RADIO FOR AIRPLANES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 669, 22 May 1929, Page 16

RADIO FOR AIRPLANES

TUITION OF PILOTS ACCIDENT SAFEGUARDS That all New Zealand airplanes should be equipped with radio apparatus, is the interesting suggestion made by an Auckland listener. In a letter he says: ‘SThough it is. a simple matter for local critics of the Southern Cross’s radio equipment to lean back and remark ‘I told you so’ when they heard the news of her mishap in the practically barren wilderness of Northwestern Australia, it ill becomes these same critics to sit back and await a similar mishap—perhaps this time a fatal one—in this country, when they have the opportunity to make New Zealand ‘air-safe.’ “We possess in the Association of Radio Transmitters a body whose attainments are the envy of many an older country. Apart from such cases as the recent mishap to the Mission schooner, radio, with many, is little more than an interesting hobby, and no effort is made by the association to make it more so, though the opportunity has long knocked at the N.Z.A.R.T.’s door. It is evident that it waits for an institution with a keenly developed ‘air-sense’ to take the matter up; for instance, The Sun. “Other countries have their air force communication reserve consisting of amateur transmitters, and I would suggest that the New Zealand people ought to at once get in touch with the aero clubs of the Dominion and form such a reserve with the object of (a) giving local pilots, free, the necessary morse and technical instruction which would otherwise—owing to the cost—not be done; (b) the installation of a transmitting-set at each of the aldromes and at least one portable set, ready for instant use on a flight; (c) getting into touch with the Post and Telegraph Department for permission to use such a portable set on any flight, to be operated, even though he is unlicensed, by the pilot. “A set capable of transmitting on the 30-metre band receivable in most parts of New Zealand could be built complete with the power supply for £lO, and would occupy about 12iu x Bin x 6in, and would weigh complete about 91b. “The set I have in mind is a single dial control, and one switch. The switch is to enable the operator to switch from transmiting to receiving, and with this set there is no need for an elaborate aerial. In case of forced landings a wire from wing-top to tail would do, and owing to the elimination of the generator the risk of fire is less imminent. The most fragile part of the set is the valves. These, however, have already been dropped 600 ft as an advertising stunt and emerged undamaged. “Such a set as this would have avoided much anxiety on the occasion of the forced landing at the Ships’ Cove.” CELERITAS.