ATLANTIC AIR SERVICE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19135, 2 October 1936, Page 10

ATLANTIC AIR SERVICE

NEWFOUNDLAND AIRPORT MANY INVESTIGATIONS CHARTERING UPPER AIR (From a Special correspondent) LONDON, A"g. 25. Air pilots, meteorologists and observation stations have- been working in Nowinundland since the autumn pi 1934 on accumulating data for one of the most comprehensive weather forecasting schemes ever devised. It will be usee for the north Atlantic air services and the'mvestigations have been undertaken «m behalf of the British Air Ministry and the Canadian and Newfoundland authorities They include charting! of the upper air and an examination of the prevalence of fog in the Newfoundland zone and over the mouth of the St. Lawrence. A number of fog-reporting stations has been set lip round the coast and inland, and all-tho-ycar-round observations indicate that while difficult flying conditions are apt to persist in areas round St. John's, there is a central clear zone in. Newfoundland. The obiect of the ground organisation will be to keep the pilots on the Atlantic airway informed of the movements ot tog d to lead them through, clear channels Charting of the upper air• will Piovide data upon which, it » hppec. a lnjh ck grec of accuracy in forecasting will be based,.

A good deal of Hying by,lmperial Airways pilots has been involved in obtaining the necessary observations. JtADIO CONTROL Results of this meteorological work are likely to influence, the selection of sites for Newfoundland's airport. The present proposal is to construct a landing ground out of virgin forest at 1 laities Camp and to equip it with an artificial runway capable of allowing all siy.es and types of laud-plane to take off and land. Consultations, to take place during September, have been arranged with an Air .Ministry expert; whose advice will be a chief factor in the ultimate decision. In the Atlantic service the principle of radio control is to be extended oven further than in the Continental services. Pilots will bo instructed as to course and as to landing places by radio in accordance with the weather reports. Thus the command of the aircraft appears to be passing gradually from the man in the air to the m-.m on the ground and this change is to be expected in view of tliol much more complete weather information available on the ground. ' The British authorities have believed; from the first that the trust worthiness ' obtained in modern Hying boats is sufficient to allow them (o operate in safety over long stretches of ocean provided only that they may be certain of finding a landing place free from fog at the riu\ of their flight, Nevertheless, they arc not neglecting the possibilities, and experimental transatlantic flights will bo made within the next few months by the , new de Havilland Albatross four-cngined . landplanc, which is expected to reach a speed of some 250 miles an hour. =========