ROSE 500 FEET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16553, 12 October 1921, Page 7

ROSE 500 FEET.

HELICOPTER CRASHES. PILOT SAVED BY NEW DEVICE. AERIAL LIFEBELT IN USE. By Telegraph P re** Association—Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received October 12, 9.25 a.ni.) LONDON, October 11. During an experimental flight at Earn borough, Brennan's helicopter crashed from an altitude of 500 feet. 1 ho noise was heard a mile away. The pilot and observer were practically unhurt, having used a special protective basket device, which can be manipulated in an emergency to envelop the user. A London message on August 20 said : 'The ‘Daily Chronicle’ states that tests of the Brennan helicopter continue to progress satisfactorily at Farnborough, though the machine still is in the experimental stage. Elaborate precautions are taken to keep the results of the trials secret. Thus far trials have been conducted under cover, but it is understood that oi>en air flights will shortly be attempted.” AERIAL LIFEBELT. The announcement that Brennan's helicopter rose 500 feet is of the utmost interest to the world of aviation, since the helicopter is in effect an aeroplane designed to overcome the problem of hovering flight, which, would entirely revolutionise aerial warfare, principally in the matter of bomb dropping, and would also eliminate the for wide landing grounds. The helicopter, when perfected, will be. able to rise vertically front almost anv point without the prelimiitnrv run of an ordinary aeroplane and similarly it will be able to land oil a very small plot, or even on a roof. Of even greater interest than the flight of the helicopter is the announcement that the pilot and observer used what appears to be an effective aerial lifebelt. Up to the present, the lack of such a device has been the greatest handicap to aviation. Parachutes have been devised to open in a drop of 200 feet, but unfortunately the majority or accidents occur so near the ground that it is impossible to rely on a parachute even if it could be manipulated in time. Mr Brennan evidently used a device intended for any altitude, and details oi the invention will lx? awaited with even greater interest than details of tho helicopter. The crash of the helicopter cannot be taken as a set back to Mr Brennan’s, since the inventor is now furnished, presumably, with the causes of the weakness that resulted in the crash. In the history of aeronautics, unfortunately many inventors have lost their lives in testing their own theories, and the pilot’s miraculous escape from death in a fall of 500 feet opens up a new prospect, in the testing of new machines. Engine failure, apparently, was not the cause of the Present disaster. for the helicopter had the means of gliding to earth. The report that the crash was heard a mile airar suggests that the machine was completely out of control during its falL and the probability is that the accident ooocenred in the transition from upward flight to horizontal flight.