AEROPLANES FOR HIRE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3568, 30 September 1916, Page 8

AEROPLANES FOR HIRE

TO FLY '■■DM TAXi-CAB BASIS."

THE ATLANTIC FLIGHT

It seems probable that America will lead the way. A company has been formed in New York to put aeroplanes on a taxi-cab basis. ■ One day tho luxurious Now Yorker may just Btep outside liis door and Whistle, and an aeroplane may 'gracefully alight on his front garden lawn. At any rate, some such idea as this is behind a contract which has just been signed between the America iTrans-Ooeaaic Company, formed by Rodman Wanamaker, to carry out his plans for an aeroplane flight between the United States and England, and the Ourtise Aoroplano Company, for the sole agency of its aeroplanes, flying boats, and motors in Greater Now iYbrk. If the ideas of the originators or the scheme prove feasible, it will be possible within a few months to hire an Aeroplane as one would a taxi-cab' for a trip of any distance, or tho man who awns a machine may fly to his -business' in;.' tho' city, every morning, .dock his flying boat'at the landing of tlie company, havirit put in a hangar for him, and" call for it-when ho is ready to . wing his way homeward at evening. ,"Mr Wauamaker believes that avinfcion wilE soon be the chief method of transportation," Mr Gash, the manager of the new enterprise, said, during an interview. " H© can close his eyes and see aeroplanes flying about as you see automobiles oh. tho street. He believes, as everyone connected with aviation does, that in a short time we will have regular lines of aerial travel between cities, and that sportsmen will add flying machines to thoir automobiles and yachts for getting about quickly and safely. "Mr Wauamakor intends to be ready to serve the demand that suck conditions, will produce. For an illustration, suppose a client wanted an aeroplane for a trip to Boston. He can telephone to us to send him a flying iboat at such an hour, and it will foe there. Tho owner of a flying machine can 3y from his country home, land at our quarters, turn his machine over to »-n attendant, and order it kept for him until evening, when he will fly Homo again.

" Of course, the idea behind this is a general passenger service by aeroplane. It is not visionary to talk of running scheduled flights to Albany, Philadelphia, Boston, or even London, and this is the first stop."

Plan 9 for the. now American aeroplane, in which an attempt will bo made to cross the Atlantic, arc still unuer way, Mr Gash said. The giant triplano ' wiH probably not be ready until Ia to this year, and the flight may not bo. nmdc \mtil 1917.

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