FROM HAWAII TO SUVA

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 373, 6 June 1928, Page 9

FROM HAWAII TO SUVA

problems with which we may meet, and have planned and organised to meet them all. so far as is humanly possible. “BLIND FLYING” Blind flying” refers to the pilot’s ability or otherwise to fly the ’plane efficiently when in total darkness, only the instrument board being visibly to him. Simple medical tests and personal demonstrations readily prove that, in such a condition of total darkness, a human being’s sense of direction is absolutely useless. No one can fly blind for more than about an hour without the aid of special flying instruments. A ’plane in flight can move in any of three directions. (1) up and down (longitudinally), (2) banking (laterally), and (3) turning. And sensitive instruments have been devised which tell the pilot whether or not his plane is moving in all or any of these directions. The bank indicator registers accurately whether the ’plane is banking to port or starboard. The turn indicator registers the slightest turning movement. And the rate of climb meter • which is really a super-sensitive altimeter) registers small changes in altitude (up or down), and feet a minute of ascent or descent. When a. pilot can train himself to fly for hours on end by these instruments and others provided without seeing anything else—then, and then °nly, is he “safe” to pilot a ’plane over long stretches of water. This training in instrument flying or “blind flying”

is 50 per cent, mental. The pilot must tave implicit liaith in the instruments; ho must know that, if these instruments register at variance with his senses, then h.s senses are wrong, and the instruments are right. When flying through heavy clouds thick fog the pilot is “blind” —he fen see nothing but his instrument heard and if he can’t “fly blind” he *lll in a short time lose control of the Plane. Some of our Australian pilots may consider these statements to be exaggerated—but I’ll challenge any pilot in Australia to “fly blind” for 90 minutes (without these instruments) and still maintain an even keel and his true course. THE MACHINE The plane :is a tri-motored Fokker Jjonoplane. The span of the wing is ,lf t Biin, and it is of full cantilever 'Eternally braced) three-ply wood conduction. The maximum chord of the *** is 12ft 6in., and the maximum ae Pth (thickness) is 33in. We recently removed a 30C-gallon petrol tank from fuselage, and now have tanks 3uffi1 ’ 298 gallons (AmeriThere are four tanks in the wing * L3e a. each holding 96 gallons—one ink under the pilots’ seats holding .l gallons—and one (main) tank in * elage bolding 807 gallons. We 1* another tank holding 60 galwii?’ so on our longest flight we Petrol b * carryin S 1.358 gallons of toJJ 1 ® ’Plane is equipped with three of 2?* Whirlwind J5Ca engines, each “ . h.p., the oil tanks for these beinstalled one in each engine nacelle. throttle the engines give 1,800 r.p.m., giving us a high air of 120 m.p.h. ’the engines throttled back to r -P-m., we have a speed of 94 ch ute m iles an hour. At this speed a engine consumes a fraction over ha*** 0118 of fuel an hour. But for Purpose of still another safety •nlv ftA We est hnate our air speed at ° m ph - at T- 550 r -P- m - engine ~,l* *° m P-h . allowing- a fuel con--sv." of 3 - Ballons an hour, we ".ill * ran 6 e of 3,818 miles, which in f i n -df. Woi, ld give us ara nge mar--1 690 miles, or 22 per cent., as our

iocks —me airman has none of these dangers. Also the seaman’s range of visibility is limited to a comparatively few miles, whereas the airman can, in fair weather, see his objective a hundred miles or more away. Navigation equipment and methods vary with each individual flight. Flights may succeed with minimum equipment and preparation. The meteorologist’s help is important. In cases such as ours, when, latitude is permitted in the time of starting a flight, the advice of a meteorologist as to the proper time of take off is very valuable. By the position of the isobars, it is possible to estimate roughly both the speed and direction of the wind and thus to make approximate correction for drift. There is a case on record (March, 1924) where a U.S. Army airplane flew from New York City to Dayton, Ohio, over a double layer of clouds that effectively prevented drift measurements. A study of the weather map enabled the navigator to guess at the probable wind changes en route, so that in spite of a 50-mile-an hour-gale, the airmen were only 12 miles north of their course on reaching their journey's end. The methods of air navigation may

Diagram (not to scale) illustrating the use of radio beacons in air navigation —in this case on the route between San Francisco and Wheeler Field, Oahu. Two “notes” or beams are sent out from each station, one note being the morse signal for the letter “N” ( •) and the other be divided into three main classes, that is, “dead reckoning,” “astronomical navigation,” and “navigation by the aid of radio.” The brain work of navigation n.ver can become subconscious so that it affects the efficiency. Therefore it is wise that the air navigator has every possible source of information as to his position available. The term “dead reckoning” involves flying a compass course corrected for

is constantly moving. With the true, or sea, horizon, the observed is measuring the angular distance between two fixed points, but with an artificial or sea, horizon, the observer is measure the angular distance between one fixed and one moving point. Of course, the sextant’s work is over after the altitude of a celestial body has been measured, and then certain computations must be made before the line of position can be plotted on the chart. The most commonly used method of reducing observations at sea involves some 11 mathematical calculations, including the extracting of values from tables. These and other shorter methods are used in the air. The importance of radio as an aid to air navigation is growing. Radio has been successfully used in three different ways on previous transoceanic flights: (1) by taking bearing on transmitting stations, (2) by transmitting signals for boats to use in taking bearings that are radioed back to the aircraft, (3) through the radio beacon. Our radio equipment is especially designed for use in the two last of these ways.

The illustration on this page showing the radio beacon course approach-

being the morse signal “A” (. —). These overlap as shown in diagram. Where these two “notes” or beams meet and overlap the “dash dot” ( .) of the “N” signal intermingles with the “dot dash” (. —) of the letter “A,” forming (and sounding) a long “dash” ing Honolulu from San Francisco give the reader a fair idea of its work. From the foregoing very brief explanation of some of our navigation problems, it will be seen that the navigation of an airplane over long stretches of water is by no means a one-man job. We are taking with us a skilled marine navigator, and the writer, who has been flying regularly for the last eight years, is now au fait with the latest instruments and methods aiding air navigation. When the “Southern Cross” starts—

don’t worry, we’ll get there—it is only the “nth” chance which can stop us, and if this “nth” chance does stop us, what is our attitude toward this? It is best summed up by quoting the celebrated Englishman, Lieut.-Col. J. T. Moore Brabazon, who, when referring to some flying fatalities in England, and to the question of stopping airmen from undertaking so-called hazardous flights, said, “It would be a retrograde step to surround them with difficulties and stop their initiative in whatever enterprise they might indulge in. It would be like stopping a Drake from circumnavigating the world before the seas were charted.” (Lieut.-Colonel Moore Brabazon was the first Englishman actually to fly.)