Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE FRIDAY, MAY 8. 1931. AERIAL MISHAPS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 May 1931, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE FRIDAY, MAY 8. 1931. AERIAL MISHAPS.

mishaps were expected to increase with the growth in that form of transport, and considering the youth of aviation, military and commercial, and the many ventures made, it is a whnder that the accidents are so comparatively few. We hear little of the regular daily journeys made in various parts of the world, unless calamity occurs, and this' reservation of publicity for aerial accidents, leads to erroneous impressions. Aerial travel is far safer than many believe, and nothing can cheek its growth. The triumphs even, in these preliminary years, greatly outnumber the defeats, and as experience and research provide further information, the safetymargin must reach almost the desirable maximum, in due course. ’ Nevertheless, it is regrettable when lives are lost through crashes

or other misadventure, and the recent series of fatalities must cause widespread regret. Two prominent victims, this week, were Glen Kidston and Waghorn, both of whom were comparatively young,, and each had great exploits to his credit. It is the irony of fate that following exciting adventures during the Great War, and immediately after the establishing of a record flight from England to the Cape, Kidston should crash during a local dust-storm, and that Waghorn, after his memorable Schneider Cup /achievements, should lose his life in a routine flight. It may be that experts get careless, familiarity breeding contempt of danger, but it is a sad loss to the Empire when such valuable lives are sacrificed. In milit-

ary manoeuvres, serious risks must be taken, to enable to obtain in peace times, what would be invaluable in days of war, thus, Air Force casualties are accepted as almost inevitable, but the number of these has caused concern. Although more adequate “rescue” apparatus in case of crash or collision, is now carried by military airmen, fortytwo deaths have already occurred in the Air Force, this year. There

seems to be room for a comprehensive inquiry. Commercial aviation gets a bad advertisement from crashes or mis*haps in notable and much-para-graphed flights, and these accidents will not encourage s the growth of the “air-mind” in the public, generally. Without such growth, aerial traffic, particularly in the overseas lands, must be retarded in development, a real loss to all concerned. The recent arrival of the first aerial mail from England to Australia and New Zealand was the herald of what, ultimately, will prove to be the main method of distant mails despatch. The cost at present is somewhat prohibitive, and the timQ from the despatch to- arrival is no less, so far as N.Z. is concerned, than by the shipping facilities, but within a comparatively short period, all that will be changed, and where mails abroad are concerned, airmen will have almost a monopoly. It is the risks taken by the adventurers, men like Waghorn and Kidston, which have made aerial mails possible, . and countless generations will profit in the years to come.