ALMOST FLIES ITSELF

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 63, Issue 4463, 13 August 1941, Page 3

ALMOST FLIES ITSELF

MANEOUVRABILITY OF AEROPLANE. LfiARN TO FLY IN TWO HOURS. I don’t know how to fly. But 1 took an aeroplane off the ground at Newark, turned over the controls long enough for the real pilot to get some altitude, and then did a very passable job of piloting the ship across Long Island and the 1 Sound to the’* Connecticut shore, writes A. D. Hughes in the Christian Science Monitor. There with the weather thickening a bit and with darkness falling fast pilot took over and brought us into New Haven—where I caught a train for Boston I would have been unable to catch in time in New York. The ’plane I was piloting gave me a real thrill of pride—local pride—for it is the first aeroplane to be built in Massachusetts in nearly 15 years. Oddly enough, it is being manufactured at the same plant at the Lowell Airport in south Lowell where back in 1926 the De Havilland Moth a sport ’plane, was manufactured under a license from the English company. TO SPEED TRAINING. Charles W. Sutherland, President of the company, a veteran pilot and well known in local aviation circles, told me without any reservation that he could take a casual passerby off the street and with an hour’s training he would be able to “solo” one of these planes. If the person could drive a car, Mr Sutherland said he could not only solo, but also make perfectly banked turns after two hours. With 10 hours’ instruction, he told me, a pilot could make “spot” and precision landings and begin to get the hang of judgment in distance weather phenomena, air speed and other factors that make “just” a pilot a “good pilot.” With Professor Otto C. Koppen. of Massachusetts Institute of Technolog'y, designer of the plane, Mr Sutherland had a pioneer model built incorporating conclusions as to what a safe aeroplane should have. Beginning backward, as it were. It worked startlingly well, too. From this point they began to try and throw out many ideas, carefully

scouted whatever “safety” plane designs there were, for the “faults” they might have and tried to avoid them in their own design. Whqji the right time came—two years ago—they got financial backing and used their money to perfect their design and work it up into a ship having eye appeal as well as good flying characteristics. When they got through they had a plane which, in he language of the C.A.A., is “characteristicaly incapable of spinning.” It could take off and land in a cross wind and handled well on the ground because of

its tricycle landing gear. In take-off the flaps give the added “lift” which aid the rise from the ground and in landing provide the “drag” which slows the landing speed and permits a rapid descent. In the air the plane is turned by its ailerons through the same control which steers the nose wheel of the tricycle geat on the ground. It is a high wing monoplane for better flap action, seats two in side by side arrangement and has suitable interior fittings and baggage space. The Skyfarer, translated to automobile terms, will give you more than 20

miles to a gallon of gas, 500 miles' to a quart of oil has a range of _350 miles and cruising speed of 95 miles an hour. Slower, possibly, than other ships of the same type, but sacrificed* for the safety features. At presentthe ship retails for 2500 dollars, but there is a very interesting story behind this. If it were not for the war and themetai priorities, Mr Sutherland told me, this plane could be worked down' on a production basis to about 1000 dollars. At present there are only' about 85 woikmen at the Lowell plant.