Evening Star Newspaper, February 7, 1937, Page 18

T B2 * AIRMEN ADIOURN AFTER SHARP TILIS Safety Conference Urges Charges Be Filed in Negligence Cases. BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON. Leaving behind the outlines of & program which is to be the basis for Federal and private aviation develop- ment along what are expected to be new lines of safety and efficiency, more ° than 200 national aviation leaders adjourned last night after a 10-hour session marked several times by sharp controversies. The program ranges from recom- mended appropriations of $14,000,000 for modernization and extension of airways aids and $2,000,000 additional for the Weather Bureau to research into such problems as substratosphere flying, blind landing and the catapult- ing of giant airliners into the air. The conference, with many air- line pilots themselves concurring, called on the Commerce Department to begin filing charges against pilots who fail to heed the new airways traffic control rules. A Federal traffic control station will be put into oper- ation this week at Washington Air- port, the conference was told. Regulations to Be Tightened. The airlines were warned by Bureau of Air Commerce officials there is to be a general tightening of Federal regulation of air transportation, and that in the near future they may ex- pect Federal orders requiring them to install such new safety devices as radio compasses or direction finders and ground equipment which will make possible the positive location of airliners whose pilots may have lost their way. The conference approved the crea- tion in the Bureau of Air Commerce of a new section to be known as the safety research and development sec- tion and was promised that steps will be taken to set up such a sec- tion. A committee was created to go to the Capitol tomorrow, when hearings will begin on the Commerce Depart- ment appropriation bill, to insist on the new $14,000,000 program for air- ways development and for an increase of Weather Bureau appropriations from $1,400.000 to $3,400,000, to give additional weather service. Affidavits Made Public. After a sp: line operators and David L. 5 president of the Air Pilots’ Asso- Scouts to THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C.- FEBRUARY “Guard” the President James E. Bowers, Troop 69; Wilson Craley, a Sea Scout on the ship Crescent, and Wayne Dorman, Troop 5, who will act as guards for President Roosevelt tomorrow night when he de- livers a radio message to Scouts throughout the country, marking the twenty-seventh anniver- sary of the organization. In the broadcast, to be made from the White House, the President is erpected to discuss the forthcoming Scout jamboree, to be held here June 30 to July 9. In addition to Mr. Roosevelt, who is honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America, Walter W. Head of St. Louis, president of the organization, and Dr.James E. West, chief Scout executive, will participate in the broadcast, Boy Scout week is being observed in Scout councils this week. TENANTS TO FIGHT | EXORBITANT RENTS |Council Formed and Survey i Under Way as National | Drive Prelude. ciation, over Behncke's charge that | pilots are “pushed” into flying in dan- | gerous weather against their better Jjudgment, airline heads and several members of Congress forced the Bureau of Air Commerce to make public copies of Behncke's affidavits. One of these, from Roy H. Warner, former Northwest Airlines pilot, charged the airline with having or- dered Pilot Joe P. Livermore and Co- pilot A. A. Haid to their deaths in s crash December 18 near Elk River, Idaho. The other. from Livermore's wife, charged that five days before the fatal flight Livermore had been ordered to go on through storm con- ditions so bad that “panic-stricken” passengers aboard the plane refused to stay aboard. She quoted an alleged order from an airline official to her husbend to ‘“bring that section through or I will accept your resig- i nation.” Vehement denials were made yes- terday by airline officials and pilots that such conditions are general. Pilot after pilot rose to deny that they had been “pushed” into flights under conditions they believed dan- gerous. Col. Edgar S. Gorrell, president of the Air Transport Association, assailed a statement made to the conference by Assistant Secretary of Commerce J. Monree Johnson that the fact pilots suffer pay losses and airline operators lose airmail revenues for canceling flights in bad weather “creates an urge to complete flights which has a bear- ing on safety.” “A bad airline crash costs an airline in the millions of dollars in damage claims, property loss and lost rev- enues,” Gorrell said. “It is ridiculous to think for a minute that an airline deliberately risks a crash for the sake of a few dollars in mail revenue or that @ pilot is going to risk the lives of his passengers and himself for the sake of pay, especially since he can make up his lost time later when the weather improves.” Says Funds Sorely Needed. Johnson also was attacked by Gor- rell for stating that the Bureau of Air Commerce “does not want and cannot use at this time $14,000,000.” Johnson said that if smaller sums were spent wisely “we would get the $14.000.000 when it is needed.” Gorrell cited & Bureau of Air Com- | merce list of proposed construction items, all*approved-and demanded by the aviation industry as vitally neces- sary, which would exhaust the $14,- 000.000 fund, he said. ‘The argument over whether “pres- svure” had been exerted on pilots came after the bureau had reported that pilots’ errors were “primary causes” of four recent crashes which cost 26 lives, and of 16 accidents within the past two years. Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker, gen- eral manager of Eastern Air Lines, | denying bureau findings that Pilot Dick Merrill, trans-Atlantic flyer, was guilty of errors which resulted in a non-fatal crash near Milford, Pa., De- cember 19, insisted the fault lay with Federal airways beacons which broad- cast supposedly flxed courses which swung so badly that they are known to his pilots as “revolving beacons.” Rickenbacker insisted on creation of an impartial board of review to arbi- trate such disputes between airlines and the Federal Accident Board. The suggestion was accepted by Director of Air Commerce Vidal. Says Propaganda Must End. Behncke was verbally castigated by Gorrell, Rickenbacker and C. R. Smith, president of American Airlines. Rep- resentative Magnuson of Washington hit at “innuendo and inference” and demanded that “propaganda” against the airlines be stopped. Representa- tive Costello of California, another on- looker, joined in denouncing the Behncke charges. Crail Hunter, general manager of Northwest Air- lines, said fellow pilots of the ill-fated Livermore and Haid had “severely criticized” Behncke for making the statement “that we were forcing our pilots in bad weather and have given us letters to the effect that his state- ments are not true.” Assistant Director of Air Commerce Rex Martin told the conference that, with funds now authorized by the Budget Bureau, his bureau this year will undertake modernization of all existing radio range stations to pro- vide simultaneous beadon and weather broadcasts, installation of stand-by en- 4 vice president and | Impressed that rents in Washington may be too high, a newly formed or- ganization, the National Tenants’ Council, Inc, with headquarters in the National Press Building, is con- ducting a survey here to get the facts, as a prelude to a Nation-wide drive This was disclosed. last night by} Willidm Atherton Du Puy, former public relations expert at the Interior Department, author and newspaper man, who will be secretary of the council's executive board. Representing the tenants, the coun- cil, incorporated under the laws of Delaware, proposes to forestall a corre- sponding increase in rents should Gov ernment workers obtain salary ine- creases, Du Puy indicated, citing in- stances where pay raises have been met by greater rent bills here, Circulars Distributed. Circulars, setting forth the ob- Jectives of the new organization, have been distributed from house to house in various sections, particularly in the eapartment house districts. Du Puy said this opener will be followed up by young men, who will present a ques- tionnaire to the tenants in an effort to | ascertain if there have been rent raises recently. As yet, Du Puy said, the group is limited in number to the charter mem- bers, as no membership drive has been undertaken. Launching its efforts | here, the council plans to conduct | similar rent surveys in other major cities. Property owners and apartment house landlords in perticular are well organized, Du Puy declared, but the tenant hitherto has had no one to plead his case. To remedy this the National Tenants' Council, Inc., will undertake to represent tenants in dif- ferences with landlords, Du Puy ex- plains. Committees Being Formed. Various committees are being formed to study different problems, Du Puy said, and these groups will be directed ! by the executive boarg, of which he is | secretary. -Dr. A. D. Morehouse, described as a Government housing expert for many years, is the council's expert on rents and housing, Du Puy said. Miss J. Beatrice Bowman, formerly | superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps, is chairman of its Health Com= mittee. She recently was president of the Graduate Nurses’ Association | of the District, Du Puy said. Consumers’ Club to Meet. Ira Cotins, general manager of the national mail-order corporation known as Co-operative Distributors, Inc., of New York City, with which the Wash- ington Consumers’ Club is affiliated, will be the guest speaker at the an- nual meeting of the club ne:t Wednesday evening, February 10, in the Mount Pleasant Congregation: 1 Church, 1410 Columbia road. ———————————————— | gine generators at all stations, conver= sion of all low-power marker beacons, installation of new-type antennae for better reception of aircraft signals, in- stallation of new radio stations to fill exlsz!ng gaps in the system, additional lighting along airways, completion of teletype circuits and installation of ultra-high frequency marker beacons in the “cone of silence” of every exist- ing radio range station and for traffic AMERICA’S FINEST PIANO VALUE 91,51 ENROLLED IND.C. SCHOOLS Nearly 5,000 Have Entered' Institutions Since Last Wednesday. Nearly 5,000 students have enrolled | | in the District public schools since | ’Wednesday, bringing the total up to| | 91951, Frankiin School statisticians | revealed yesterday after making their | final compilation of the first week in | | the second semester. Further enrollment reports will be | confined to a monthly check, they said. Although the total represents a gain of 687 over the number enrolled at {!ms time last vear, it shows a dis- negligible upkeep. 'n —Star Staff Photo. ures, which showed an increase of 1,679 over the comparable figure of a year ago. Large gains in the junior and senior high schools of 620 and 560 pu- | pils, respectively, weer offset to some | extent by a drop in the elementary schools of 464 pupils over last year's gures at this time. The teachers’ college and vocational schools also suffered small losses of 10 and 19, re- spectively. The recently opened senior high section &t Anacostia snowed an en- rollment of 333, many of tnese pupils having been transferred from Eastern. The total listings now are still some 1,500 below the all-time peak attained last October, wlien 93,509 students were on the school rolls, and the statis- ‘lmc'. drop from the Wednesday fiz- ticians felt unable to predict whether | this figure would be equaled later in the year. Yard's Poré?ncrwxed, Scotland Yard's force is being in- creased temporarily for coronation duties in London. [ PILOTS IMPPROVINE, CONFERENCE TOLD New Transport Flyers Have Different Outlook and Work by Instruments. A new breed of air transport pilots is appearing with different psy- chology and improved reactions to the terrific mental stresses imposed by modern airline flying, the National Alrline Safety Conference was told late yesterday. ‘The change already is becoming apparent to medical authorities who are pioneering in the new field of aviation medicine, the conference was told. “The co-pilots who are coming along now,” said Maj. Rudolph W. Schroeder, chief of the airline inspec- tion service of the Bureau of Air Commerce and himself a famous pi- lot, “give promise of being better than the old-line pilots. Fly on Instruments, “These new men are perfectly hap= py and at home flying on instruments, whereas the older pilots, of another school, are uncomfortable and at a disadvantage when ‘flying blind. It is a psychological hazard for them to get out of sight of the ground.” Aviation engineering has gone far ahead of the mental capacity of the average pilot, Schroeder said. “The day has come when we have got to find means of looking into the pilot's head and determining whether he is going to be able to function or cease to function under stress,” Schroeder said. “We have projected the physical capabilities of the pilot by mechanical means faster than his senses are 1937—PART ONE. capable of response. We have pro-‘ Jjected his eyesight through fog lnd‘ darkness by means of instruments and we have made it possible to ‘see’ through his ears by means of the radio beacon. But we have not yet determined how he will respond un- der stress to this mechanical enlarge- ment of his senses.” Transport Pilots Praised. The 838 pilots who now hold Federal scheduled airline transport ratings constitute “the finest group of men, mentally and physically, that could be brought together under one stand- ard.” Maj. Roy E. Whitehead, chief of the Bureau of Air Commerce medi- cal section, told the conference. Even 80, he said, the demands made on them require that their lives be de- voted to strict self-imposed regimens to keep themselves in the pink of condition. He indicated the day is here when the pilot's non-working hours must be as carefully regulated as are his duty hours, with long, regular hours for sleep and rest, spe- cially planned recreation suited to temperament and regular study periods to build his flying technique into second nature. James C. Edgerton, in charge of the Bureau of Air Commerce substratos- phere flying program and its attend- ant physical and psychological pilot problems, told the conference these new human problems are being in- vestigated in university —medical schools and by other agencies. Ways | | 1. 3. LAWS URGED ON CHILD LABOR Manufacturers’ Group Won to Principles of Clark- Connery Bill. Enactment of Federal legislation | to eliminate child labor from em- | ployment was urged upon Congress yesterday by the National Associa- tion of Manufacturers through the indorsement in principle of the Clark-Connery bill now pending. Letters from William B. Warner, president of the association, were sent to Senator Bennett C. Clark, of Missouri, and Representative Con- nery of Massachusetts, expressing approval of the principle and pur- pose of their bills to invoke the com- merce power of the Federal Govern- ment to protect States where goods | produced by child labor are barred. and methods are being sought to| prolong the now short useful lives of | pilots, to maintain higher physical efficiency, to find better methods of | | examination, especially into the psychological condition of the flyer,‘ to overcome high altitude fatigue factors and to determine precisely | human limitations so that aviation | engineering may be conducted along lines to fit these limitations. Life Insurance Drive. 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