FLYING IN PEACE AND WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3038, 27 March 1917, Page 9

FLYING IN PEACE AND WAR

THE BEST PILOTS

WHY ACCIDENTS HAPPEN

"On. the whole, flying to-day is so easy that most pupils are in danger from over-confidence. Half the accidents arise from this cause," said General W. S. Brancker, Director of Air Organisation, lecturing recently to ! a large and' distinguished audience invited by the Aeronautical Society to the Institution of Civil Engineers, Great George Street, S.W. "Training in aviation from' the military point of view," he said, "is getting more and mora complicated, • but actual flying from TTte practical point of view of getwng from one place to another has become very easy and comparatively safe, and therefore in peace everyone who can should take it up as a means of travel and of. recreation. The great against aviation for such purposes is our uncertain climate, but with experience and with reliable engines it is possible To' Hy in almost any weather short of a 'thick fog, a hurricane, or a violent thunderstorm." - ■ General Brancker foresees the development of more and better qualified instructors, more reliable engines; and slower and more deliberate training ?,»i er s tress of the war is over, uecause the supply is for ever trying ™ catch up the 'demand at present, and the demand is for ever increasing, both m number and quality."

Women as Pilots. . After describing, the process of trainI ing before and since the war, General lirancker continued: "'Flio most unexI' posted people make good' pilots, and very ofton the most prpmising ones never- attain more: than Eiediocriiy in the air. Any sound man with sound nerves—and woman, too, for that mati I j~^ a - n ma ' ;s a E°°d, useful' pilot, but it is only tile exceptional individual .i° make 1 the really brilliant fighting pilot. Even the unsound man can be a good pilot, like the late lord Luoas, who had a wooden leg.?' . -^ s to the best age for flyirfg train- "}£> General Branclcer" thought that that should be as young as possible. nerallv speaking, eighteen is (rather young for the great strain of active service, and he preferred a man of twenty to A man of thirtylive to forty whoi Jjas lived a hatd life and i s a'-good horseman will probably turn into a good pilot quicker than the man of twenty-five to thirty wh<rAias spent his Ijfti in an ofiice or in doing nothing; but as a rule the older man will nob stand the strain of active service fighting as long as tlio young marl, inei quality of horsemanship is quite t'\ useful one in any would-be jiiloi. Tile" requirements are just the 6ame —good' hailds, a good head, steady nerves, ana judgment. Flying is perhaps a little 1 , easier than riding, because one sits in' a comfortable armchair in a quiet machine instead. ..

No Progress Without Loss. A good many deaths were reported in the papers, but when compared with the munbers in training and the , number or hours in, the air accomplished every day, tho prico waß not great, and! in the. present stage of aviation tho fact must bo fearlessly accepted that no progress can be made without a certain cost in human life. The extraordinarily few cases of breakage in the air spoke well for British construction and inspection. The most common cause of accident was engine failure, followed by an effort to turn sharply into a possible landing place and losing speed on tho turn, which results in a nose divo. 1 'Even good and! experienced pilots aro prono to do this, and' the only cure appears to be tho avoidance of engine failures. This will come in poace, whon we can devoto moro energy towards real reliability in the engine instead of extremo lightness and exaggerated performances. 1 The Englishman may he conservative, but ho is certainly the finest pilot in the world. Tho old British characteristics which' madb us,masters of the. sea aro intensified in tho air—and they mil make us masters of the air yet,;in spite.of our politics and our system of government, and all tho many obstructions to progross which will assuredly spring-up as soon as peace is declared."