AIR PARACHUTES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 220, 11 June 1919, Page 11

AIR PARACHUTES

ETEPFING INTO SPACE. (By; Paul Bowsher, 'in the "Daily Mail.") With tho, birth of civil aviation the question of parachutes will become 'a vital one in tho eyes of f.he .organisers of air services and aleo in'tho eyes of the flying passenger ;intl of the life'insurance companies. ..In the stress of war there' was little time to trouble about parachutes in aeroplanes. The weight economy was a matter of vital importance, and since the parachute,'.owing to its bulk' and inconvenience, would detract from tho performance of a machine, its adoption was not taken very much into consideration. Another point was the fact that an airman, since he was not likely to 'be able to release himself from n machine if it was actually spinning down to destruction, would naturally try to jump clear before the crisis came,' and tho result;would bo that machines would continually; have: been lost when it was not necessary. -Hero the,\German air' servi'co scored, through the'design and use;'of ,'a very wonderful device by means of. which the pilot of a destroyed, machine, actually dropping like a plummet was jerked Vout of his seat'.by. the, opening',parachute, and so drifted .gently-' to' enrthi" ■' Unless some such device is introduced for civil aviation, it will ,bo difficult : to:uso parachutes in'art aeroplane,,sinco the .need!does not (jenerally come until such .at time as it is impossible to use tho'aerial lifebuoy. Until the actual crisis urrives, in a flash of time, you do not know that thero is any trouble. In' tho case' of an aeroplane lost in a fo», however, when the pilot knows that there-is a grave chance of a-serious accident, owing >to tho necessity of landing on unknown-country in the mist, he may givo, the order "Abandon ship," when the wise passengers will fix tho parachute pear to-their shoulders, opon the side doors,- and step off. This may appear to be an operation calling- for groat-nerve and an exceptionally cool head, but in reality it is not so. Personally, I could not, .except with -great .four, 'cap from tho top of a high.building with a parachute strapped to my shoulder."!, but. I nm tolerably sure that I could step out of a Handloy-Pago in flight. The reason ie that, as every airman knows, thero is comparatively little sense of, height in-an aeroplane. You'seeni to bis on the normal plane. Tho ground Beems to bo below ton; you do not- feel that you aro nbovo the ground. I.hnvo-ftit over tho front of a Hundley-Pago, with my feet dangling over Dunkirk. I would not like to sit at the top of a olmrelrtowor with my feet dangling over the High Street. So tho air traveller..will find that, if tho need should arise, he will not have- to tnke very much courage into his hands to jump out of aii aoroplnno.