CIVIL AVIATION

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 70, 19 September 1930, Page 9

CIVIL AVIATION

LAST YEAR'S PROGRESS

THE OFFICIAL REPORT

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDOK, 25th July.

A report on the Progress of Civil Aviation issued by the Air Ministry and published^ by H.M. Stationery Office is a volume of great interest, not only to aviators in all parts, of the' Empire, but to all concerned in any way with the deyelopment ,of aerial transport. Under the section devoted to Great Britain the first chapter deals with such subjects as Imperial Airways, Limited, Survey and Photography, Light Aeroplane Clubs, and Private Flying, Air Races, University Air Squadrons, and Training of Reserve Officers. Other chapters treat with the aircraft industry, ground organisation, and navigation administration, and statistics of civil flying. Part 11. of the volume is devoted to aviation in the Dominions, India, and the Colonies, and Part 111. to foreign countries. There are sixteen excellent full-page illustrations, and seven maps showing the air routes m every part of the world. In regard to the England-India (Australia) Service, the report mentions that the transit time of mail between London and Karachi by the route as originally planned was a few hours over | seven days, and represented a saving' in time over the ordinary transport of 5-9 days in transit to the various commercial centres in India, but with the better weather and longer hours of daylight in the summer, Imperial Airways hope that they will be able to reduce the time of transit for the India mail by 24 hours without any appreciable amount of night flying. As tho wireless and meterological facilities and night--1 flying equipment of the various countries over which the route operates are improved, it is Hoped that still further improvements can be made in the timetable. '■■'•■

EXTENSION FURTHER EAST.

The Government of India are now examining the question of the possibility of extending the air service from Delhi to Calcutta and to Bangoon at the earliest opportunity. Proposals have also been submitted to the Air Ministry for the operation of the remaining section of the EnglandAustralia route, that between Bangoon and Australia, and it is hoped that with the assistance of the various administrations along-the-route a through service may be inaugurated within the next two years.

It is contemplated that a regular service between Alexandria and Mwanza, connecting at the former with the trans-Mediterranean section of the England-India service, will be commenced before the end. of 1930, and that the through service to Cape Town -will be put into operation during the following spring. Representatives of the Air Ministry and tbo Imperial Airways proceeded in October to Cape Town in order to survey the route, and to discuss the ground organisation and settle details concerning the service with the local authorities concerned. The survey is now well advanced.

FOUR-ENGHNED FORTY-SEATER,

During the summer of 1930, the first f our-engined forty-seator Handley Page air liners, which represent a great advance in carrying capacity and luxury over any aircraft at presentin use on any commercial air line; will be put into service. It is hoped that by next autumn the traffic over the LondonKarachi route will have developed to such an extent that aircraft of this size ■will be required to carry the load to India. There are also under construction, for the Mediterranean Division of Imperial Airways, a fleet of new allmetal f our-engined flying-boats of similar carrying capacity to the forty-pas-senger Handley Page land aircraft. It seems likely that in the future there will be three types of light aircraft available to the private owner and others. The fast but somewhat ex-pensive-to-run type of machine, the medium-powered type of machine, which will be not unlike the present type, and further the lighter and cheap-to-run type of machine. Thero is also a tendency for pilots to demand a cabin-type of machine rather than the open exposed cockpit type, but manufacturers are finding it difficult to produce a cabin from which the allround view for the pilot is as good as jn the case of the open cockpit.

GREAT INCREASE OF PILOTS.

As showing the • growing popularity of flying, thd number of pilots' licences issued in Great Britain during 1929 was 49 per cent, above tho total for 1928, and 195 per cent, more than the 1927 total, while the number of navigators' licences increased by 43 per cent., aa compared with 1928, and 67 per cent, as compared with 1927. The number of licences issued to ground engineers during 1929 showed a noteworthy advance of 100 per cent, over the previous year's figure. A consideration of the accidents that occurred during 1929 shows that approximately 70 per cent, of the accidents were, in tho opinion of the Inspector of Accidents, due solely to faulty pilotage. Engine-failure was a contributory cause of two major accidents (the disaster of tho Channel route and oue of those on the India route), and six minor mishaps. There were two cases of structural failure in the air, but these occurred during constructor's test flights, and in one r;isc the pilot, the solo occupant i.l' '.In- airr-rafi, osuaped hy parachute.