ATLANTIC AIRWAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22538, 1 October 1936, Page 5

ATLANTIC AIRWAY

: FORECASTING THE WEATHER INVESTIGATIONS BY EXPERTS [from our own correspondent] LONDON, Sept. 9 Air pilots, meteorologists and observation stations have been working in Newfoundland since the autumn of 1934 on accumulating data for one of the most comprehensive weather forecasting schemes ever devised. It will be 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 include'' charting of the upper air and an examination of the prevalence of fog in the Newfoundland zone and over the mouth of the St. Lawrence. All-the-year-round observations indicate that while difficult Hying conditions are apt to persist in areas round St. John, there is a central clear zone in Newfoundland. The object of the 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 J has been involved in obtaining the necessary observations. Results of this meteorological work are likely to influence the selection of sites for the Newfoundland airport. Consultations have been arranged with an Air Ministry expert, whose advice will be a chief factor in the ultimate decision.

In the Atlantic service" the principle of radio control is to be extended even further than in the Continental services. Pilots will bo instructed as to course and as to landing places by radio in accordance with weather reports. Thus the command of the aircraft appears to be passing gradually from the men in the air to the man on the ground, and this change is to be expected in view of the much more complete weather information available on the ground.

The .British authorities have believed from the first that the trustworthiness obtained in modern flying-boats 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 the next few months by the new do Havilland Albatross four-engined land machine, which is expected to reach a speed of about 250 miles an hour.