The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1928. PERILS OF THE ATLANTIC AIR COURSE.

Gisborne Times, 21 April 1928, Page 8

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1928. PERILS OF THE ATLANTIC AIR COURSE.

. It would he with a sense of 4 groat, relief that it was.' learned that the latest daring aerial exploit, —an effort to cross the Atlantic from east to w'est by plane—met with success. This particular flight, which was made by Herr -.Kochi, Baron Gunther von Huethnefeld and Commander Fitzmaiirice, is the first of its kind to end triumphantly. As" is wellknown , the east-w T est journey .is much’more difficult than the Westeast course and, added to that, the “Bremen” . carried three persons. Such being the case, the German.Jjisix- - exploit must, be accounted much more'' creditable than that of, say, Lindbergh, who, , flying alone, proved able, to reaoh France .from the United States with', the greatest ..of ease. We are afraid that ' the results of the . latest'flight g,o t° show that it will W a long time before plane trips from' Europe to America will be possible witli comfort. Indeed, journeys in, .the opposite direction mayj for some considerable time

to come,' continue to be. regarded as mere “stunts.” ,It is significant that four east-west flights'- in the past twelve months proved disas-. trous. In May last, Captain SaintRoman and Cbmmander Mouneyres lost their lives'i,ort;- ; a flight from Prance to Buenos Ayres and Captain N'ungesser arid' ,, Major Gbli, who left Prance for New York were also never heard of again. Last August, it may be recalled, Oapt; Hamilton, Colonel Minchin and Princiess LowensteinWcrtheim set out from England for Qttawa and shortly afterwards had ■to be numbered amongst the miss-* ing. The. latest fatal east-west A fc--1 antic flight was, of course, that of month, when Capt. Hinchliffo and the Hon. Elsie Mackay, in an endeavour to reach New York from Ireland made the supreme sacrifice. Within the past twelve months, two planes vwere lost on the west-cast course, both in September last. Jn the first, which set out from America for Italy, the occupants were Lloyd W. Bertaud, James D. Hill and Philip Payne. The second, which attempted to reach London from Newfoundland, had for its. crew Capt. Tully and Lieut. Medcalf. It will, therefore, be noted that fatal atempts to cross the Atlantic within the past year have involved the loss of no fewer than twenty-four lives.-.: