RADIO TELEPHONY FOR PLANES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 76, 16 April 1937, Page 12

RADIO TELEPHONY FOR PLANES

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Safety Devices for N.Z. Air Routes

LATEST EQUIPMENT

(By

'I'elegrapb —

DUNEDIN-, Last Night. Purther details of tho Governmfent's proposals regarding ntwigation aids to pilots were given to-day by the Minis ter of- Defence, B.on. F. Jones. The Minister said that a grcat deal had taken place in regard to the advancement of aviation in this conntry, and with modern inventions and appliances, Ihe aireraft of to-day bore little resemblance to those of last decade. Radio telegraphy was in nse on aeroplanes in the Dpminion serviccs at the present time, but' the Governmcnt proposed now to instal Tadio telephony so'that pilots Would be able to talk with aerodromes 150 jniles away. Cprtain deviees would be instalied iu ihe main aerodromes immediately by which pilots would be able to iind their landing grouuds more easily during bad weather. These devices included the range finder, the directioh flnder and approaeh and msrker beacons. The direction finder would enable a pilot to take a bearing from the aerodrome he was approaching and eheek it with a bearing from the field he had juet left, and thus With two such bearings be in a position to judge his location accurately, It was a device whieh would nofc be costly to instal and it would be iuvaluable when a pilot was blown ofi his course, but was still actually on the , right line to the aerodrome. Usiug both the indicator device and his comipass, he would easily be able to correct the fault. The Minister also explajneu jin detail the working of the approaeh and marker beacons. The former, he said, sent out Morse jsignals in two directions, one sending out dashes and the other dots. As he ,approached an aerodrome a pilot would hear a droniug noise in between the two sets of waves, and if he went offi the j course he would loae , this noise and j pick up either the dots or the dashes. i Three miles from the aerodrome the I •marker beacon would be instalied, the ! 'device giving a noise which tho Minis- ! 'ter described as a slow "chirp." At !the field would be another beacon send- , Ing out quicker "ehirps." With the aid of these instruments and with the ( direction finder a pilot should have • little difSculty in landing in foggy ' weather. "With all these devices," concluded the Minister, "pilots must still be navi-, gators, for if all these safety devices should fail they must still be able to find their way into an aerodrome. We •canuot afford to have craahes, because a •life lost cannot be regained. The Government is going to spend a fair amount of money this year on these safety devices, which in some respects 'are better than those used in the American services, and we hope to encourage J7ew Zealand ' services to instal them on their 'planes. If we can, we . will have done something worthwhilc." j