FUTURE SERVICE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22695, 6 April 1937, Page 11

FUTURE SERVICE

MANY INDICATIONS BELIEF IN CALIFORNIA THREE YEARS OF PLANNING ACTS ALL POINT ONE WAY [from our own correspondent] SAN FRANCISCO, March 15 Although the Pan-American Airways authorities have been studying thq flight to New Zealand for some time, conservatism marks their official nouncements. It is not claimed that before long passengers and mail will be transported along Pacific air lanes as a matter of course. They simply say they are going to look over the ground, or the water, in the most practical way, and then decide the next steps, if any. Nevertheless the belief in California is that the survey will lead to the establishment of a Clipper line service between the mainland and New Zealand. The threo years spent in planning, the assignment of a new aeroplane for the survey, the knowledge that, there are no insurmountable barriers in the way, as proved by other flights, tho building up of bases, and the heavy costs entailed in the preliminaries and tho survey flight, all point one way. Great Pacific Trade Trade in tho Pacific represents a volume of more than £24,000,000 a year, according to publicity issued by tho Pan-American organisation, and the time saving will attract travellers, as is shown by the hold the Clippers have in the service to and from the Orient. A few years ago Californians watched puny aeroplanes leave on tho first flights to Honolulu. Many of them carried their occupants to their doom. To-day the arrival or departure of a Clipper for China passes without notice, although there was intense public interest when the service was inaugurated some months ago. Tho splendid silver aeroplanes, with their ability to fly and come down safely on water, as well as land, their powerful engines, the radios and radio direction-finders, and the inventions and improvements that have revolutionised air travel, combine to give both safety and comfort for those who go up above tho sea in ships. Improvements Always Sought The problem of improvements in the big flying-boats is ever in mind, and the Pan-American Clipper has had the benefit of the experiences of her three sisters in the Orient route. All of this planning would fail if the aviators, pilots and mechanics in charge of the aeroplanes proved less than competent, and tests of the highest standards are called into use before personnel selections are made. Continual watchfulness each minute of the day and night is an obligatory part of tho business of flying. In referring to the expected development of air travel between California and New Zealand, tfce Pan-American Airways authorities hate issued this striking paragraph: " Thus would American aviation advance another tremendous stride in shrinking the map of the world into distances which 1 people, as well as Governments, are )eginning to conceive as the basis for a new world relationship."