AVIATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21197, 1 December 1930, Page 9

AVIATION

PILOT LOST IN FOG. descends by parachute. ■ (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) SAN, DIEGO, November 28.' Gerald Nettleton, aged 20, when trying to establish a new transcontinental record for juniors, ran .into a fog and was hopelessly lost. He stepped off his monoplane at an altitude of 10,000 feet and floated gently to earth in a parachute. The plane crashed a mile' from where he safely landed. . : Nettleton said: “ The weather was so soupy with rain and fog that I could not see 10 feet ahead. The, instruments froze. There was nothing left but to jump, so I levelled the machine, cut off the switch, closed the throttle, and rolled out of the doors. I fell for several minutes and did not see the earth till I I was 200 feet from it. That is how bad the weather was.” ' TRANSATLANTIC AIR MAILS. STEP TOWARD INAUGURATION. WASHINGTON, November 29. (Received Nov. 30, at 5.5 pan.) .'■ A definite step toward the inaugura- '■ tion of a transatlantic air service was taken by the Post Office Department to-day, and tenders will be opened on December 28 for an air mail route from New York by Norfolk (Virginia) or Charleston (South Carolina), and then by Hamilton, Bermuda, and the Azores, or some other practicable route to a point in Europe to. be designated by the Postmaster-general. The return flight is to be made over the same route. The ’ contract is to run for 10 years, beginning' on June 1 of next year.