IN THE SKYWAYS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 25, 30 January 1930, Page 20

IN THE SKYWAYS

TRAFFIC EULES FOB 'PLANES

Tiie German Government has introduced a Bill into the Reichstag for the control of air traffic. It provides that an aeroplane overtaking others must pass on the left and that when the courses of two 'planes intersect, the machine "coming from "the left" must give way to the other. Aeroplanes must give way to airships, balloons, and gliding 'planes, and other Rules of the Boad are incorporated. The Rule of the Road in the Air (says the '.'Sun News-Pictorial") is based on the Rule of the Road at eea which for many years has been followed by the ships of every nation. It is based on 31 Articles, some of which are very1 long and complex and have given rise to innumerable and costly lawsuits. ' ' These rules are obeyed by everything that floatB; they apply to. every form of vessel, whether a Mauretania or a ship's lifeboat; they are applicable to both merchant and naval ships; they have been translated into every language and every officer afloat is supposed to know them by heart. The Rules are based on highly technical foundations and specifically prescribe the manner in which ships are to be steered and handled whenever there is danger of collision. The Rules also prescribe the lights which any vessel shall carry or exhibit in any circumstances, the signals to be made on the whistle or siren, the kind of signal to be made when a ship is in distress and many other matters. Twelve of the Articles are devoted to Steering rules. Thus every steamer (and the term includes any vessel propelled by machinery of any kind) must always keep out of the way of a sailing ship, save on the very rare occasions when a sailing ship is travelling faster than a'steamer, in which case the sailing ship gives way to the steamer, for the overtaking ship must always give way. ' There are many precise regulations determining how, when- and where. lights shall be carried. Thus the star-' board light mus, be green and the port light red, and they must be visible on a dark night with a clear atmosphere for two miles. There are also rules for the signals to be made on the whistle or siren— or if in a. sailing ship, then on the. foghorn. / But even when the captain has complied with all the Rules of the Boad, the Law cames in and says: "If anything happens nothing will exonerate you from the consequences of Any neglect of any precaution which may be required by the ordinary practice of seamen or by the special clrcuDUtMew of Jhe caie.'!" '" " J