THE HUMAN FACTOR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 263, 5 October 1936, Page 7

THE HUMAN FACTOR.

VERY TRYING CONDITIONS. (Contributed by a gentleman keenly interested in aviation.) The fact that only one machine out of nine starters has arrived at Johannesburg may cause some people to think that the ’planes used were not reliable. As a matter of fact, of all those who crashed between Cairo and Johannesburg, the engines and ’planes are well tried and tested types. It was apparently the human factor that failed the most. Flying in Africa in the heat of the day is reported to be nearly always extremely bumpy, the best flying conditions being early in the morning and late evening, and at night. Loss of sleep would have a serious effect on the pilots’ endurance, but the most serious obstacle is the fact that Central Africa is a highly elevated plateau, Johannesburg being over 6000 ft above seal level. Therefore the ’planes would have to fly at over 10,000 ft for hours on end, tlius inducing mountain sickness, further intensified by bumpy conditions, due to heat haze. ’Planes with a normal landing speed at sea level of 45 miles an hour would have to land in the vicinity of 70 miles an hour in the rarefied air conditions, with consequent damage to undercarriages when the pilots were suffering from mountain sickness. Tf the conditions of the race had specified an eighthour stop for sleep at Cairo and in Central Africa, it is safe to say the results would have been vastly different.