Evening Star Newspaper, April 27, 1930, Page 83

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, APRIL 27, 1930. Coast-to-Coast in Ten Hours by Air = BY CAPT. ‘EDDIE’ RICKENBACKER. As Told to Carol Bird. “Ten years from mow we will be cruising by @ir at the rate of 250 miles an hour. “Americans will be making coast-to-coast air- plane trips within 10 years in 10 hours, and within a year in 24 to 30 hours. “All travelers will be using airplanes by 1940. “I would not be surprised to see 300,000 per- sons travel by air in 1930. “Airplane travel will be the sajest means of transportation in eristence in another three years. “The mechanical pilot is just around the eorner. “Airports will be closer to cities. “Mail will be transported to post offices by vacuum tubes.” APT. EDWARD V. RICKENBACKER, former war ace — better known as “Eddie” Rickenbacker—now vice pres- ident-director of sales of the Fokker Aircraft Corporation of America, was in a prophetic mood when he made the state- ments quoted. He had just returned to New York City after making a Nation-wide tour of air lines and was in the humor to ‘discuss the forward-looking as- pects of aviation. His years of flying experience make him practical, and so his predictions are not inspired by nor tinged with superoptimism, Besides, the noted war ace is, by reason of his war experience and his present connections in the field of aviation, “in the know,” so to speak. Because of this, his forecasts have particular significance. Capt. Rickenbacker enlisted with Gen. Per- shing’s group in May, 1917, and on arrival in France was one of Gen. Pershing’s private chauffeurs. At his own request he was trans- ferred to the aviation division in August, 1917, and after a three-week training period was transferred to the Issoudon Aviation School in the capacity of chief engineering officer, with the rank of lieutenant. Eventually he was transferred to active duty with the 94th Aero Squadron, of which group he became com- mander, with the rank of captain. At the conclusion of the war Capt. Ricken- backer was acclaimed America’s ace of aces, having brought down a total of 26 enemy planes and balloons. Various honors were conferred on him, among them the Croix de Guerre with four palms, the Legion of Honor Medal and the D. C. S. with nine palms. Cm. RICKENBACKER, in his New York office, gave many reasons why friends ang relatives need not wave bon voyage with black- bordered handkerchiefs to departing air trave elers in these days when two-way radio com- munication and other marvelous new safety devices for planes are springing into being al- most by the hour. “wWe will make coast-to-coast airplane trips fn 10 hours by 1940, and within a year from now we will be traveling from coast to coast in from 24 to 30 hours,” said Capt. Rickenbacker. “This time limit will automatically be reduced from year to year as time goes on, for to in- crease the speed is simply a matter of engi- neering. “All travelers will be using airplanes within 10 years. Competition makes it imperative for us to produce the fastest means of transporta- tion, whether it be for business or pleasure. Modern business requires it, of course, but even a person bent on pleasure does not want to spend half of his precious playtime allotment on trains. Take, for example, the man who is going to spend a vacation in California after nearly a year in office confinement. That man is yearning for open air and sunshine, and it is only natural that he should want to reach his goal in the fastest possible manner. “In wishing to make record time, he need not have anxiety for his safety, for, as far as speed is concerned, traveling by air is just the opposite from ground transportation. The faster you go by ground transportation, the more hasardous and less comfortable the journey be- comes. The higher and faster you go in the air, the safer and more comfortable you are— paradoxical as this may sound. Marvels of the Next Decade in Aerial .Tmns- portation Foretold by a Noted Sky Pilot Who Knows His Flying by Experience as Well as Theory. Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker of World War flying fame, bases his forecast on the future of air travel in America upon his own personal knowledge after completing a nation-wide tour of existing airways. “People ask whether the air liners of the fu- ture will be as luxuriously furnished and equip- ped with as fine appointments as one finds on trains and ocean liners. The limited amount of time required for air travel will reduce the interest and demand for supercomiorts, for it is only the slowness and monotony of ground transportation or ocean voyages which make it imperative for travelers to be constantly di- verted. g “As for the all-important and paramount question of safety, I think airplane travel will be the safest means of transportation in exist- ence in another three years. The first reason for this is the demand for safety is much great- er, which, in turn, multiplies the development of safety factors. In other words, it commands the genius of the engineering world. “For example, the mechanical pilot, which will take the strain off the human element, 18"’ just around the cerner. Two-way radio removes much of the pilot’s mental strain, too. This permits the dispatcher to know constantly what the conditions are over a 500 or a 1,000 mile route. That knowledge can, in turn, be dis- patched to the pilot. In other words, a pilot will not need to worry about going through a snowstorm or a fog if he knows what is on the other side. It is not knowing that troubles him, “A pilot will not worry about going through a fog if he has means of knowing that there ts a 500 or a 1,000 foot ceiling beneath it. If he doesn’t know, he is undertaking a very hazardous thing to penertate that mysterious blanket. This new device will permit stopping with every degree of safety ahead of a storm, if it would be dangerous to remain in its path- way. L “It will permit landing at emergency air- rather than at the terminal if weather _ports conditions at the main terminal do not favor landing. The airplane can wait in the A liners of the future will leave New York at 7 a.m. and arrive in San Francisco in 10 hours— 2 p.m., Pacific Coast time, or 5 p.m. Eastern standard time, predicts the famous war ace. emergency fleld for an hour or so until con- ditions are clear. The two-way wireless com- munication set has already been installed in a 32-passenger plane, under the supervision of Herbert Hoover, jr. Other important safety measures perfected for airplane travel are progressing admirably and at great speed. These include the increase in the number of weather-reporting stations, their improved stragetic locations and the development of ac- curate dispatching systems for the airliners. “Another thing which will help to take the guesswork out of flying and eliminate current elements of risk from it is the automatic horizon, developed by Sperry and the Navy. This does away with a mental hazard and makes blind flying unnecessary. “The radio directional beacon will prevent the pilot from drifting off his course because of side or cross winds, while the contour alti- meter lets the pilot know exactly how high he is at all times. It gives him a graph of the terrain he is flying over, whether is is moun- tainous or flat. Posted thoroughly and with exactitude in regard to all of these important matters and emergencies, a pilot becomes as much a captain of his ship of the air as is a commander of a ship on the high seas. “Liners of the air are going to grow larger and larger as time goes on, for the bigger they get the more economical will they be and the better will one be enabled to build into them the greatest factors of safety. “MULTIPLICATION of airports will be am- other factor of safety and the lighting of airports is another angle associated with this feature. Progress will not come through the generation that creates and never commer- cializes. But the generation that is born with a new thing, such as airplanes, will grow up and commercialize the industry and put it on a highly successful and paying basis. For proof of this you need only to look to the automo- bile industry. The automobile did not reach its peak of popularity until after the war, when the younger men began taking to it. Its volume of manufacture has now grown from 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 a year. . “Airports are going to be closer to the hearts of cities. Mail will be transported to the post offices by vacuum tubes and subways will go direct to airports to accommodate passenger travel. So-called speedways, without grade crossings or speed limits, will be built direct from city centers to accommodate motor-car transportation “We have learned a great deal about afr travel in the last three or four months. A% first we assumed that time was the only fea- ture involved, and we looked around to see hours and that, therefore, they were the ones who would most eagerly desire air travel. We were certain they were precisely the ones who be willing to pay two or three times the rate of ordinary ground transportation. “Every one is by now familiar with the ments showing these busy men glanc- their watches, forced to reach the coast ted number of hours or lose big deals. were right enough in our supposition these big executives would want to travel way by air, but we overlooked a cer= tain element that entered into the matter. We to take cognisance of the fact that the 'amilies of these business csars, the stockholders of their companies and the members of their boards of directors considered flying unsafe and were, therefore, unwilling for their men to take . _the risk. Consequently, we did not have any amount of patronage in, the very field