SQUALLY WINDS.

Grey River Argus, 10 January 1928, Page 5

SQUALLY WINDS.

POSTPONE FLIGHT. Over Tasman. MONCRIEFF’S DECISION. Will wait till later in the WEEK. (Received January 9, at 7.10 p.m.) SYDNEY,' Janury 9. After conferring with the Weather Bureau officials, Moncrieff announced thaE“’it had been decided that it was impossible to commence the flight tomorrow. The weather over the Tasman Sea is stili too unsettled and the airmen would strike squally head wind B Therefore it has been decided to wait until later in the week. HOUR OF DEPARTURE KEPT SECRET. * SYDNEY, January 8. The actual hour of the departure of the fliers is kept secret, being dependent upon the state of the weather. The Observatory is issuing special weather reports in conneetionr with the flight. To-night it says that stormy southerly winds and rough weather prevails over the western h’alf of the Tasman Sea. While these; conditions prevail, the airmen are unlikely to start. As the jump-off will’be made at two in the morning, Lieut Knight has promised the Press Association to advise them on the night previous to the morning chosen to make the departure.

MESSAGE FROM MONCRIEFF. WELLINGTON, January 9. A cable received in Wellington today from tho New Zealand airmen Moncrieff, reads: “Weather still dull, hope to leave during next two days. Machine ready. Hood definitely coming. Mnnty New Zealand congratulatory cables. Thank all.” Where ’to' land. WHY NOT WESTPORT. WESTPORT, January 9. Keen interest is being taken in Westport in the Tasman flight. For weeks past, with the exception of one day, the weather has been gloriously fine, with cloudless skies, as far over tho Tasman as the eye can reach. If the aviators could only pierce the fringe of rough Weather on tho Australian Coast, it looks as if they would run into ideal conditions when approaching New Zealand. Should they reach Westport in the afternoon they will have a good landing ground on lhe North Beach, where Captain Buckley and Harrington made their taking off and landing place during a prolonged visit, to Westport.

Tasman Sea. UNKNOWN FLYIxxG CONDITIONS. Compared with the vast stretches of airways travelled in non-stop flights in the Northern Hemisphere, tliL trans-Tasman. distance is not so great in miles, but when the New Zealand aviadjors leave jthe Australian coastline behind they will fly into an unknown region; the paper course will be clear before them, but as for the conditions of the 1430 miles of air ahead there is no guidebook.

The Tasman is a storm centre for most of the winds that blow, but meteorologically it is a No Man’s Land, and sea surface conditions are known more by their effects than from their causes. The Tasman’s weather apparently moves not so much from Australia to New Zealand, or vice versa, as from the south-west, from the Antarctic and the broad charting of weather is therefore practically an impossiblity; localised charting, from steamship reports, has not so far ranked in high importance. Even had there been a collection of such data over many years, so systematically gathered and compiled as to enable ocean and land forecasts to be made upon a broader basis than at present, the upper air conditions would remain a blank unknowns, and the key to the storms within the storm which are the weather puzzles of the Tasman woud still bo missing. FLYING BLIND.

Lindbergh contributed the first definite knowledge of the weather conditions to be faced on the trans-Atlan-tic flight. He met fog and tried to climb over it, but failed. He flew as high as his heavily-loaded ’plane wduld carry him without being able to find the top of the curtain. And when he did get up. ice began to form on his 'plane, and he was forced to dive for warmer air near the Water. Chamberlain found that he could avoid possible for present-day ’planes the ice by flying low. but he drifted far from his course owing to the failure of his main compass. Byrd met even worse conditions than Lindbergh, and proved again, that it is imto escape the treacherous fog. His •abilitv us a navigator was useless to him much of the time, for he could see neither sea not sky, and, like his predecessors, he had to rely mostly ou dead reckoning.

Lindbergh shot over 3610 miles of the North Atlantic, and that was the first the world at large had heard of him, and immediately recognised in him an intrepid and lucky young fool, lhe world’s greatest stunter. But Lindbergh had been flying for years before he startled the world; he was intrepid, but he had proved his machine and himself in air mail flying for years in all sorts of weather. Captain Kingsford Smith and Lieutenant Pond, who propose to cross the Pacific from San Francisco to Australia ,have been a. long fime over the testing of their motor and plane, their

backers making it a condition, that an endurance record must be set up before the ocean flight is undertaken. The successful Pacific flight to Honolulu byt (Maitland and Hegenberger was planned and replanned for a yefl-r. But between these vast ocean flights and the crossing of the Tasman is the great difference in air miles. The Atlantic non-stop flights have ranged from 2000 to 4000 miles, for Chamberlin and his millionaire backer and passenger, Levine, wandered far from the planned course in fog and rain, and the Hawaiian flight across 2098 miles of the Pacific if a true line is maintained from point to point. Lindbergh carried 451 gallons of petrol when he took off. Maitland and Hegenberger took off for Honolulu with their triple-engined ’plane loaded with 18,900 pounds. .Captain Kingsford Smith estimates that 1600 gallons of petrol will be required to cross the Pacific to Australia, but he will carry three Wright motors on his ’plane. The “Aotea-Roa,” though in the main similar to the Ryan monoplane flown by Lindbergh, is somewhat smaller and is to start the flight with less than half the petrol, 200 gallons, as against 451. The engine is similar to Lindbergh’s, the best engine of its class and power available.

The venture may be regarded from any one of several aspects: It is the ; last long jump on the Imperial airways. There are two types of long-distance flights, those made up of long and short hops, by which the pilot can cover many thousands of miles, and single extended flights. Some of the most notable of the multistage flights were the airplane journey in 1919 of Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith from England to Australia, and, in 1926, Sir Alan Cobham’s flying boat journey from England to Australia and back, 26,000 miles; the round the world flight of the American army ’planes, 27,553 miles; and De Pinedo’s marvellous flying boat voyage of 48,000 miles, touching Italy, Africa, South America, North America and the Azores. In the single extended flight the pilot demands of himself and his motor the last ounce; in this class are the flights of Lindbergh, across the Atlantic; of Kelly and Macready, who took an army monoplane from New York to the Pacific coast, 2520 miles; and a number of overland flights from Continental centres to Siberia, Mesopotamia, and Persia. . Both types test the machine and the man to the utmost. Mr MeNicol states that Moncrieff and Hood have entered on the venture at considerable personal sacrifice. They are both working mechanics, and the money subscribed for the flight, after meeting the heavy cost of the machine, has not permitted much to meet their personal expenses in Australia. The administration of the scheme has been as economical as possible, and both aviators have had to find money out of ' .Sir own pockets. Both men are married and their wives have taken keen interest in, and given the greatest encouragement to the flight, sharing with their husbands the sacrifice entailed in the adventure. • -