BRITISH AIR PROGRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18495, 4 September 1923, Page 12

BRITISH AIR PROGRESS.

CIVIL FLYING EXPANDS.

INCREASE IN PASSENGERS.

Important details regarding British air services are contained in a report on civil aviation during the year ending March 31, issued recently by the Air Ministry. The report records work in Qreat Britain and throughout the world. It notes, that British aircraft gained a larger .share of the cross-Channel air traffic than in .the previous year. Of a total of 5137 flights and 13,172 passengers, 2965 flights were made and 10,066 passengers were carried by British aircraft, representing percentages of 57.7 and 76.4. '"• The efficiency of British services has steadily increased, and for the second consecutive year no .passenger was killed in the course of flights on regular services. Other points from the report are:— "Information obtained .from experimental flights by night in February on the London-Paris route confirms that nightflying on, tho route in the absonco of fog and low cloud is'as commercially practicable as daylight flying. Further experiments will' ascertain how the difficulties of i night-flying in adverse weather conditions 1 may be overcome.

" Wireless stations at Manchester and Birmingham aerodromes have been reopened, and a new station has been erected at Bickendorf /aerodrome, Cologne. ' Tile coming service between Southampton and Havre or Cherbourg has rendered necessary tbd erection of a station at Guernsey. " For landing in fog an automatic landing device is being tested. ■ An electric cable is laid as a track beneath the surface of the ground. The aircraft carries search coils and an instrument which acts as steering and height indicator. During fog the aircraft is ' directed to tho aerodrome by directional wireless or otherwise, and when nearing the landing track the instrument comes into operation, enables the pilot to locate the track, and by watching the indications.of height to land although the ground is invisible." In the Middle East, traffic on tho CairoBagdad air mail service has increased threefold during the course of 1922. Some striking developments are foreshadowed. Particular attention is .being given to providing, a machine capable of flying long distances as, for instance", over desert regions, without intermediate landing. Principal routes for which machines are how constructed are:—EnglandFrance via Southampton, for winch a supermarine twin-engined Amphibian boat seaplane with a range of 300 sea miles is being built > Bagdad-India route, for which a machine will be built with petrol capacity for 500 miles and speed of 95 miles an hour; the Imperial route, for which a machine will be built with a petrol capacity for, 1300 miles and speed of« 90 miles an