COLLEGE OF FLYING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22068, 26 September 1933, Page 8

COLLEGE OF FLYING

PARTICULARS OF HAMBLE SCHOOL BRITAIN'S AIR UNIVERSITY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, August 18. Tribute to the value of the teaching given at Britain's air university—the Air Service Training School at Hamble, on Southampton Water—is the decision of a wealthy young American who, after examining many schools in his own land and on the continent of Europe,, has begun a three years' course there. After two years of working, the school is well established. In that time it has housed students of 18 nationalities, giving instruction in any or all of the many branches of the complex present-day subject of the theory and- practice of aviation. At no other school in the world can the flying student receive such comprehensive tuition: And the standard of teaching is remarkably high. E%ch of the seven pilotage instructors and 10 lecturers is a leading authority on his subject, holding the highest possible qualifications, and is approved by the Air Ministry for instruction in every branch of the art of pilotage. • The equipment of the school is complete. Twenty-second aeroplanes, including seaplanes, amphibious craft, a threeengined airliner, and single-seater fighters make up the school # fleet. The lecture rooms set aside for instruction in aerial photography, radio, care of armaments, and the rules of aii- navigation—to mention a few —are lavishly fitted. Much ingenuity has gone to the making of special gear for use in the teaching. The school has devised an apparatus by which the pupil may become familiar with the processes of "blind." or instrument, flying before he is taken into the air for further lessops in a hooded cockpit. 'He begins his instruction in a hooded cockpit in a lecture room. In it is a complete set of instruments which react to movements of the flying controls exactly as they would in the air; by means of a set or levers the instructor, who sits behind the pupil, can give the pupil, exactly those erratic movements to correct which may cause divergence from the set course or from level flight in the air. Use of the apparatus i s found to save four hours' dual instruction in the air; the apt pupil qualifies for his certificate of proficiency in " blind" flying in five hours instead of nine. STUDYING FOR A CAREER.. Many of the younger pupils are taking the long course of three or four years' duration, which trains them thoroughly up to the point where they are fully qualified to begin gainful work in civil aviation. Especially will they be fitted for employment as pilots on commercial lines, and for subsequent appointment to responsible administrative posts. Cost of the full course ig about the same as that of sending a lad through university, but with the important difference that at the end of the period he is ready to begin his career immediately. And the three years is a period of hard work. A pupil's days are fully occupied between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. He does, perhaps, 300 hours' flying. He spends eight months in the engine shops. He has to qualify as a proficient wireless operator, as a second-class navigator, as a safe commercial, or "B" license, pilot. He will learn all about parachutes. He will be instructed in aerial photography, and the intricacies of steering a course through the air, including the systems of warning light and signals which govern the rules of the. airways. The school has squash and lawn tennis courts; it has a formidable cricket eleven, Rugby and Association football teams. An Air Service Training Yachting Club has been founded, one of the many side issues of the enthusiasm and initiative of the school's commandant, Group Captain R. J. F. Barton.