Airplane Control by Radio

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 33, 26 February 1932, Unnumbered Page

Airplane Control by Radio

IRPLANES can now be flown so accurately by instrwments alone that the human pilot is virtually idle after having once set his course. The pilot of an army plane that Avas being steered automatically recently submitted to a radio interview, turning his ship over to the robot pilot and conversing with interviewers on the ship and others on the ground, questions and replies being heard by a ‘radio audience. A magneto compass is responsible for the success of automatic steering. Heretofore the pilot has had to steer the ship himself, relying on his instruments or on visual observations around him. Now he simply sets his course and turns the plane over to the magneto compass. A further development is control of the steering equipment by radio beams which ure already in use on airways. In combination with gyroscopic devices, the course of flight and the altitude- of the plane may be controlled without the pilot's assistance. Altitude is determined by a sonie¢ altimeter, the interval between an emitted note and its echo indicating height, the echo bejing received audibly or registered on a meter.