CANADIAN AIR SUPREMACY.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17761, 7 December 1929, Page 6

CANADIAN AIR SUPREMACY.

I TRAFFIC SURPASSES UNITED STATES. When it was announced in WashJ ington the other day that more pasj sengers were carried by aeroplane in Canada in 1928 than in the United I States, and that Canadian ’planes | carried more freight than American machines, there was amazement and some incredulity even in Ottawa among thosd who are in touch with flying. The Dominion’s flying largely is done out of sight of reporters j and cameramen, and it is only in ocj casional flashes that there is revealed ! the development which has placed this country in the very forefront of the nations in the adaptation of. the aeroplane to the purposes of business and industry. It was surprising to learn that Can- ! ada last year carried 74.580 passengers by ’plane and 2,404,682 pounds of freight. Eastern Canada has but a comparatively minor share in this business o.f the skyways. The only regular passenger route in the East is between Montreal and Albany. There are mail routes and more are | being added steadily to link closer 1 with civilisation isolated and outlying j I posts, but the passenger business is } not extensive. Most of those 74,689 I passengers were carried in districts where trains are not available and where dhe alternative is a dog team in the winter and a canoe by summer. Miners and prospectors have learned air-mindedness, and in Northern _ Ontario and Northern Manitoba they commonly use ’plane to save perhaps week, or even months, in journeys to inaccessible regions. Government machines carry on extensive aerial surveys in the bleak and inhospitable areas of the sub-Arctic, and soon'few parts of the country will not have, been mapped and studied.' Forest patrol by air is an old story, of course, but this means of flr e prevention each year,is attaining greater importance. Development of the northern parts of the Prairie Provinces has been expedited by years through the use of ’planes. One Winnipeg company last year carried more than 10,000 passengers, speeding up incalculably j the acquisition of knowledge concerning mineral areas, and topographical conditions. (

Not a little credit of Canada’s place in the world of the air belongs to the

flying clubs, of which more than a

score now are operating with the as-

sistance of the Federal Government

They have probably close to 4000 members, men and a few women who

are learning to fly or have learned in light aeroplanes. About 500 members already have passed their tests and obtained certificates as private pilots, and fifty or so in addition have

ilcenses as commercial pilots. In most important cities the flying club is a feature of community life, and

aviation is taken up as a hobby and

a recreation by those who can afford

it, much as motoring was followed

when the automobile was more of a

novelty,

One wealthy member of the Ottawa Club is preparing to build a suburban residence with a private landing field

at his back door