THE ÆRIAL TRAGEDY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XL, Issue 13150, 9 August 1913, Page 3

THE ÆRIAL TRAGEDY.

COLONEL CODY'S CHEERFUL START. MACHINE "AS STEADY AS A ROCK." (Press Assn. — By Telegraph— Copyright.) / LONDON, August 8. j ' Before starting Colonel Cody shouted : 1 "This machine is a beauty; she's as steady as a rock!" Recently Colonel !Cody (who was over > 51 years of age), criticising a statement at an inquest on Hewett's body that a 1 i man ' was too old to fly at 40, said : '.'I I made, my first flight when 47 years old, ( and hope to be flying at 80." . Colonel Cody's machine weighed a ton, . was was driven, by a 100-h.p. engine. The wings spanned- 60 feet, and the machine was m length 44 feet. It is stated that the machine was travelling at the rate of 50 miles per hour. •

I '" A correspondent writing from London by last mail, stated:— Apparently aviation handsomely pays those who are successful. Most of the great .pioneers who es- ! caped destruction have become associated ; j with important manufacturing works, asi j 1 for instance, Bleriot and Graha'me White. ; i The suddenness with ' which even the j champions abandoned flying" shoVs that !it is essentially a . game* lor the high 1 spirits, careless of life, and strongt. nerVes l which go with youth. Colonel Cody Is 1 the only notable exception of a man In ' .middle age who is prominent m aviation, i' I The risk to passengers, despite popular, r opinion to the contrary. Is infinitesimal, j i You are as safe m the hands of- one of ■ , . tho Hendon airmen as you are on top of a London motor 'bus. Taking Europe : . as a whole, thousands of passengers are carried dally, and accidents m this class of flying are very' rare indeed. Unless i the passenger has been up before and expressly wishes it, the flights are of the 1 plainest kind, with ho fancy work. Risk m aviation is only present m unfavorable weather and when the pilot is consciously attempting hazardous evolution. How safe it has become is shown by the work done by the Army and Navy airmen. The British Array alone now Jhas 135 machines In use, and probably upwards of 100 of these are flown several times on every day when a gale is not blowing. The public is shocked on the average about once a month of a bad accident; but the percentage of smashes as against the number of flights is very low. And no aviators take risks so commonly as those who are members of the defence * forces. It is understood m the Army and Navy that flying is m dts experiment stage; and, the man Is * successful and deserving of the notice of his superior officers who, by risking his. heck or otherwise, carries the utility of the machines one • step further for' . war purposes. Flights which are .altogether suicidal m their, daring are condoned, and even applauded, by the authorities. This is properly regarded as the self-sacrificing season m military aviation. Supremacy m flying may mean so much m an international conflict, that the lives of a few individuals are held as nothing against the possible ultimate gain m national safety. , ' ; .