COMERCIAL AVIATION.

Gisborne Times, Volume LVI, Issue 6321, 25 February 1922, Page 6

COMERCIAL AVIATION.

FUTURE POSSIBILITIES. CAPT. L. 31. ISITT’S VIEWS. ADVOCATES SERVICE FOE GISBORNE. The possibilities of commercial aviation m Mew Zealand were referred to bv Captain L. 31. Isitt, who has been Hr Gisborne on business connected with the New Zealand Air Board, in conversation. with a Times reporter yesterday. Captain Isitt confessed that he was not greatly optimistic as to the possibilities of the immediate future, but fxriv-scd the opinion that with thorough and systematic organisation, aeroplanes would ultimately play an important part in the commerce and defence of New Zealand.

Unfortunately, said Captain Isitt, aviation corn, pa rues up to tiifc time, had been, content to keep their

machines fiying and had overlooked, to a very large extent, the necessity of efficient ground organisation, with the result that they kejit on flying hut made very little progress from a commercial point of view. The- Air Board had been established and had assisted in manv ways, one or its most important functions being to see that there was proper cortio], and tnat unnecessary risks were eliminated, ike Board had its regulations, but while seeing that these were nor abused, it endeavoured wherever possible to mee-. the companies. There was a certain amount of give-and-take and the Board was certainly not tied up vdtr. ic-<i The Government was undoubtedsvmpathetic towards aviation, and. in the pa-T. had done a great deal to foster private enterprise. At the present time, however, the financial conditions precluded it iv< m giving the amount or -lance wiiion it would like. .Vs regards aerial sei vices. Captain j-itt e;:pr-s-vd the opinion that some , - t.a o-e coo id t>* inaugurated. but again stressed the necessity for organisation. Owing to the comparative spared tv of imputation, and the lack or wealth of the average citizen, ]r would iiC-3 iiaps he m-cessary ici' the G-,'.-eminent to a' v■ - as-istance, but he v.-..- satisfied, nevertheless, that some services could be run profitably once t.hev were established. Tnis applied, he said, to th° service between Christchurch and Blenheim, and, more particularly'. to a .service between Gi-bcrno and Hasting-. It could not be hoped to run such a .service at a profit at fir-t, but i: the companies were prepared to face a !•* - - at tne out-et. suen a rent ure should in a vr. ry s?nort time be well pat' ..-n;-:fd am: seli-s upporting. 'Jt> a certain extent, h;- said, tne coma::i“s were handicapped by the fact that the machines being used were old .service machine-;, constructed net iov carrying pa~-engers, but for military purposes. A- an instance oi tnts fact, he pointed cut that the Be Haviland machine at present in Gisborne, on account of its design, was only equipped for three paisengers. whereas at Home they were being used to carry five. The result was that the running ex-p-.-n.~-s, im-t*ad of being distributed over five per-ms. had to be borne by three. The machine was a very good type and in every way suitable for comparatively l-'-ng distance journeys. Captain Isitt has not been able to see much of this district during the past few days on account of tine weather, but he .-fated yesterday that from the tnquirl-- he had made, he was eatl-Sed that Gisborne was the most .-uitable plr.ee in Mew Zealand from which to e-iablish an, aerial service. It- isolation hud been impressed upon him during the present week, and the ne-d for .some more rapid and reliable means ci access and egress was obvious. A s-rvice to Hastings, he considered. could be run regularly, and in all weathers, providing the necesf.iry organi-ution was applied. It was, lie said, ?. very difficult thing to estimate the c- of running such a service. but he believed that once it was -placed on a f.rrn footing, the passenger- could l- transported between the two towns a' a fare .of £5 or £6. ‘Ground organisation/’ he said, "is, how--rer. >n per cent of the work attached to r h- project. The pilots and the machines present no difficulties, but it is ewv.ntial that there should be a proper organisation on the ground, and tiuis is what the companies have n-'-gk-ct'-d in the past.” First of all. fc.tid Cspt. I-i tr, it is necessary that over the route there should be good landing places at least every fifteen miles, arid, secondly, there must Ik; some mean- of direct communication for obtaining weather reports and information regaining conditions at the other end. There might, for instance, he pointed out, be blue sky at Gisborne and rain in Hastings, with si c!oud-fcank ov r the Maria Peninsula. The ruin world not make any difference. but the pilot would require informs:, on regal ding the* clouds. Tie should know L..w far they extended and whether or net he mu.-t pass under or over them. From the air lie could i't tell whether they were lying on the hills or rut and consequently it would be un-r.fe for him to come down through them. There were many other inatiei>. he -rid. with which the pilot mu-', be cot:v./rsant, and for this purpose h»- should he .able to corntnunicjt- with any point on the route immediately before leaving the ground. The same thing would apply to u journey between Gisborne and Auckland. The wor-t part of this journey would undoubtedly be the first stage, to Opt; iki. Providing the pilot had reliable mfonnutioii regarding condition- on the hills he would have no- > thing to worry him. Before a regular fee twice '■'.•as started it would be advisable and it: fact, necessary to have a landing ground at Motu, and possibly between there and Onotiki, although when once over the hills there should lx- no difficulty whatever. It vwt- probable, h- .-aid. looking ahead, that any service between Wellington or the South I-land, and Auckland

would travel via IGlrn piston North, Hastings, and GLborne, this being an entirely suitable mute. The service would a!-s provide a splendid link between this rib:riot and other parts of the Dominion. There was no doubt, he added, that aviation would be a grand thing for G:-borne, and the public should realise this fact and do whatever was possible to foster it. Incidentally, Gapt. I-itt paid a tribute to the two pilots at present in Gisborne — Captains Drake and Buckley. Both, he said, were particularly capable and careful men. with a thorough knowledge of the machines they were using. Captain Tsitr is; more particularly interested in aviation from the point of view of dG'cnee, and in this connection he espressos the utmost confidence in the utility of an aerial service. In time of war. he said, cue or two aeroplane- could maintain a far better patrol or the Dominion than a whole fleet of warships, and would be far more economical. One aeroplane, he said, could practically patrol the whole of the coast of the North Island, while a warship like the Chatham was going from Christchurch fo Wellington, and at a far -mailer cost. A good machine could g" from one side of the Dominion to the other in an hour or two, and could observe a far greater area, than any ship. The Government, he paid, realised the brum-fits of aeroplanes in this connection, and there was little doubt that an Air Force would be established in the future. The safety of aeroplanes for travel, said Capt Isitt. had been clearly established, and it was unfortunate that some newspapers gave so much publicity to what few accidents -did occur. Figures, he said, had been computed to show that there had been proportionately fewer accidents with aeroplanes, than with steamers, motorcars. etc., during the first few years of their existence. Aeroplanes he contended. were not perfect, but they were as reliable as any means of travel.