The Airway

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 722, 23 July 1929, Page 14

The Airway

(By

THE ROC.)

Seeking More Comforts

AS with all other means of transport one of the pleasures of aviation is that of sharing: the delights, and to do this it must be possible for the pilot to see his passenger and talk to him without the intervention of “chubes.” This introduces the great advantage of the light plane with side-hy-side seating which is perhaps the only way to provide for this kind of sociability.

And it takes no H. G. Wells to predict the fact that in the near future the majority of two-seater light airplanes designed for ordinary touring will have side-by-side seating. The old maxim that history repeats itself is applicable again. Conditions are changing and man is forcing upon the airplane. as he has forced upon the car. the train and other modes of transport. the. enclosed weather-proof chamber and other comforts. The saloon car is being succeeded by the saloon airplane. In its early stages of development, experimental or pioneering, every vehicle calls for sacrifices on the part of its occupants. The early cyclist perched on the high stilt-wheel and sat excruciatingly erect. Then, as new designs were evolved, he was lowered toward the ground and his trunk was inclined forward, until now the master-cyclist is folded on his machine like a cover on a book. The motorist, at first, had to sit uncomfortably erect, but now he lies as in a deck-chair and controls his machine in indolent ease. The airplane pilot has gone through similar evolutionary periods. He began in the ‘Vright machine by lying face downward, but later he sat erect. So far as his attitude goes he is now fairly comfortable. Frequently he is unprotected from the weather, and when he takes a passenger with him he must deposit him in front and some distance away from him. Two people engaged in conversation usually take up a. tace-to-tace position, but during movement this arrangement is abandoned in favour of the side-by-side position. This is the position adopted in most vehicles capable of rapid motion; except the motor-cycle and the airplane. W'ith the motor-cycle the passenger is seated astride the pillion, so close to the driver that a kind of companionableness is obtained in spite of the wind and dust, but in the airplane with tandem-seating very little companionableness of any kind is obtainable. The pilot and his passenger might be continents apart for all the genuine social intercourse

possible in a tandem-seated alrplane. PLEASURE OF FLYING Once a pilot has passed through the early period, during which it pleased him immensely to demonstrate his brilliance 'by frightening his passenger. he finds that one of the greatest satisfactions from flying is to be had when his passenger enjoys himself as much as he does. But it must be possible for him to see his passenger and

italk to him without the intervention :01! ”chubes." This can only be pro!vided in a. plane with side-by-side i seating. I Although. as yet, Aucklanders have gnot had the pleasure of viewing a ‘ great variety of planes, they have only [to visit the Aero Club’s airdrome at jMangere to see two distinct types. iApart from the D.H. Moth, which is fused for training, there is at present ihoused in the hangar a Blackburn i Bluebird machine which features side-‘by-side seating. Compared with the ‘Moth with the tandem—seating ar‘rangement, the Bluebird appears a l little cumbersome, while some of those }who have been for flights have iremarked that she is too slug- ! gish. “Jith the higher horse—powered engine which is now being installed in ‘the Bluebird to make allowance for 'the bigger head resistance made by the side-by’side seating arrangement, lit has all the necessary “pep” and is la. most popular machine. 1 In cross-country flying the machine gwith tandem-seating arrangement is }the acme of loneliness and the side-}by-side seating, as at present being ‘ turned out, is the light pleasure plane 1 which will hold popularity. National ‘ Flying Services. Ltd., in England which has taken over the various fly« ving clubs. is adapting the side-by—side seating plane and this fact should ‘ serve as a weather-cock to show manufacturers which way the popular opilnion is veering.