CATERING FOR NEEDS OF FLYING

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 274, 15 August 1936, Page 12

CATERING FOR NEEDS OF FLYING

Extensive Improvements at Rongotai A LANDING FIELD GROWS INTO AN AERODROME By extension of the area and levelling' of the surface considerable improvement has been made to RongotuM Aerodrome over tlie past year by the "Wellington City Council in its efforts to develop the ground for the growing demands of club, private and commercial flying in New Zealand. A year ago the effective space available for take-off and landing runs was practically square, being approximately 350 yards north and south and 350 yards east and west, with about 400 yards south-east to north-west. Now the north and south runway is 440 yards, that south-west to north-east is 600 yards, and that south-east to north-west is approximately 1000 yards. If contemplated reclamation of a corner of the adjoining bay is carried out in conjunction with the cutting off of the top of Mie nearby hill, the finished aerodrome will have as well a runway of 1000 yards approximately north and south, "in the direction of prevalent winds. A suggestion that assistance from the Government should be sought for the financing of this work, because of the importance of an efficient aerodrome in Wellington for commercial and defence purposes, was made at the meeting of the city council on Thursday. Enlargement of the landing area has been going on practically without cessation for over a year. An impotrant step was the taking in of new ground by the removal of the old bitumen plant and the realignment of Kingsford Smith Street. The street was pushed several chains bo the westward and the land thus marie available was incorporated in the aerodrome, being levelled and surfaced so that it is now available for use. Length has been added to the southeast to north-west runway by extension toward Moa Point. A large area has been levelled with spoil from the hill, and much of it is now in use, though work is still going on in the corner nearest the hill. A report placed before the last council meeting, however, stated that this would probably have to stop, for lack of money, on August An Unusual Fence. The seaward boundary of the aeroI drome has also been pushed out, the boundary road being moved nearer the sea, and an unusual expedient adopted for increasing tlie distance available for take-off runs toward t>he sea. Obstructions on or near the boundary of an aerodrome diminish the area available for putting down or taking off a machine. Ten times the height of the obstacle is the standard allowance of the diminishing effect it entails, so that a six-foot fence on the boundary of an aerodrome decreases the effective area inside by nearly a chain. At Rongotai this effect has been lessened by the combined effect, of lowering the beach road and building the aerodrome surface almost up to the top of the boundary fence, so that the fence is there to stop anything on the road from getting into the aerodrome, but is not high enough to interfere to any great extent with aeroplanes getting out of the aerodrome. The fence top is only a toot and a half above the level of the aerodrome surface, and in many places less, so that, in the very unlikely event of tlie worst coming to the worst and a machine not gaining quite enough speed to become air-lborne by (he time it approached the fence when taking off out to sea the pilot could “bounce” it over that small obstacle and have a drop of eight feet or more on the other side to road level in which to pick up flying speed. The fence has similar advantages when the machine is being landed straight in from the sea. The pilot is able to glide practically straight on to the surface of (lie aerodrome instead of “popping over” the top of a high fence.

Though the advantage of this form of boundary enclosure is comparatively small and effective, only in certain circumstances its adoption is indicative of the thought given to t<he problem of making the best use of the available space. Making Obstructions Prominent. Other improvements to the ground include distinctive painting of the poles along Coutts Street. It is a principle of aerdrome construction that obstacles near the lauding area, such as buildings, wireless masts, telephone and electricity poles, and similar structures, should be avoided or removed, or else made as conspicuous as possible by yellow' and black chequered lines. At Rongotai all the poles have been so painted, as has the mast of the anemometer house. This colouring is adopted because it is easy to detect from the air, even in thick weather.

The major proposal for the future is the reclamation of an indentation in the line of Lyall Bay with spoil taken from Moa Point. It is considered that incorporation of the reclaimed area in the aerodrome with the grading down of the top of the hill will have three advantages—it will permit of substantial extension of the north-south runway in the direction desired, because of the prevalence of those winds over the ground: it will reduce the obstruction to landing approaches and take-off climbs by cutting down the height and size of the hill; and it will minimise wind disturbance over the aerodrome itself by reducing the size and altering the shape of one of the obstacles that tends to create turbulence in (ilic atmosphere over the ground.