CIVIL AVIATION.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17430, 15 April 1922, Page 9

CIVIL AVIATION.

STANDARDISED" MOORING EQUIPMENT. THE SPANISH-ikMEBIOAI? SEEVIGE, (raou OUR OWN OOItEESrONDENT.) LONDON, February 23. Aircraft terminology has now been settled by the Air Ministry, in agreement with the Admiralty. It is understood that they have now adopted the new word "landplana," which was put forward by the Brutish Engineering Standards Association to indicate an aeroplane with a land under-carriage, as a natural corollory to "seaplane." This leaves the word "aeroplane" free for use as a generio term to cover land plane, seaplane, ®nd amphibian. Seaplanes include floatplanes and flying boats, denoting respectively seaplanes fitted with floats or hull. Landplanes designed so as to facilitate their landing on a ship's deck will ordinarily be known as ehip planes. This means that a seaplane or amphibian fitted with deck landing gear (and the iutter already exists) retains it 3 name and does not become a ship-plane, which is a point on which there * has been & good deal of argument. Important resolutions bearing on the future of airship travel were passed at a conference held at Australia Houbq to consider the question of standardisation of fittings for airships. Mr A. H. Ashbolt presided and, with Major Scott, represented the British Empire, and there were representatives present from France, Germany; Japan, Russia, Spain Switzerland, and U.S.A. An official statement reads:

In view of recent developments in connexion with airship servioes, and the confidence felt by all members of the Conference in tfi© future of this means of transit, it was. decided _to accept the principle of standardisation as far as practicable, and the following resolutions were unanimously passed;— That standardisation means an arrangement that permits tho airships of one nation to use the landing, mooring, gassing, and refuelling arrangements of any other nation. That each country retains for itself the right to receive _ airships by either or all of the followira ways: At air sheds; by mooring on the ground; on water; by;. three-wire _ mooring arrangement ; and by mooring mast. That when airismps lire landing at sheds on the; ground or on the water all trail ropes, pulley blooks used in connexion therewith, and handling guys be standardised; _ •That any countries adopting the principle of mooring to masts, such masts and ships be provide! with standardised couplings, water, petrol, and gas connexions* That a*Technical Sub-Committee be appointed to recommend to a> later meeting such standards as will comply with the foregoing resolutions. . That this Committee recommends to the next International Air Conference the formation of a .committee to determine the airworthiness of airships, It is % recognised that, tho conditions of airship travel vary according to route and season of . the .year, and consequently it is impossible to lay down a definite margin of, fuel and ballast to be carried. TCie situation can best be met by the formation of a small permanent committee to determine margins for each rout© on its merits. Such an arrangement made with tb& , co-operation of Insurance Companies to insure passengers and goods at minimum rates in airships complying with these conditions will indicate the relative risks, of various ship 3,' and so secure a reasonable safety for passengers and crews.

' . The Air Conference, On the whole (says the : Aeronautical Correspondent of Times thai Air Conference may bo marked down as a success. It gave a much needed opportunity for the Air Ministry to meet its critics in the open, and tno contlibutions to the discussion on the Second day, when teciinioai mattars were considered, were of high value. It is to be hoped, that more may be heard of the projected air service to India, of which Sir S. Inßtone spokfc rather vaguely, and it will be interesting, to tragi the development aris6 from the growing demand for all-metal; Aircraft. General Braucker, recently ireturned from the East, insisted on the €lquipnient with metal air-screWs of machines that- are t 0 do sex-vice in that part of the world. Tho throe matters of first-class importance that arose from the Conference were the statement by the Under-Secre-tary for Air of the formation of the new Advisory Board (though, as Sir Samutsl Initone pointi>d out, no official of an air transport company has beon asked to sit on it) ; the wide divergence of opinion that exists between the views of the Secretary of State for Air and the bulk of the expert* that hoard his speech; and the plea' of&ir K. Glazebrook -for deeper and ; mare thorough research in the matter of airships. Sir Richard spoke from rare knowledge and with unassailable authority. When he dealt with the question of the loss of the R. 38 he ceased to~So simply a technical expert addres sing a gathering of experts. Rath si ho was pleading warmly for those who will take up the work left by the men who perished in that airship. He insisted on tho need for deepar research as work that might be fittingly done in memory of the dead. His statement that he was giving away no secret when he said that information existed before the accident which, had it bean, used to the full, would have rained grave doubts about tho safety of the ship, though that information was incomplete, will add considerably to the interest in the rormrt on tho which the Air .Ministry will shortly issue.

Commercial Flying: Statistics. At the Institute- of Transport \ Sir Henry White-Smith, chairman of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors, gave some statistics in a paper on "ihe Development of Commercial Airways." It migiit come as a surprise to many, he said, to Jearn-tliat an average of nearly 200- passengers had been earned every working day since May, 1919, by British aeroplanes. ()n the Continental services, from May, 1919, to September,. 1921, the number of British machines was nearly twice as many as those of all other nationalities combined. Ihe value of imports carried during the same period was £1,001),000, and exports just over JiSOG,GOO. Tiio approximate mileage was 1,915,000 miles, and the number of earned 142,241, From January, 11*20, t 0 December, 1921, there was only one fatal accident to British machines on the cross-Channel service, two passengers and a piiot being killed. The total number of flights was 3&17, and the number of passengers carried 11,005. The saving of time by air trans{K>:rt over express train and boat services to Continental towns was as follows: Paris 6 hours, i Marseilles 13£ hours, Brussels 6} hours, j Amsterdam 9f hours, <L>opetthagen 8» i hours, Berlin 17J hours and Constaati- 1 nopie 7Si houre. "Improvements in litir traffic," Sir Henry said, '■may lie affected by a greater measure of propaganda, publicity, and advertising of the aerial services. but principally by the creation of confidence. It' mods Ist be brought. home to the man in the street thai aerial transport is at hi; service day. liy day in precisely the nixie way ar other traneeorfe. If be can it# oersaaded to

make «a« or t*e JottnMgft i* ow» to it, Mtmliy. . Commander Ekmlio EUimra, «t whaa» instigation the BpatdaMkiath American airship nemc® iabeing u-gjunaed, is ia Irfrndon- Discussing t&® project in «n interview, hs sauS that ongineers triiin* ®i in* the works of the Zeppelin Company will supervise the construction of j'tho airships in Spain. In that country the whole of the buildup will be done, and the duralumin for the framework* of the ships will he made titer®. Sites for aerodromes have already been taken | over near Seville and Buenos Aires. Building will he begun next month. Three revolving sheds w ill be put up at Seville, two large ones for the accommodation of three Zeppelin airships and a small shed to take a fhtp of less cubic capacity, which is to lie flown to and from tne Canary Islands for the instruction of Spanish airmen. The airships will be laiger in volume than the R. 3 8( and they will be driven by nine Maybach engines, each iof 400 h.p., four on either sJde of the envelope ana one in the stern. The cabin will be placed forward. In it\there will be quarters for the pilot and> his staff, a saloon, a kitchen, and a smoke room. Much space for baggage will be provided along' the keel. Forty patsengers will be catered for, but it is intended to give the bulk of the available carrying space to mails. A single journey a week will be made each way between Buenos Aires and Seville, and the fare will be about £2OO. -The' letter fee will be about 18d. New Mooring Mast. Commander Herrera holds the certificates of a pilot of airships. balloons, and aeroplanes. He has designed a new type of mooring mast that is to be used for the new service, and examples of it will be erected at each end of the route. The main principle in his design is that the mast is bliilt into a deep socket in the ground, in which it ia sunk when not in use. For the' purposes of mooring, the line dropped from the airship is attached to the coupling gear of the mast before the latter is raised from the socket. When the airship is secured, the mast is raised, and by means of a door in a turret in the top of it connexion is made with the forward end of the airship cabin. It iB expected tp be possible to make the return voyage to South America by airship in seven days. It ia intended to arrange for tenders from Great Britain for the supply of plant for the generation of hydrogen, and negotiations to this end are now in progress. It is hoped to begin regular nights in two years' time.

Flight Steered by Wireless. How the wireless telephone and wireleas direction-finding enabled in airman safely to reach Croydon from Paris, in spite of the fact that the ground was invisible to him during most of > the flight, is described in the log of the machine* The aeroplane, a D.H. 18, left PariH on February ,12th at 11.59 a.m. At 12-43 p.m.. the pilot got in 'touch with Lympna, and a few minutes later Croydon aerodrome told him where lie was; and &aro him his beamings. Fiirther messagfia were exchanged between the pilot and the wirelesa station at Croydon—the machine being then still over French territory—andjje reported that he was flying at 10,000 ft. and that the sky was covered with clouds. At 1.7 he reported that he did not know his position. Bearings on the machine were taken fit both Croydon and Pulham, and in three minutes, at 1.10, • the pilot was told" that he was 16 miles west'of Etaplea, over the Channel. At 1.29 he reported that he thought he could see the Dover cliffs. Jwo minutes later he said ho cotild see a town through jtbe cloud, and at 1.25 i he was told by"Croydon he was over Hastings, should fly ou a bearing of S34deg., and should alliow 16 m.p.h. for the .east wind. In a' later- message he reported that he had ; *een the ground only for - 35 .minutes. si:a«o he Igft Pftris, .The nsxt spent in ft»quent checking of bearings. At, 1;47-£bo pilot '.sighted th© Crystal Palace,' and ■wis told he had go»> off-.his course. At 1.50 he had gone off jn sight of Croydon Aerodrome Winding; in his wireless aerial.