc,, and the Goodyear-Zep- pelin Corporation. 'LINDBERGH REMAINS IN PLANE|&% TWO HOURS TO AVOID REPORTERS | E SAN FRANCISCO, April 6 (N.A.N. ‘A.).—The popularity of the most pop- ' ular young man in the world went down 6,000 le waiting o i ot AIR POSTAGE ERRORS OF PUBLIC COSTLY No Extra Stamp Required When Regular 5-Cent Charge Has Been Met, Officials Say. Misconception of the airmail postage rates is costing a substantial loss to the American public, postal officials have announced. Airmail postage, they pointed out, covers ordinary postage as well and when the the 5-cent air- mail stamp is placeq upon a letter no other is needed for ordinary puposes. “We still receive an amazing amount of letters bearing both the airmail stamp and the ordinary 2-cent stamp,” a postal official said. “In the aggregate, this amounts to substantial loss to the users. A large part of the public apparently does not know it, but the airmail rate includes everything—it is not a surcharge. ““Then, too, many users of airmail do not mark their letters adequately. Many complaints have reached the postal authorities concerning late arrival of airmail, and we find in many cases that this is due to inconspicuous marking for airmail or no marking at, all. Many classes of mail other than airmail take 5-cent stamps and the rapidly moving hands of the mail sorter are likely to miss the poorly marked envelope. “Mark your letters “Via ail,” and mark them plainly, when using this wonderful new means of quick business and social communication.” tentions of the sort with which he is undoubtedly surfeited for the t. He landed one day at the little town of Elko, Nev. On taking off for Reno he asked the Government airways radio operator at the field there not to report his_destination, as is customary. “T didn’t report it,” the operator said, “ just told one friend in Reno by wire. BT E . Li ly two after he left here . T the field cleas 50 | nautical industry,” 196 Per Cent of Business . THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON. 1000 WILL ATTEND ARPORTS MEETHG First Convention in United States to Open in Cleve- land on May 18. More than 1,000 municipal officials, architeets, engineers and aeronautical people are expected to attend the first airports convention in this eountry, to held in Cleveland for three days) begmnll;’ May 15, under the auspices; of the National Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce. Col. Harry H. Blee, chief of the division of airports and aeronauttcal information of the Department of Commerce, will deliver the keynote address of the convention and Capt. C. M. Knox, vice president of the na- tlonal chamber, in charge of the organ- ization’s airport section, will outline the plan for airport development work. The address of welcome will be deliv~ ered by Maj. John Berry, manager of the Cleveland Municipal Airpert, one of the largest and busiest commercial fields In the country, MacCracken to Speak. The feature of the second day's session will be & banquet at whieh Willlam P, MacCracken, jr, Assistant Secretary of Commeree for Aeronautics, will be one of the lrelksrs. Speakers and their subjects during the three-day sessions, as announced by Harry Schwarschild, chairman of the program committee, follow: Maj. John Berry, manager Cleve- land Municipal Alrport, “Development, Operation and Management of the Cleveland_Airport.” Gavin Hadden, civil engineer, “Alr- port Planning.” Francis Keally, staft member of the school of architecture, Columbia Uni- versity, ‘“Architectural Treatment of Airport Bulldings.” C. R. Stevenson, management engi- neer, “Scientific Management and Mmz:m Business Methods for Alr- ports.” W. R. Gregg of the Department of Agriculture, “Weather Service Essen- tial to Safe and Effective Operation of Afrports.” F. C. Hingsburg, chief engineer, air- ways division, Department of . merce, “Field Lighting, Radio and Inter-Field Communication.” E. K. Smith, assistant manager of highways and munieipal bureaus of the Portland Cement Assoclation, nent Improvement for Airports. W. E. Rosengarten, traffic manager of :.he Asphalt Association, “Airport Pav- ng." Address on Legal Aspects, Prof. H. J. Freeman, director of the legal and legislative research service, Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce, “Legal Aspects of Airport Establishe ment and Operation.” George E. Martin, . consulting engi- neer of Barrett & Co. ‘“Economic Traffic Facilities for Airports.” F. H. Frankland, manager of techni- cal service for the American Institute of Steel Construction Institute, “Per- manent Airport Structures.” Wendell P. Miller, drainage engineer, “Soll Drainage and Its Effect on Afr- port Safety.” “The airport convention i§ not be- ing confined to members of the aero- Mr, Knox said. “Every one who is interested in the development and establishment of air- ports is, welcome.” 2 AR MAIL SURVEY SHOWS WIDE USE Houses on Routes Employ New Transportation. Ninety-six per cent of all banks, in- surance companies and business con- cerns located on air mail and air trans- port routes are making regular use of airplane service, according to a survey recently completed by the United States Chélmbenr &{ Commerce, e al e concerns which reported on a questionnaire issued by a cham- ber committee, 40 per cent said_they use air mail and air express daily or to an extensive degree in their activi- ties; 41 per: cent that they made limited or occasional use of the serv- ices; 15 per cent did not specify extent of use, while 4 Per cent reported no us;“-{'dlh: t‘l:;m wu}t'l:i. e expediting of general business afforded by air mail, many banks furnished graphic figures to show that actual monetary savings in less- ened interest charges are effected. Money, it is revealed, is “dead” while in transit; drafts and checks cost their owners at the rate of 8 cents or more per $1,000 per day, while the sums they represent are not earning interest. Bank Indorses Air Mail. One banking institution stated that it had been found sound economically to employ air mail for the transpor- tation of sums of $100 or more, adding that this calculation was based on the old air mail rate of 10 cents per half ounce; this rate has since been reduced to 5 cents for the first ounce. Singe ordinary postage is included with the air mail stamp, ordinary letters sent by the aerial route cost their senders but 3 cents additional. e A substantial benefit of the speeded transit, it is shown, lies In the readi- ness with which off-color deals and “kited” checks may be detected. Quicker action in the discovery of fraud has already been of material saving %o business men, Insurance concerns in their sum- maries of air mall benefits stress direct savings in time, while special mention is made of benefits in good will, ability to settle losses earlier, quick delivery of court documents, stolen automobile identification papers, and jer matters which could not be dealt with by wire or telephone because of cost, form and necessary transmission of actual matter. Time Saving Is Factor, Business houses generally indicate important savings in delivery time of correspondence and urgent supplies, contract and credit letters, documents and sales promotion materials. Items transported in the ordinary routine of business are given new sig- nificance and new effectiveness with air mail postage. These include ad- wertising proofs, announcements of new products, news p!ic:ummmdhp‘rg‘w~ raphic maps, parts, rus pe x':unu of um‘;fi: and out-of-stock me s s eV hrston of the United Btlt: i, the COVER 73,000 MILES. Pan-American Planes’ Record for 30 Days Announced. “Fla. . —Alr d - MIAMI, Fla. (), Amnullln mh o Fhey pad | mod ARMY BALLOON RACERS NAMED These Army Air Corps officers have been named to represent the Army in the national elimination halloon race, starting from Pittsburgh next menth. They will man three Army balloons in competition with two Navy and six civilian entries. Above, left to right, are: Lieut. Uszal G. Ent, Capt. William J. Flood and Lieut. Robert S. Heald, and below, Licut. Lawrence A. Lawson, Lieut. Edgar M. Fogelsonger and Capt. Edmund W. Hill. ' Winners in the elimination race will represent the United States in the international balloon races, to be held at St. Louis, October 1, . Air Mai] Line to Aretic Circle. An air mail service which will extend into the Arctic circle has Been inaugu- rated by Western Canada Airways, ac- cording to & report to the Department of Commerce. The flights start at Waterwiys, the end of the railroad, and stops are made at Wrigley, Fort Norman and Fort Good Hope, a dis- tance of 1,300 mii Furs are expected to constitute a la part of the cargoes on the southbound trip: Planes Carry Over 100,000. The number of passengers carried by Imperial Airways on its London-to- Paris airplane line has passed the 100,- 000 mark, according to a report re- celved here by the Department of Commerce, More than 4,000,000 miles have been flown between London and Europe and the planes have carried about 3,000 tons of express freight across the English Channel. The line establishied in April, 182 TRAIGHT- { gloves or mittens. D. O, 'APRIL 7, 1929—PART 4.~ NEW PLANE RADIO RECEIVER BUILT Army Signal Corps Develops Device With Number of , Novel Features, Development of a new type of air- craft radio receiver, which contains a number of novel features, has been announced by the 8ignal Corps. The outfit has been designed prima- rily for the safety and convenience of fiyers. The contro! knobs and dials | have been constructed so that they project as little as possible from the face of the recelver and are carefully beveled to avold the possibility of catehin, clothing or equipment of the aviator in the event it becomes necessary for him to climb out quickly and descend by parachute. Though set as close as possible to the face of the set, the controls have been designed so that they can be operated easily when wearing heavy | ‘The new recelver | can be operated with any one of the | three aircraft radio sets now standard in the Army. It also’ can be operated in econjunction with the present inter- phone sets. Aside from its ability to receive radio satisfactorily, the new set is d to meet the four other impor- uirements for an aircraft set— compi ess, light weight, dmfiicny of operation and ease of installation. One of the interesting features of the reeeiver is its extreme thinness, which has earned it the nickname “pancake receiver.” When lying on an | office desk it occuples a space less| that required for a wire desk tra; The receiver is 12 inches long, | 8 inches wide and 2% inches thick. | Due to its thinness it can be installed on the side of a cockpit with minimum interference with the pilot or observer. | Lights on the La Crosse-Twin Cities | Airway will be turned on within a few | weeks to aid night flyers between Chi-| cago and the Minnesota citles. Boat Passengers, Becoming Seasick, . Retarn by Airplane FLYER HAULS FURS FROM ARCTIC EDGE Pilot Brings $75,000 Cargo From 1,600 Miles North of Winnipeg. AKRON WILL BOAST OFLARGEST HANGAR Building Under Construction Now Could House Navy Plane Carriers and Monument. ‘Tne Navy airplane carriers Saratoga and Lexington, with their masts low- ered, could rest side by side, with the Washington Monument and the Statue of Liberty end to end beside them, in- “tde e;; tir:lhl Mh:nn“;l l:" under con-~ struetion munie! Akron, Ohio. o ..um bs With these two ships and the Nation's two u?est ‘monuments inside the han- gar there still would be room for the publie to move around and look over the assortment of exhibits, Will Be Like Tunnel. & ‘The hangar, which is one of the larg- est buildings in the world and which is the largest without lplllnn or posts to support its roof, will be used by the An auction sale of $75,000 worth’of | Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation to house furs was held a few days ago in Winni- peg, Canada. It was chiefly interesting because of the fact that four days pre- viously the furs were in Fort Good Hope, 1,600 miles north of Edmonton, on the rim of the Arctie Circle. They were flown out of the wilderness by air~ planes. ’ Pilot Dickens, of the Western Canada Airways, who recently was awarded a trophy as the pilot who had done the most for aviation in Canada in 1928, made the trip from Waterways, at the the construction of the first of two huge dirigibles for the United States Navy. The hangar will be 1,200 feet long, 360 feet wide and 200 feet high and will cost $2,500,000. The structure will be in the form of a tunnel and will have the world's larg- est single unobstructed floor area, total- ing 389,000 square feet. It will be large enough to house six miles of freight cars. The floor will be of wood on 2 special foundation. Each Door to Weigh 800 Tons. One of the most interesting features of the building will be the great doors at end of the railway in Northern Alberta, | each end. Each of the four doors will o Fort Good Hope and return, ealling | weigh 800 tons and will run en 40 at the various way. On the way north he earried 950 pounds of mail and a8 passenger. The Night was made under difficult condi- tions, the thermometer dropping to 64 degrees below zero at times, Ordinarily he furs, taken in the Mackenzie River istriet, eould not have reached Winni- peg for three or four months. trading posts along the wheels when ogenlng or closing. In spite of their tremendous weight, cqualing that of 12 average passenger locomotives, a child will be able to control their opening by pushing a but- ton, it was announced by General Elec- tric Co. engineers, who are to build | them. Once started in either direction, the doors will slow down and stop uto- matically at the end of their travel, wcar [}foror . . gives results never before attained by any car under * 1000 This is the new Roosevelt, the world’s first straight-eight un- der $1000. A new standard in smooth, alert performance The man who takes the wheel of a thousand dollar automobile ordinarily does sowith cer- tain reservations. Hedoesnotexpect thatany car at this price can measure up to what he would really like to have. It isa matter of getting the best possible car with the money he has to spend. This has been the case, It is not the case now. In building the Roosevelt, Marmon has deliberately set aside any previous per- formance standards in the $1000 field, It has been the purpose to provide at this price an automobile so fine and so complete that it permitted of no compromise in the owner’s mind. Anyone would be proud to owmit. - o _The Roosevelt is powered by a straight- eight motor, which develops in excess of 70 horsepower. Itis equipped with the famous Marmon duplex down-draft manifold, which - B 2 The Roasevelt Five-Passenger Sedan— luxurious and roomy. A remarkable voad car with Marmon-quality easy riding. Anentirely new achievementin distinctive yet thrifty transportation. makes possible a new efficiency in straight- eight operation. The newly patented Marmon high-fre- quency modulator has also been applied— completely doing away with vibration at all ranges of speed. Its lubrication system is of the full pressure, force-feed type—assuring constant protection for bearings and other parts. Operating efficiency is maintained by the use of a thermostatic cooling system. These are features which are not commonly found in automobiles of this price. If you have never driven a Marmon-built straight-eight, a new experience is really in store. The whole car is so effortless—the power 80 easy—never interrupted by a Open Evenings Distributors “dead spot” or a feeling of forcing speed out of the motor. Will you try it today? Highlights of Design include such features as typical Marmon easy riding quality with springs 819, of wheelbase; “single button™ control for starting, lights and horn; steel running boards; adjustable steering column; bodies built in Marmon plants; cam * and lever steering; and four-wheel Bendix brakes. ' Four Body Styles — Five-passenger Sedan, Victoria for four passengers, Standard Coupe, with rumble seat, and Collapsible Coupe, with rumble seat. Backed by Marmon Service—Marmon dealers every- where are prepared to service the Roosevelt with the A Straight-Eight for come purchase plan. MOSES MOTOR CO. 33 Counties in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland 1522 14th Street N.W. -$995; Marmon 68, $1465; at factory. Group equipment extra. Attractive in- same care and attention extended to Marmon owners. Every Pursg — Roosevelt, Marmon78, $1965. All prices Potomac 861