A "STEEL PILOT."

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19413, 12 September 1928, Page 8

A "STEEL PILOT."

■■ NEW MECHANICAL DEVICE. REMARKABLE POSSIBILITIES. After 10 years', experiments, Successful tests have been made of a mechanical "steel pilot" which, at the passengers' will, will control aeroplanes in all weather with the certainty ,and accuracy of a machine.. In 1 some manoeuvres it piloted the 'plane better than a human pilot could. f ■ Commandant Max _ Boucher, the French ace,, and Raoul Bernady, an engineer, are reported to have perfected the device. '

The invention,; which- has already demonstrated its possibilities, may easily revolutionise flying where the human element, with its inevitable fallibility, would seem to prevent perfect' safety from being attained. If ; "the "steel pilot" is "immune from those fatal "errors of judgment" which have been the cause of so many crashes, then it will indeed prove a boon. . ; The "steel pilot" is capable of flying a large passenger aeroplane in any weather, enabling it to take "off and land unaided. It controls the height and direction of machine's flight in response to the 1 passengers' slightest wish, as expressed by medium of an electric button. The official tests were held at the Istres Aerodrome, near Marseilles, before the French Aviation Commission. The "steel pilot," which is of the simplest construction and weighs 701b, was fitted to a Brequet bomber. The commissioners were the passengers, and the .demonstration lasted several hours.

The "steel pilot" manipulated the joystick without a hitch, . .and it " is even claimed that certain manoeuvres, sueff as the correction of: the 'plane's balance after a rapid turn, and descent, were executed more easily and quickly than by a human. : : ■ :y-i TRANS-ATLANTIC FLIGHT..: Viking Pumps which were fitted to engines of aeroplanes which-successfully 'crossed the Atlantic proved the makers' flaima as ;to their exceptional reliability and efficiency . The .Viking Electric' Water Pump,, 100 g.p-h. capacity, costs only £8 15? and uses less-than one-tenth of a unit of. electricity per 100 galloiUL;of water pumped, Messrs; Brown Bros.; Electrical Engineers, 590 Colombo street, Christchurch, ,are.New THgfcnniitora. " .■ 1 t>-