SAFER FLYING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 186, 8 August 1930, Page 14

SAFER FLYING.

AUTOGIRO IN NEW ZEALAND.

NEW COMPANY REGISTERED.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, Thursday.

With a view to introducing the autogiro, or "windmill 'plane," into New Zealand, a company was registered in Wellington this week. Its title is.Safer Flying (N. 1.), Limited. A comprehensive itinerary fbr demonstrations and passenger flights throughout the Dominion is being arranged by the company. The autogiro has a fuselage, tail gear and engine similar to an ordinary aeroplane, but on a mast above the fuselage is a four-bladcd "windmill," which, driven by the air current of the propeller, lifts the machine off the ground after a run of a lew yards. Once in the air the windmill is kept revolving by the forward motion of the machine. When landing, the joystick is pulled right back, and the air speed drops to a negligible value. The machine drops vertically but slowly, and without noise, eventually settling down to earth comfortably. The brakes are then applied, and it comes to rest within five yards of the place where it alighted. Although the autogiro was invented by a Spaniard, Senor Juan de la Cierva, it is being manufactured and marketed by an English firm.