The Pacific Flight

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6632, 11 June 1928, Page 8

The Pacific Flight

Continued from page 7. , in ocean flying, he said, for it would be quite useless to have the best plane an’d the most experienced pilot in the world without someone accurately to navigate them to the desired destination. Plying “Blind”. The subject of “blind flying”, as also that of “heavy load flying”, was a comparatively new one. They themselves were almost as ignorant of both these problems as were other Australian airmen unt.l they arrived in America and studied them. They were ig noraut of the importance in “blind flying” of such modern flying instruments as the bank and turn indicator, rate of climb meter, speed and drift meter, and other instruments and did not early appreciate all the difficulties ahead of them. 1 “Blind flying”, Lieut. TJlm explained, referred to the pilot’s ability to fly a plane efficiently when in total darkness, only the instrument board being visible in front of him. Simple medical tests and personal demonstrations would readily prove that in such a condition of darkness a person’s sense of direction was absolutely useless. No one could fly “blind” for more than an hour without the aid of special flying instruments. A plane in flight can move in any of three directions —up and down (longitudinally), banking (laterally), and turning. Sensitive instruments were part of the equipment of the Southern Cross to tell the pilot whether or not his plane was moving in all or any of these directions. The instruments wore respectively: Tho rate of climb meter (really a super-sensitive altimeter); the bank indicator, which accurately measured whether the plane was banking to port or starboard; and the turn indicator.

"Fifty per cent Mental” When a pilot has trained himself to fly for hours on end by these instruments and the others provided without seeing anything else, only then was he safe t»» pilot a plane over long stretches of water. This training'in instrument flying or ‘ ‘ blind flying ’ ’ was 50 per cent mental. The pilot must have implicit faith in his instruments. Ho must know that if those instruments register at variance with his senses, then his senses' arc wrong, and the instruments are right. When flying through heavy clouds and thick fog, or through the night, the pilot is "blind”. He can see nothing but his instrument board and if he can’t "fly blind” ho will in a short time lose control of the plane. Plane Same As Lindbergh’s. The plane they had decided on after a lot of consideration was a tri-motor-cd Fokker monoplane, the same as that used by Col. Lindbergh. The span of the wing was 71 feet 81- inches and it was of full cantilever (internally braced) three-ply wood construction. There were four tanks in the wings each holding 96 gallons, one under the pilot’s scat, and the main tank in the lusclagc (807 gallons). The plane was capable of carrying 1358 gallons of petrol. The engines were of the Wright whirlwind type, each 220 h.p. At full throttle the engines would give 1800 r.p.m., giving a high air speed of 120 m.p.h. With the engines throttled back to 1550 r.p.m. they had a cruising speed of 9-1 m.p.h. At this speed each engine consumed a fraction over 10 gallons of fuel per hour. High Rate of Drift. Air navigation has its own peculiar features as compared with nautical navigation. The main difference is the high rate of drift as compared with sea-going craft. Ocean currents seldom cause a vessel to drift off its course at more than three or four miles per hour, but with aircraft the drift can be as high as GO to 70 miles per hour. Navigation of Air,

The methods of air navigation could bo divided into three main classes, that is “dead reckoning”, "astronomical navigation” and "navigation by the aid of radio”. The term "dead reckoning” involves flying a compass course corrected for compass errors and for the effect of wind drift. Flying by dead reckoning is contingent on an accurate, reliable compass, and proper drift and ground speed knowledge. On the Southern Cross they carried four compasses, a master compass and three steering compasses. To obtain ground speed they carried a couple of kinds of bombs, one giving off smoke for daytime use, the other giving a bright light for night use. Those were dropped from the plane to float on the water, and sights taken after they had been left a couple of miles astern. Sextant an Essential. For astronomical navigation the sextant was the crux of the whole situation. The one used on the Southern Cross had an artificial horizon attachment, which was in the form of a spirit level. It was difficult to use as under even the most favourable conditions the bubble was constantly moving. The chief object of installing radio in the plane was not that of sending messages, but for the purpose of navigation. Theirs was the first great test wireless had had as a method of navigation. Eadio beacons were available from San Francisco to Hawaii, and on the first part of the flight from Hawaii to Suva, after which "dead reckoning” had to be relied upon. Gift of Plane to Airmen. The cables have already explained that part of Lieut. Ulm’s speech relating to how the adventure had been financed, and the eleventh-hour generosity of Mr. Allan Hancock, a Los Angeles’ capitalist, who advanced the necessary funds for the project when early capital had become exhausted by experiments. Lieut. Him then produced a cable he and Captain Smith had just received from Mr. Hancock’s at-

torney, and read it to the audience. The cable inter alia stated: " Please accept Southern Cross and all indebtedness to me as mark of my admiration for your great exploit.” Advance Australia! Lieut, Him in his concluding passages made a great appeal for the advance of aviation in the Commonwealth. He stated that Australians were leading the way in aeronautics, but their country was doing little to assist the men who were risking the hazards. Australia, he declared, was one of the most suited countries in the world for air experimenting, while America was the worst. Yet America was one of the leading pioneer countries and Australia was one of the most backward. Ho and his companions were leaving Brisbane at 10 o’clock to-morrow (Sunday) morning for Sydney. On their arrival there there would bo no more flying till mechanics, who were even now on their way out, arrived from America to overhaul the plane. When that task was done ho and his companions intended to visit all places in New South Wales and other parts where there were suitable landing places so as to show the plane to as many of the people of Australia as possible. By this means, he declared, they hoped to stimulate iu Australia an interest in civil aviation so that Australia could take her place among the most progressive experimental countries of the world. This end could bo achieved only if her citizens took flic matter to heart and it was their big object to bring about this pass. Australia would become a great flying country only when aviation entered into the everyday life of the citizens themselves. Lieut. Him thanked his audience again, and excused himsslf for being "so long-winded.” Salvo upon salvo of cheers and acclamation burst forth from the audience. Tho chairman then introduced tho first of the Americans hut amid the sustained applause the name was not decipherable. 4QG switched off before tho next speaker had begun, and the following speeches were not broadcasted.