SAFETY OF THE AIR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 125, 28 May 1932, Page 11

SAFETY OF THE AIR.

"FLIGHT NOT ADVENTTJKE,"

ATTITUDE OF THE PUBLIC.

"Any third-rate South American republic puts New Zealand to shame in the development of aviation," said Mr. A. W.. Nisbet, secretary of the Wellington Aero Club, in an address to the Travel Men's League in Wellington. Mr, Nisbet added that the apathy of local bodies died hard. The landing-ground organisation in the Dominion required considerable development. "Local bodies have either placed obstacles in tho way of establishing aerodromes, or they have made exorbitant charges for grounds which have been provided." Mr. Nisbet continued. He contended that air travel wae not a competitor with older established methods of transport; Commercial aviation was to be regarded as complementary to surface transport.

Mr. Xisbet remarked that the accident rate in aviation was greatly exaggerated in the mind« of most people. There was still sufficient novelty about flying to direct undue attention on aviation accidents, and nothing was heard of the clockwork regularity of air lines in the United States and Europe. A summary of statistics in the United States revealed that the peril of the passenger in established air lines was insignificant. The average club or private pilot was engaging in a, pretty safe activity, but for commercial! flying the highest qualification was demanded.

"In my opinion the pilot flying over Wellington on Sunday afternoon is much fiafer than the motorist on the Hutt Road," said Mr. Nisbet. In illustration, the speaker remarked that the Wellington Aero Club's machines had flown 182,000 miles to date. There had been only one accident involving a qualified pilot. Mr. Nisbet said that aviation would not progress in New Zealand until people were divorced from the idea that a flight wae an adventure. "There are still many people who insist on attaching a great deal of glamour to the aviator, and they regard him with awe as though he wae a being from another planet."