AVIATION NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume 110, Issue 18518, 24 December 1931, Page 10

AVIATION NOTES.

FLYING ACCIDENTS. j THE HUn/IAN ELEMENT. ERRORS OF JUDGMENT. (From a Correspondent.) LONDON, Nov. 10. The importance of the human factor in the causation of flying accidents was stressed in vivid fashion by Captain Lamplugh, one of the world's leading authorities on aviation insurance, in a lecture which he gave a few days ago before the Royal Aeronautical Society, lie quoted statistics from Great Britain, the United States of America, France and Germany to show that “ at least ” half the accidents in those countries since January, 1928, were explained in the single phrase “ error of judgment. Accidents caused by structural failures of any kind, either in the aircraft or the power plant, have declined steadily and nowadays constitute a fraction of flying disasters. He dc- j dared that aviation is not inherently j dangerous, but that the air is no place for carelessness, incapacity or neglect. ! (Captain Lamplugh might legitimately j have applied the same remark to j motoring). Amateur pilots crash j through over-confidence, inadequate; training, lack of care and not irifre- j quently, deliberate foolhardiness; they j come into the worst category from the ; viewpoint of flying accidents, though j even here signs of recent marked im- | provement are lo he found. Analysis of the figures employed by i Captain Lamplugh show that an ami- I teur pilot is liable to suffer three main “ danger periods ” during his flying career. The first comes when the pilot Is Increasing ills solo flying time I from 20 to 30 hours, perhaps because j of insufficient dual training after lie j has taken his “ticket"; the second j between 80 and 100 hours, generally i associated with over-confidence, and. j the third, more difficult to compre-. j hend, between 500 and 600 hours, j The lecturer thought that the third j period might be attributed to lack of j recognition by the pilot, although lie ; is usually practically perfect in the , handling of his machine, that no de- j gree of skill can overcome the ele- j ments in certain conditions. ; Commercial aviation grows steadily : safer, an interesting point made by j Captain Lamplugh being the compara- j live immunity from serious injuries ; enjoyed by passengers in large mod- j ern metal aircraft. Even in a bad ! crash the metal fuselage stands up very well under Impact and severe j stress. Structural .failure, he added, j remains a more serious cause of acci- j dent to big aircraft abroad than ip 1 Britain. Taken all in all, the lecture promises well for the future. The : Onus of avoiding accidents is placed • mainly on the pilot, and more espoo- | ially on the amateur. The remedies, j already effecting marked Improve- i ments in the chief flying countries, j are obvious and, given the right attl- ! tude towards aviation as a swift j means of transport rather than a med- 1 ium -for circus-like tricks and sell- j display, simple to apply. In a phrase, most flying accidents are entirely unnecessary. Exploring tho “ Stratosphere.” One Of the most daring and picturesque adventures in the history of j aviation —an ascent in an immense i balloon to a height of 15 or 16 miles i above the earth’s surface—is planned ! by two brothers who are partners in one of the oldest and best known of British aircraft constructing Arms. j A few months ago a Belgian pro- | fessor startled the world by ascend- i ing nearly ten miles, using a large ! ballbon from which was suspended j a * hermetically sealed aluminium j sphere. Within that ball of metal the professor and his assistant rose 1 , at astonishing speed to the region of , intensely rarefied upper air styled the j “ stratosphere," which lies far above j the surface of the globe and the breakable lower layers of the atmosphere. | Physicists, and in particular the j w’eather experts, believe that muchj may be learned by study of conditions ] prevailing in the stratosphere, and numbers of tiny “ observation ” bal- j loons, carrying recording instruments, l have been sent aloft in efforts fo discover what goes on so far above the earth. Now man himself is beginning i purposeful exploration of the upper air.

The two British high-altitude explorers, Mr Eustace and Mr Oswald Short, began building aeroplanes as far back as 1909, and since then their firm has gained a world-wide reputation in the design and construction of many types of flying machine. Tlieir large flyinjg boats have 'been particularly successful, Including the three-engined “ Calcutta ’’ boats used by the Royal Air Force and by Imperial Airways, and the new fourengined “ Kent ’’ air liners which rank among the largest passenger-carrying marine aircraft yet placed in service anywhere in the world. They are, therefore, eminently fitted for the task of constructing a balloon which in capacity will bo the largest ever built ami the still more difficult work of building liio sphere of light metal to contain Hie aeronauts and their elaborate equipment. No less than 27 years ago, Mr Eustace Short, who Is a keen balloonist, and aeroplane pilot, had thoroughly Investigated the problems of an ascent to great heights in just this kind of hermetically sealed sphere. Recently lie and his brother have worked intensively on the project, which is being planned with a care that should ensure success on the scientific as well as the aeronautical side. Every device modern science can suggest will he included in the equipment of the sphere, In addition to special breathing apparatus and a wireless Iransmil Icr intended for the. sending out of messages at brief intervals all through 1110 lllght. For Hie first time a human voice may he. heard by listeners ou earth speaking from the appalling height of more Ilian SO,OOO feet. Calculations show that 1 lie vast balloon should reach ils maximum height in Hie incredibly brief space of one hour. After remaining there just long enough to make the proposed readings the aeronauts, who will probably take, with them a skilled scientific observer, will begin a slow descent. From start. In finish the ad\future should last six or seven hours. The most, likely place for Ihc ascent is Gnrdinglon, tilt a few months ago the active headquarters of the Director,ile of Airship Devel0| men! and at one lime designated to he Britain's main airship port. So

little Is known about the air currents prevailing in the stratosphere that no mon can estimate exactly where the balloon will land; It may touch the ground once more as far east as the steppes of Russia. World Civil Aviation. Latest figures show that there are more than 17,000 civil aircraft in the world —air liners and other machines in commercial operation, privately owned aeroplanes and craft employed by clubs and other sporting organisations. Approximately two thousand of this total are engaged In regular air transport all over the world. In all classes the numbers steadily increase, in spite of the financial blizzard which has swept the world in the past three years. Though the United Stales, a land of great wealth and wide spaces eminently suited for aerial development, is still predominant in numbers of civil machines, important progress is being made in many other lands and it is even possible that some of the countries —China and Argentina, (oi example—which at present stand very low In the list may within a few years rank among the leading users ol commercial and privately owned aeroplanes. The chief nations in the British Empire, Great Britain herself, Canada, Australia, India and South Africa, show an aggregate of civil aircraft in use considerably larger than in any previous year, and the prospects there too are practically illimitable. Considered as a unit the British Empire is an easy second among the nations, with Franco and lu;r Empire third and Germany fourth.

Commercial aviation is by no means confined to Hie rapid transport of passengers or malls. The aeroplane is used nowadays in an astonishing diversity of ways—in survey and photography, dusting of crops against insect pests, aerial advertising, taxiwork, prospecting of ail kinds, newspaper distribution and high speed news-getting, forest patrol, fire lighting and many oilier fields of endeavour.