DANGERS OF AVIATION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1386, 12 March 1912, Page 5

DANGERS OF AVIATION.

GREATLY EXAGGERATED. FRENCH RECORD FOR THE YEAR. Bj TolcEr«.Dh-Preßs Aesoclatlon-C«pjrU>il (Etc. Mnrch 11, 9.25 p.m.) Paris, Mnrcli 11. . The Aero Club states Hint the dangers of aviation have born exaggerated. Only ono donlh occurred in France in 1(111 fur every hundred thousand kilometres (about 02,000 miles) covered and for every twelve thousand passengers carried. In the previous year the ratio was one death to every 4800 passengers parried. During the year 13.000 flights were made across country, aggregating 2,000,000 kilometres (about 1,000,000 miles), as compared with half a million kilometres in HMO. The aviators spent thirty thousand hour-; aloft during the year, as compared with 8300 hours in 1910. ANOTHER VICTIM. FRENCH GIRL KILLED IX PASSING TESTS. (Dec. March 11, 10.23 p.m.) Paris, March 11. Mile'.Suzanne Bernard, aged 19, was killed while passing through the tests for an aviator's certificate at Ktnmpcs. She attempted rising, but during a turn lier machine titled and she fell from a height of 200 feet. .WHAT TIIE FLYING DISASTERS HAVE SHOWN. In view of the continual sacrifice of life by aviation disasters, the question that naturally occurs to overyone, observes that well-known writer on flying machines, John H. Ledeboer, is whether progress in navigating the air is worth the price that has to be paid for it. For the loss of life in the past promises to be insignificant compared with the loss of life that threatens in the immediate future. Is the game worth the candle? To this query, Jlr. Ledebncr essnys nn answer not, indeed, upon ethical grounds, but upon scientific ones. The question is really, he thinks, is the aeroplane sound in principle? Ho replies in the'affirmative. That the neroplane is soimil 'in principle is proved by the accidents themselves. For every accident can be traced to one of throe causes, Kach of these onuses is not only remediable, will not only vanish of i(,< own accord in the course of time, but in nowise affects the soundness of the principle upon which thn scieuce of flight is based. The causes of the accidents, outlined in Jlr. Ledobocr's article in London "Engineering," are as follow: — "First, the inexperience of the pilot in the face of adverse weather conditions; in a few caws this inexperience can only bn translated in levins' of foolhnrdiness. Obviously, the risk from this source will disappear; it is, in fact, vanishing fas'. Two years ago a wind of even ten miles an hour was held to rnnder a flight impossible, or, nt all events, hazardous to the last degree. But at present a twenty or evon thirty-knot wind is regarded by the airman as little more than a jolly breeze. "The second and third causes, to which (ho groat majority of accidents can be ascribed with certainty, deserve deeper consideration. These causes are: .Structural weakness and imperfections in design. Here, again, inexperience lies at the root." In the monoplane, with its great expanso of outstretched wings that can bo supported only by tho central body at the roots of tho wings, as in a bird, this point of juncture—the point of attachment of tho wings—is the source of weakness. True, the wings are rendered rigid to sonic degree by being stayed to a central mast by means of wires. But wires subject to incessant vibration in flight are a source of danger and in point" nf faot are eliminated as far as possible from the modern machine. In the biplane, again, the tail—carried far out to tho rear and supported on thin scantling—is tho critical point of weakness. The term weakness in this sense must not bo misunderstood. Both monoplanes and biplanes are fully capable of withstanding the strain and stresses encountered in ordinary flight. But conditions may arise that throw a sudden strain of exceptional severity on the aeroplane. A steep glide with motor shut off is suddenly checked near the ground. Tho sudden alteration in the path of flight subjects the wings or the tail to an exceptional stress which they may bo unablo to withstand. A sharp turn in tho air—one of the sudden violent guste of wind that arc not .infrequent—may have tho same result. More frequent than these eources of danger is the sudden failure of the wires or the levers controlling the steering or balancing mechanism: "It is difficult to assign a valid reason for this latter source of accident: there I should be no difficulty in allowing for an ample margin of strength. But the cardinal fact remains: every one of these causes of accident is avoidable, there is not ono of them that affects the principle of tho thing. Growing experience on the part of constructors is, even now, eliminating the weak structural parts of the machine. But it must be remembered that this experience could be gained only in flight; and, therefore, the accidents that have occurred, deeply deplorable though they be, have undoubtedly taught lessons of great value."