Atlantic Airway

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 235, 5 October 1936, Page 12

Atlantic Airway

FORECASTING THE WEATHER LONDON, Sept. 9. Air pilots, meteorologists and observation stations have been working in Newfoundland since tho autumn of 1934 on accumulating data for one of the most comprekensivo weather forecasting schemes ever devised. It will bo used for the north Atlantic air services, and the investigations have been undertaken on behalf of the British Air Ministry and the Canadian and Newfoundland authorities. They includo charting of the upper air and an examination of the prevalence of fog in the Newfoundland 2ono and over the mouth of tho St. Lawrence. AU-tke-year-round observations indicate that while difficult flying conditions are apt to persist in areas round St. John, there is a central clear zone in Newfoundland. The object of tho ground organisation will be to keep pilots on the Atlantic airway informed of the movements of fog and to lead them through clear channels. Charting of the upper air will provide data upon which, it is hoped, a high degree of accuracy in forecasting will be based. A good deal of flying by Imperial Airways pilots has been involved in obtaining tho necessary observations. Results of this meteorological work are likely to influence tho selection of sites for the Newfoundland airport. Consultious have been arranged with an Air Ministry expert, whoso advice will be a chief factor in tho ultimate decision. In the Atlantic service the principle of radio control is to be extended even further than in the Continental ser-

vices. Pilots will bo instructed as to course and as to landing places by radio in accordance with weather reports. Thus tho command of the aircraft appears to be passing gradually from the men iu the air to tho man on the ground, and this change is to be expected in view of the much moro complete weather information available on the ground.

The British authorities have believed from tho first that the trustworthiness obtained in modern flying-b'oats is sufficient to allow them to operate in safety over long stretches of ocean, provided only that they may be certain of finding a landing place free from fog at the end of their flight. Nevertheless, they are not neglecting the possibilities, and experimental transatlantic flights will be made within tho next few months by tho. new do Ilavilland Albatross fourengined land machine, which is expected to reach a speed of about 250 miles an hour.