PIONEERING ON AIRWAYS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17182, 12 February 1930, Page 14

PIONEERING ON AIRWAYS

MR. CHICHESTER'S FLIGHT LIMITATIONS OF LAND MACHINES —*— WIDE SCOPE OF THE AIRSHIP

Aviation receives a filip l'rom porfornmnces such as that of Air F. C. Chichester, the Wellington flyer, who completed the journey from England to Australia although a comparatively inexperienced, pilot, writes WingCommander (Stuart Grant Dalton, the Director of Air Services and Officer Commanding the X.Z. Permanent Air Force, 1 in the Dominion. To those who iiy and to those who study the organisation of long-distance flights the exploit must appeal. It must have impressed the many, who knowing nothing of flying, are the strongest critics of air travel. The fact that the young aviator did not attempt to cross the Tasman also, shows that he possesses wisdom with his pluclc. The machine used on this flight was a D.H. Moth light aeroplane, designed and built for the owner-driver. It was originally intended to cruise at DO miles an hour for four and a half hours, and to carry two persons. By placing an extra petrol tank in the passenger’s seat the machine was converted into a single seater with an endurance of from ten to twelve hours.

STILL AX EXPERT'S JOB. Mr. Chichester could not claim to have been an experienced pilot when he left Croydon for his long flight, and the tact that an inexperienced pilot could complete a journey of this description cannot but stir the spirit of adventure in thousands of people who have read of the wonders of the world but have never ventured from their native land. At the moment the price of an aeroplane of this description, about £BOO, is beyond the reach of the man in the street. This is all for the good as we are not yet ready to see the skies thick with aeroplanes, and in spite of modern road traffic, Ihe man in the street is safer where he is. It is a different matter wit h fully qualified pilots and as any commercial aviation company will employ none but the very best, we should not hesitate to travel by air whenever such a service is operating in • \'ew Zealand. li takes 12 hours lo reach Christchurch from Wellington by established services compared with Iwo and a half hours by air. Apart from local aspects of this new form of travel attention may be drawn to long-dis-tance routes connecting one farflung pari tif the Umpire with another. There are two aspects of the case. We have colonies and Dominions such as Canada that can be reached from Britain only by long ocean (lights. On the other hand it is possible to fly lo Australia without having lo negotiate abnormally long stretches of ocean. Britain, India and Australia, as far as aviation is concerned, um linked together one to the other by land routes. A BLAZED TRAIL TO AUSTRALIA. Without wishing to minimise the Chichester flight, it must lie indicated that success depends more on good organisation than on any other factor. Pioneers have proved thai the modern inachiuo is capable of flying to Aus-

tralia. As soon as this route lias boon organised, aerodromes developed, .■Hid pel col supplies made available, it "Kty well become a Idazed trail that lean lio used with impunity l>y comi , " e,< ' i l al , " : "; ,,!n,, - s :u "' privtite owners. ! now »vnit« on solid spado work betlor undcrtuken out or tno ' limelight. ! The pioblems of long ocean flights \ are not yet solved, and to us in Now

, Zealand these arc very important problems. A series of remarkable flights have pi >ved that the land maehino provides an extremely rislcy conveyance across several thousand miles of ocean. It may be asked wliv this type of machine has been used in preference to the flying boat, sea plane, or amphibian. Undoubtedly each of these is more suitable for use over water, but when it is necessary to make a long-distance flight it is necessary to overload the machine with a petrol supply far in excess of what would normally be carried. The result of this is that there is great ditlieulty in getting the machine oft' the ground, and in the case of! the waterborne machines it would bn impossible to get them ofi the surface with such a load. 'l'he amphibian has the great disadvantage of having to carry a heavy landing gear in addition to its hull, and for that reason it is unsuitable for long-distance tlights. FUTUIvK FOB FI/YINd BOATS The living boat is developing rapidly and will eventually take the place of all aeroplane work over the sea, but

whether it can become suitable for ocean (lights of over one thousand miles is questionable/and for this purpose we may look to the development of the airship for solving our difficulties, linlike a steamer, Ihe commercial carrying capacity of an aeroplane of any type does not increase in strict proportion to the size of the machine. It is now possible to carry over a hundred persons in specially-construct-ed machines. if a machine was made of such a size as to be able to carry, say, .1000 persons, they would be curried per head at far greater working costs than would 100. Possibly the cost per head might be four or even eight limes as much. Obviously, unless some new discovery is made, Ihe aeroplane has a delinite economic limit ill size and carrying capacity, It cniiuol be in creased indefinitely in size like a ship, becoming more efficient Ihe larger it is. LOXC RANCH AIRSHIPS Where I lie possibilities of Ihe aeroplane end it is nol 100 much to say thai the uses of Ihe airship begin. As regards the Jighiei-I liau air machine, the larger it can be built, the more i eoiiomii-nlly can il be worked. Where the aeroplane deals in pounds, the airship is concerned with tons. Already ii is possible to cross Hie Atlantic in an airship without heart burnings concorning fuel supplies. It should no) he long before all airship is develop oil capable of Hying half round the world without I rouble. In the war a Zeppelin managed to fly to Herman Hast Africa, as it was then called. It carried supplies of all sorts, arrived too late, and thereupon tinned round and completed the return journey v it hoot mishap, The Atlantic, the Pacific, and, incidentally, the Tasman, are nothing to the airship. The problem in this case is the method of reluming to earth at the completion of a journey. Mooring ' masts may have to bo oroctod at suit-

able places, or it may be that anchors will bo dropped and harbors utilised. The discharge of passengers is then no easy matter, but it will be overcome. In the meantime the airways to the Antipodes, taking India in their stride, are well on the way to development, and New Zealand will certainly be linked to this route before many years have passed,