BY FLYING BOAT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23830, 9 June 1939, Page 10

BY FLYING BOAT

ENGLAND TO SYDNEY PASSENGERS A SECONDARY CONSIDERATION EFFICIENCY OF PILOTS (Special to Daily Times) WELLINGTON, June 8. “ Imperial Airways treat passengers with every courtesy and no consideration,” said Mr F. G. Williamson, of Wellington, who returned this week from England. He travelled from Southampton to Sydney by air. Passengers -were treated as secondary matter to mail, Mr Williamson said. Although the machines were capable of carrying 24 passengers, only two passengers could book through from London to Sydney on one machine unless special arrangements were made by cable. That was because of the enormous amount of mail carried. It seemed that the volume of mail carried had grown much more rapidly than was expected. The cruising speed of the flying boats was 145 miles an hour, which was already 100 miles an hour too slow. Early Rising Another complaint, Mr Williamson said, was that the passengers were compelled to rise in the mornings at any time between 2 o’clock and 5 c ’dock, which was ardqous to a degree after a few days.' The planes were fitted with slots for erecting bunks, but there appeared to be no bunks available at any place along the route, with the result that the passengers were caused a great deal of inconvenience through early rising. The next step in the development of the service would inevitably be the provision of separate machines for passengers and mail. Comfortable Travelling Travelling by the flying boats was very comfortable, Mr Williamson said, and only once during, the 13,000 miles journey was there a bump which caused any person to rise out of his seat noticeably. The logical thing to do would be to inaugurate a night flying service, with proper provision for sleeping accommodation. Though the ground organisation of Imperial Airways was as vet far from perfect, it had little toTearn so far as the air was concerned. The pilots were extraordinarily efficient. Night landings and take-offs at several places on the journey appeared to present no difficulty to the pilots in ordinary weather. The hotel accommodation provided by the company varied from place to place. Some of the hotels, especially in non-British countries, were of a poor standard. At Singapore and Calcutta, however, they were excellent. Long Land Stretches Mr Williamson said he had to break his journey at Bagdad because he could not book his passage right through. That was not because there was not sufficient room, but because of the weight of the mails. The most dangerous section of the route was from Karachi to Raj Samand, a small lake in the interior of India. The distance was 434 miles across land, and the trip was made in a flying boat. The same situation occurred between Darwin and Groote Eyelandt, where the machine flew 423 miles across the dreaded Arnhem Land.