airisms

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 136, 25 May 1935, Page 9

airisms

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"Loop"

Inactive Week. Very little aerial activity has taken place at the H.B. and E.C, Aero Club’s ’drome during the past fortnight, his has been largely due to the absence of the club’s instructor, Flight-Lieutenant A. G. Gerrand, who is on annual leave. Weather conditions, also have precluded much in the amateur flying direction. • • • Instruction Resumed. Pupils and others who have been finding the absence of flying tuition facilities irksome will be pleased to learn that the instructor is now back on the job. Instruction will be resumed at Napier to-morrow morning. Pupils in Napier who desire to make future appointments should telephone the caretaker at the Napier aerodrome. • • • Triangular Tournament. Next week-end flying competitions between the aero clubs of Wairarapa, Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay will be fought out at Danuevirke. There are four competitions in till; landing, bombing, message-dropping and aerobatics. In the first three of these, teams of three (one A pilot and two endorsed A) will be entered by each club and in the aerobatic contest each club will have one representative. The Dannevirke Airport Association are arranging billeting for visiting pilots since the competitions will be held on Saturday, June 1, and on that night a special dance for the visiting airmen has been arranged. The first competition will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Pilots desirous of making the trip should communicate with the club captain, R. M. Field (’phone 6284), or with the instructor (’phone 2013). • • • To-morrow’s Competitions. To-morrow, pilots who desire to represent the club at Dannevirke will be asked to carry out the various manoeuvres (bombing, message-drop-ping and landing) in order to permit the selection committee to arrange the best possible team. a « « Committee Meeting. A meeting of the executive of the H.B. and E.C. Aero Club has been called for next Wednesday evening at 7.30 pan. in the offices of the secretary, R. D. Brown, Queen street. Competition Results. Results of the last week-end competition, in which entrants had to undergo tests similar to those for the pilots’ “A” license, were as follows: P. Blundell 1, G. Field 2, P. van Asch 3. Pat Blundell has therefore half an hour of free flying placed to his credit. « « * Flying Hours of R.A.F. Reports from Italy state that the Royal Italian Air Force in 1934 flew .185,176 hours covering more than 20,000,000 miles. The British Royal Air Force is at present smaller than that of Italy but in 1934 our machines flew more than twice as many hours and covered more than double the distance. An Unintended Record. When his aeroplane got out of control at a height of 30,000 feet recently, Flight-Lieutenant Aiagnenat, of the Swiss Army, “baled” out with his parachute and landed safely. Thus he unintentionally eclipsed the late John Tranum’s record of a 27,000 feet drop.

Progressive Australian Company, New England Airways, Ltd., an unsubsidised company operating a daily service in both directions between Sydney and Brisbane, has a record of which it can be justifiably proud. Since the inauguration of th® Sydney-Bris-bane services a little over three and a half years ago, the aircraft of the company, three-engined Fokker monoplanes, have covered over 1,000,000 miles and carried thousands of passengers without mishap. The service has been maintained in all kinds of weather. This record speaks volumes for the care and maintenance of the fleet, which is in the able hands of the chief engineer, Mr. Shiers, who accompanied Sir Ross Smith as engineer on the first England-Australia flight.

The pilots of the company have acquired an enviable reputation for skill and care. Mr. Young can claim what must be almost a world’s record, as, during the last two and a half years, he has flown 3,000 hours in the same machine —The City of Sydney. This involved piloting 670 trips between Sydney and Brisbane and carrying approximately 10,000 passengers. Mr. Young is naturally proud of the fact that, except on two occasions, he has never failed to complete his schedule run. On one trip, engine failure compelled him to give up, and on the other weather conditions were absolutely impossible for flying. This achievement in the large Fokker represents more than ninety-nine per cent, efficiency for the 670 trips. The chief pilot of the company, Mr. K. Virtue, also has a fine record, having flown over 5,000 hours in the company’s machines. New England Airways, Ltd., are to be congratulated on the dependable and comfortable service they are giving the community.

New England Airways, Ltd., have formulated a policy of expansion of their services to embrace practically the whole of Australia, and have placed an order for ten Monospars, tho first of which is expected to reach Australia early this spring. In accordance with this policy, they took over, in December last year the service operated by Northern Airlines between Sydney and Newcastle —a distance of approximately eighty miles —over which their machines arc flown twice daily in each direction. This was the service on which Squadron-Leader White was chief pilot. On January 28 the company also commenced the operation of a daily return service between Brisbane and Toowoomba—a distance of approximately seventy miles. Pan-American Airways. This company has placed an order with the Sikorsky Aviation Corporation for four trans-oceanic “clipper ships,” which will be even larger and faster than tho first Sikorsky 8.42, The Brazilian Clipper. When these aireraft are completed. Pan-American Airways will have a fleet of ten largo flying-boats of this type for use on its proposed trans-ocean routes.

The company have completed a survey of an air route from the north coast through the interior of Brazil to Rio de Janeiro, which should provide a direct outlet to the United States from the great interior area, which is so rich in agricultural and mineral resources.