FAST FLYING

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 80, 28 December 1929, Page 9

FAST FLYING

PHYSICAL EFFECT ON PILOTS DANGER OF “BLACK-OUT’ DEATH-DEFYING EXPERIMENTS (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Rec. December 27, 8 p.m.) London, December 26. Picked Air Force pilots will shortly indulge in death-defying experiments at I'Vixstowe to. ascertain whether pilots are rendered unconscious when racing seaplanes make a sharp turn at a speed of 300 to 400 miles an hour, it is known that pilots experience a “black-out” in such circumstances, but tho exact physical effect is unknown. Air llorce men will deliberately turn racing craft at higher speeds in order to produce a “black-out, and study the effect thereof. The only high-speed teamster who has not yet experienced it is Flight-Lieutenant Stainforth, a Gloucester Napier racing pilot, who his comrades say has a castiron stomach.

[There is a very distinct medical problem involved in high-speed cornering, which is a feature of such a race as that for the Schneider Cup. GroupCaptain Flack, of the Medical Research Section of the Air Ministry, who has specialised on the forces imposed on the human frame in flying, discussed the subject at Calshot last August. He .‘Zid: “More than is realised may depend upon the pilot’s rounding corners with the least loss of speed. If a turn is taken too wide full speed may be maintained, but many more miles flown; yet, on the other hand, too sharp a turn will Slow down the machine, and, what is equally important, impose terrific acceleration loads on the pilot and aircraft These loads, as the pilot swings round the corner, tend to arrest the normal flow of the blood to the brain and eyes, so that if a turn is over-sharp everything tends to go black before the pilot’s eyes and, in extreme cases, momentary unconsciousness ensues. How sharp these turns can be made with safety depends therefore on the strength both of the aircraft and of the human physique.”]