IN AN AUTOGIRO

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 83, 9 April 1931, Page 11

IN AN AUTOGIRO

AIRWOMAN FLIES HIGH

(Eeceived 9th April, 10 a.m.) ' NEW YORK, Bth April. At Willowgrove, Pennsylvania, Miss Amelia Earhart, in'making an altitude flight in an autogiro on Tuesday, reached unofficially a height of 18,500 feet. Miss Earhart, in a second flight, reached an unofficial height of 19,000 feet. The flight of tho autogiro, now in ■Wellington, through the mist and rain yestorday, with visibility exceedingly bad, impressed spectators, no othor machine being aloft. This capacity to fly in such weather is apparently a big thing with the autogiro, for the latest issue of "Flight" to hand, recording a long flight of an autogiro in America from Philadelphia to Miami and back, 2500 miles, in winter, quotes tho pilot as saying:— "Generally bad weather was encountered during most of the 2500 mile trip, although tho flight down the Atlantic seaboard to Miami was worse than tho return journey. But it was an excellent chanco to demonstrate the autogiro 'a ability to fly close to the ground at very low air speeds without danger of losing altitude. And the machine's performance in this respect made it a comparatively simple matter for me to 'fool' my way through the fog and rain, and low visibility. Perhaps the worst conditions I met with, when other aeroplanes. were forced to keep to the ground because of very poor visibility and the low ceiling, which was frequently less than 200 ft, were between Spartanburg, 5.0., and Greensboro, N.C. I was down mighty low then and probably wouldn't have attempted flying at all, if I hadn't known tho 'giro's' abilities as far as forced landings arc concerned. I knew I could get down all right if I had to, and take off again, from any reasonably open space. The weather conditions' gave me ample opportunity to test what the 'giro' can do under such circumstances." ' The pilot, J. G. Kay, made 12 stops in all during the trip, taking up more than 100 passengers on short flights. On tho last lap of the return flight, he flew from Greensboro, N.CL to Piteairn Field (about 400 miles), the 'giro's home port, near Willow Grove, Pa., in 4hr lOmin, landing at tho Field at 5 p.m. Monday afternoon.