A NEW TERROR.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3294, 12 August 1911, Page 5

A NEW TERROR.

BEING BURNT IN AN AEROPLANE

In the long list of fatal accidents to aviators there was none due, we believe, to fire caused by ignition of the gasolene used as fuel until Captain Princeteau, of the French army, and M. Landron lost their lives at Issy-les-Moulineaux and Chateau Thiery recently. No such case was brought to the attention of the experts appointed by the Commission d’Aviation of the i\uro Club of Paris to review the casualties that had occurred in operating the aeroplane. Between September 17th, 190 S, and February 9th, 1911, 34 aviators were killed. In “The Aeroplane,” by Claude Grahame-White and Harry Harper, a chapter of fifty pages is devoted to these fatalities in the order of their occurrence. Not one was caused by the ignition of gasolene and the destruction of the fabric by fire. They

are grouped under these heads:— Breakage of some portion of machine, 11 accidents ; pilot’s loss of control, 8; failure of controlling mechanism, 3; machine rendered unmanageable by wind gusts, 4; accidents while on ground, 4 illness of pilot while flying, 2; failure of motor, 1; one unknown cause.

The death of Captain Princeteau has been reported in some detail. It is said that his clothes took fire when the machine was about seventy-five feet in the air; he lost control of it ; and as soon as it fell to the ground the gasolene tank exploded. The fabric must have been wrapped in flames instantly, and the unfortunate man, pinned under the motor, was literally burnea u F . The tank and carburetter attachments are supposed to be so carefully made and protected that the leaking or escape of gasolene cannot occur, but here was a case where the thing did happen, and a spark wrought the combustion. Tbe violence of the fall of the machine smashed the tank, and the explosion followed. Captain Princeteau had no chance for his life. The details of an accident like this are so shocking that a score of deaths from well-known causes do not make such an unpleasant impression in the. mind. As a report aviation suffers incalculably from the horror of such a tragedy. * M. Loins Paulham is quoted as saying in the book compiled by Mr. Grahame-" White and Mr. Harper: “I see a definite market among rich travellers. The aeroplane will afford them a new amusement, and once enjoying tlm fascination they wall become enthusiastic. There will be <a large number of people who will be eager when a more perfect machine is at hand to make pleasure voyages through the air.” Not so long as they may be incinerated in gasolene flames. They might be willing to take the chances of breaking every bone in their bodies, but to be the sport and food of fire will give them pause. It is true that people are burned to death in railroad wrecks and in automobiles. All sport, all transportation, in which great speed is a factor, must in the nature of things he dangerous, but there are degrees of danger, and if a comparison of risks could be made in regard to the operation of the automobile and that of the flying machine, based on reliable statistics, we have no doubt that the margin of safety in favor of the automobile would be found so much greater that aviators and makers of aeroplanes would blush to affirm, as they do now, that flying was no more dangerous than exceeding the speed limit- in an automobile.