AVIATION TRAINING

Hokitika Guardian, 2 December 1933, Page 2

AVIATION TRAINING

COM ME NT BY MR J. C, MERCER FLYING IN CLOUDS, ' •' CHRIST HITP.pH, November 30. “I want to .brake ite. plain' to -tlie public that there, has-.been-no laxity , ;■ regard to the' instruction of pilot© s>f ; the Canterbury Aero/Club,” said Mr JVC. Mercer t-bday/u'heu,; he was askfd • a question regarding, the discussion that . took place at the Club’s meeting on flying in -clouds. /; “On' the - coil-' l trary,” Jho'said, ‘A it is only six, months ' ago that some'of tlio juembers of the club were up .m arms - because- they thought I had too 'diiicli authority; and/ held -them down too-:much'. The attitude J. took 'up; th,en /was . that -.1 • had . my job to >do and’.that .'.the; trainees .. were ' under my control, . .. , ./ . J “It.is /retty hard today 'down regu- 1 Istiors about/'- flying ‘in clouds,” Mr Mercer . saidy- / “For - instance, in'the Turiv'hate, acc'dejnt r • ho oriel knows whether-the 'pilot .was -/flying;in cloud or not. We 'pre. .pretty..certain that, ; ho w-^s,' but thehe ,is no, definite proof of it. In'- that connection ■ a suggestion 1 was m*\de'some, .tiihe- ago .that I, should j •be 'rel ieved of ©ome ‘of Ihe responsibility'; and control of "the .-pilots* and ‘that the committee; should'accept the' • respon-/ sibilitv. ' However, .the ‘ instructor should have the full/ responsibility i-of- 1 ■ sayiu ' how a /.pilot?;. • should/fly. For iqstaure.‘A* may be capable "aheb 1 •* niay allow.' him. to g"o : out in a few.! clouds kiiowing'that/lie'is to be trusted flying over of . iihderftliein, : • but ‘.IV * may have a greater number of hourß ; j nndpmay not be; quite/such a good ’ air- j man and. tl;e conditions may -he such-’ that I would not let;] ini: make a certain trip, .as he anight not be able to combat the weather he .encounters.

DANGERS TAUGHT

“It is very, very difficult.to lay down definite, regulations ,in regard to flying above clouds. T have always taught tlie .dangers and Have warned the.fel- j lows ; against them in some classes of j country. The committee or the club j ctmld. not be held responsible in .any* I way »he last accident, however, | and I mys."lf think that the pilot was above the clouds all , right, but owing: to the atmospheric conditions prevail- J lug that day die was really . trapped./ Tlie, same thing might happen' to an, older pilot* who '.had r ot. the experience, of tiiat class of country. People may, reply that if. that /is the case why .let any pi's fly over there. Well/ actually | it is quite easy; ip flv there in' some. 1 treat’.lei’s and ' you get .expedience in j the process. . ' I

.“One member, iof the .committeej thought that we ought to revise the rulr t and stop.„cbpd flying, ITc 'himself

got'into jx cloud and w„© lost for half ah hour going from Wellington to Pal* mevston North while following me last year.. There were just, some small hills; •2000 .feet high, and that day we were (dying -about 4000 .feet. There wag a fbig bank of cloud on the side of us. I could see 1 there was a big valley in tlie. cloud s and flew through it, but for borne reason he thought he would go' on the, other side of the clouds and pick-the/up beyond but. he failed to come through, and was dost for half an hour. • Fortunately, '.'the clouds were .not-down, on. the hills.”

• / Another adventure

..'‘''There was another;, little-.adventure gping to a/.pageaht' laS.t/ yeaf. .... I' had /two other .trainees with ifte, flying separate machines. After 'leaving Welling, ton .we.,had ; to get over a bank of. oloud • betweep . Weiffngi/n and /Paekakariki. We had reached .6000 feet, '■ when I knew j- was-well above the clouds arid could see the s&a 1 coast on the ‘ > other side. Without* ariy warning I 'suddenly saw the clouds above* me, which ' meant that .1 had .got into a downward current or /down-pressure. ■ -I immediately/ turned ajvny from it into the opening. The lother pilots, hung on to my tail and followed an,, which was .the. right thing to -’o, *•We came .at it a second t.me and g°t up. to 6000 feet, but exactly the' same thing happened again. I. had to : urn away, climb a hit higher again, arid'/make right hack, to Wellington, . and/cricgg from towards Mana Island. -.That trip 'demonstrated that, just in that 'area 'there was /a big downward, pressure or v down draught which would act, you might say, just like a waterfall coming over on top. of .it. Had they been young pilots flying alone, they might riot have realised the difficulty they , were getting into and might have been forced down into cloudy and lost.”

THOSE UPWARD LIFTS

- Discussing the. necessary relation between power in the machine and ability to. climb- above a certain level, Mr Merc?r instanced, the. time when in perfect weather flying north-over the Loburn -valley above Cromwell it took him twenty minutes to get to a height of just over 3000 feet, and. another thirty minutes to get up to just on .7000 ft. Then r.r.ldenly- they went-up to; 10,000 ft /iji the- next ten minutes. This was where experience came in, because a pilot could feel these upward lifts or downward pressures by his senco of' balAnce and 'also, by his' altimeter, •although-the altimeter did not always ..‘give /the. exact altitude because of. atmospheric conditions.

. • “We--are ~sometimes -• climbing like ilia devil, Tull bore, holding the maphfn? up -in a 'climb, • and .gaining no

height. Then all of tt sudden you perhaps get -a hump and up she will go. Sometimes getting mountains we find we are not getting height,... so, we -turn back and keep on climbing until we get a bit higher 1 and above that downward, pressure.” Mr Mercer was a s ked> at what height he flew over the. Alps, and lie replied that it- varied .from 10,000 to 11,000 ft. ,At that altitude he was within easy gliding distance either of the Teremgltau River on one side or the Waimakariri .on the [ other side of the range©. But there were also two or three other t 1 vers,' the Arahur.a, -the Wilber force, arid. the Ta-ipo, on -which a 'safe landing ’ could be made with no|-damage beyond, at the most, the bursting of a tyre.