AIR ACCIDENTS

Wairarapa Age, 12 March 1927, Page 5

AIR ACCIDENTS

STATEMENT BY THE BRITISH PREMIER.

GREATER RISK WITH FASTER machines.

SPIRIT OF THE SERVICE.

(Received Friday, 9.15 p.m.)

LONDON. March 11

In the House of Commons, Mr. Baldwin made a statement on the subject of accidents in the Air Force based on personal investigations extending over several days. It .could not be thought, he said, that any particular type of machine was more likely to meet with accident than another. Moreover, the proportion of the accidents due to remedial causes were a small proportion of the whole. While improvement in design was continuous, ?.nd research made for safety, the new machines travelled at a greater speed, and at greater heights, thereby increasing the risks, as a slighter error of judgment Meant disaster. The majority of accidents were traceable t© the personal equation. The type which made the 'greatest airmen were not the type Which used the «notto “Safety First.” He could discover no signs of inefficient training. He thought the training could not be better and the spirit of the Air Force was one of the marvels of onr time. There was no liner spirit in any service in the w r crld. As regards economy, he thought the staff of the flying units had been reduced to somewhere near the danger point, but had not affected accidents, for if the ground staff was unable to supervise all machines, flying was curtailed. The Air Ministry was allotting some extra men to these units. The majority of the accidents were duo to some error, often a very slight error, of judgment on the part of the pilot. He asked the House and the people of the Country npt to hamper airmen by encouraging the type of criticism wfilcn would only make them introspective and nervy, but to support Them all they could.-—(A. and N.Z.).