ABOVE THE CLOUDS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 688, 14 November 1933, Page 7

ABOVE THE CLOUDS

"BLIND" AVIATOR'S TRACK. CONQUERING THE FOG. New York, Sept. 27. A transcontinental mail aeroplane left Cleveland on the last stage of the run to New York. -Shortly after the pilot took the all-metal craft into the air, he rain into a fog and climbed to the top of the clouds. All the way across Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the machine was above the clouds, excepting for several short pcriods when showers were in its path and it had to plough straight through them. Throughout this time the pilot was flying blind, riding along a radio-directed course, every few minutes receiving his actual bearings from ground stationsj along the system. When the plane entered the first cloud, a woman passenger set up and peered out at the misty white envelopiixg the wings. When the next cloud appeared, she leaned back and dozed ofl: to sleep.. The passenger was Mrs. Amy Mollison. The air lines have already conquered fog along- the routes, ,and are now on the way toward conquering it at the air terminals. lEvery ti'.ansport pilot in charge of the big-winged liners that race along American skyways to-day is qualified to fly with instruxnents. Railroad engincers ride on the right side of their cah in order to re.ad signals which, since the beginning, have been placed on the right of the rails. The opposite rule prevails in flying. The chief pilot rides on the left in order to see the flashing beacons along the airway and to pick up the ground signals when landing. Air liners follow a path to the right of the beacon at night, and to the right of the radio beam by day. The beam is there at night when powerful revolving beacons light the way for miles ;ahead. In thick weather at night, when beacons ure not visible, the -engineers hold a true course to the right of the radio beam, and remain at the altitude order ed by the despatcher from his office on terra firma. East-bound traffic is given one level to fly along, and west-bound another. Head-on collisions in bad weather are avoided in this way, for, if an aeroplane should drift over to the left of the .airway course it would be safe from collision because of the difference in level at which they were flying. The Department of Commerce is experimenting with the landing beam method of landing a plane on a fogbound airport. The Army Air Corps is following out an entirely different method without the expense of the installation of the fixed beam. It has met with remarkable success, and has already trained two classes of pilots to make blind landings at the experirnental station in Dayton, Ohio. (When the element of hazard is taken out of blind landings, just as it has heen removed from blind navigation — and experts say that success is in sight — air lines will become the' biggest passenger carriers. j