COMMERCIAL AVIATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21564, 8 August 1933, Page 4

COMMERCIAL AVIATION

NEW PLYMOUTH ROUTE PROSPECTS FOR SERVICE ADDRESS AT ROTARY CLUB The possibility of an air service be. tween Auckland and New Plymouth being started within six months was mentioned by the president of the Auckland Aero Club, Mr. J). R. Boucher, in an address at the Auckland Rotary Club's luncheon in Milne and Choyce's Reception Hall yesterday. "Commercial aviation must come in New Zealand," said Mr. Boucher. "When you consider that it is only an hour and a-half's journey from Auckland to New Plymouth by air, and that the route is safe under practically all conditions, it is hard to understand why people still prefer a 10 hours' ordeal by road." In the past, projects for air lines in New Zealand had come to nothing; because it had been proposed to use large air liners, and sufficient capital was not available for the purpose, Mr, Boucher continued. It was fairly certain that smaller machines, carrying eight or ten passengers, could be mado to pay. Between Auckland and New Plymouth commercial travellers alone should provide enough traffic to keep them going. "I believe that we shall see something like this within six months," he jidded "Developments are pending through Australia." Safety of Air Travel

Speaking of safety in aviation. Mr. Boucher said that the risk was much over-rated by people who only read the newspaper accounts of accidents. Personally, he considered that the journey from Auckland to Gisborne could bo made a good deal more safely by aeroplane than by road. Men who considered 'flying dangerous would cheerfully take a launch out of harbour into a howling gale. It was often thought that there was much risk of forced landings. For his own part he had had only two. For every 1000 ft. of altitude an aeroplane had a gliding radius of a mile. When a machine was 8000 ft. up, with a circle 16 miles across at its command, it would be very remarkable if in such an enormous area there was not a suitable paddock. Ha had been-able to find one on each occasion.

Most accidents were due to young and inexperienced pilots making turns at a height of 200 ft. or so and causing their machines —not their engines—to stall or lose grip of the air. The public should not judge the safety of flying by the accidents which occurred in the Royal Air Force. Military pilots in the course of their exercises deliberately took risks that no amateur need ever incur, and what happened to them waa no criterion. . Clubs and Defence

Aerial navigation in New Zealand was simple, provided pilots took the usual precautions and obtained weather reports by . telephone or telegraph from their destination and possibly other points before setting out Flying along coastlines was particularly simple, and for other journeys an ordinary road map was sufficient. For defence purposes the aero clubs of New Zealand, which now numbered five, were capable of rendering extremely valuable service. They did not claim to train pilots for air fighting, but their and machines could do useful reconnaissance work in conjunction with the naval and military forces. Sufficient aircraft would make a Burprise attack on the coast practically impossible, since patrols could be maintained 300 miles out at sea.

It was much to be hoped that the Government would see its way to reinstate the subsidy for training to its former level. Before "the recent cuts, each club had been allowed £25 for every pilot trained, up to a total of 20 yearly. The limit was now nine pilots, and the allowance had been reduced to £22 10s. A vote of thanks to the speaker was carried on the motion of Captain Euan Dickson.