The Taranaki Herald. (DAILY EVENING.) MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1913. CONQUEST OF THE AIR.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144198, 15 September 1913, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. (DAILY EVENING.) MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1913. CONQUEST OF THE AIR.

Gradually the risks of aviation are being reduced, and it may be confidently predicted that in a few years travelling by flying machine will be as safe as by other means, and much faster and pleasanter. The Bleriot stabilisator gives promise of overcoming the most difficult problem aviators have met with, that of restoring a machine’s equilibrium when from any cause it is disturbed in the air. An accident, may occur to some portion of the machinery, or what is called amair pocket may , without a second’s warning, upset the balance of an. aeroplane, and disaster results in many cases.' But the Bleriot stabilisator appears to provide an efficient safeguard against such happenings. Of course it will have to stand more tests than have yet been applied, but the extraordinary demonstrations'given lately at Juvisy by M. Pegoud at least favour the belief that it will do all that is claimed for it. With remarkable daring this aviator “looped tho loop,” as itrwere, with his monoplane. Having ascended to a height of 3000 feet, he caused the• monoplane to drop 1500-feet, turning-over as it dropped with the wheels uppermast, then recovering its normal position-rand rising sharply. ' He repeated the feat in the presenceof the French Army Aviation. Committce-withcornplete -success. A few days later a Russian aviator •described a complete vertical circle in the air, for which - deed of daring he Avas-punished. It would appear, however, that the com-plete-conquest of the air is on the eve of achievement, as complete,, that is to say, as is man’s conquest of thoocean, for it must not be expected that it will ever be possible to absolutely overcome and control the foi'ces of Nature. Oceau travelling is to-day as safe as travelling-by land, but now and* again a -disaster like that which; happened to the Titanic reminds us that the greatest precautions sometimes fail. So it will be with air travelling. The traffic has not grown sufficiently to add tho risk of collision to the others, hut it soon will, and then there will have to be regulations enacted to minimise that risk. This conquest of iho air is going to bo the outstanding achievement of the twentieth century. We have had the .iron age, the steel age, ihc age cf electricity, now the world is entering upon the flying age. The strides made in a few years have been nothing-short of marvellous. Five years ago few would entertain *lhe idea that aviation would; ever become anything more than an extremely dangerous sort of performance for a few reckless men who sought noforiety-or were-willing-do risk their lives for gain,, To-day for a small consideration anyone can experience the thrill of flying through the air without any very great risk. Five yearshence, perhaps, it may be possible for the New Zealander to take passage in a regular service of airships and spend the week-end in Sydney. What has so far been achieved has been at the cost of many lives, and a heavy further toll of human life is likely to be exacted before flying is as general and as safe as railway travelling. It is a toll, however, which must he paid if safety is to he ultimately achieved. Even such feats as that of M. Pegoud, foolhardy as it may seem, are necessary to

that end. motor-cars round a circular track at Brooklauds .at a hundred miles an hour may seem an unnecessary and foolhardy practice, but it is just by such means that the modern motor-car has been made the perfect machine it is. If everyone was content to travel at a speed not exceeding ten miles an hour the motor-car of last century would suffice, but to develop speed it was necessary to put cars to extreme tests in order to discover their weaknesses, so that they might be remedied. So it is with aeroplanes and other flying machines. Were aviators content to skim the surface of a level plain there would be few fatalities, but the flying machine would never, under those circumstances, be of much practical use. By risking their lives—and often losing them—men have, however, gradually overcome the disabilities and imperfections of the machines, and they will go on doing so until flying is safe and easy. And heavy as the toll of human life appears to have been, during the last three or four years, it is really small in comparison with what has been achieved.