AERIAL NAVIGATION

New Zealand Tablet, 4 November 1909, Page 1733

AERIAL NAVIGATION

COST OF FLYING

Aviation is now so much ' in the air ' — especially since the great week at Rheims — that a few words as to the cost of the new means of locomotion can hardly fail to interest our readers. The triumph of Bleriot, the first man to fly across the Channel, was dearly bought — that is, in regard to the expenditure of money. It is nine years ago since he made his first aeroplane, and since then he has spent about £20,000 in aerial experiments. This amount gives some idea of the costliness of striving for the mastery of the air. While Bleriot, however, has expended £20,000, the German Government have been spending hundreds of thousands. Last year no less than £107,000 was spent by the Fatherland on the actual construction, of aeroplanes and dirigible balloons, in addition to which £300,000 was contributed by the nation to a fund which has been used to equip a factory capable of turning out ten Zeppelins a year. What a contrast to the £5000 spent by the British Government last year on aerial experiments, and the £78,000 which Mr. Haldane announces will be spent on aeronautics during the current year ! Sold for £80,000. Altogether Zeppelin spent £25,000 on his aerial experiments before he obtained subsidies from the Government and syndicates, although he is said to have sold one of his airships, with its shed, for £80,000 to the German Government. An airship of the Zeppelin type costs between £30,000 and £40,000 to construct, and recently a German engineer, apropos of the suggested passenger service by airship between different points in Germany, made an interesting calculation of the expenses and profits. A dirigible "of about 20,000 cubic yards like the Zeppelin would require to be half-reinfiated once a week, he estimates, and this process would consume 40,00Q cubic yards of gas a month. At about 2d per cubic yard, the cost of the lifting force would be £335 a month, or £2010 per year, reckoning the actual service as extending over six months. Cost of Voyages. The airship has two 150 h.p. motors, the working of which costs in petrol and oil £1 10s per hour. On the assumption that the day's work consists of twelve hours, and the airship works twenty days a month, the "motivepower for the six months will cost £2160. * The staff would consist of a captain at a salary of £400, two steersmen receiving £250 each, and four engineers at £150. The total expenditure on the staff on board would therefore be £1500. The dirigible would have to pay at each aerial station a duty of about £10 for each stoppage, and this item" would amount to £1200 for 120 annual voyages. The total cost of each voyage would be about £200. A dirigible of 20,000 cubic yards can carry from 25 to 30 passengers, but supposing that it takes on an average 20 passengers, the cost per passenger would be £10 for a twelve hours' voyage. If an aerial company, thereforej charged £15 for a voyage, it would allow itself a good margin for profit. Prizes to-be Won. Aeroplanes, of course, cost " much less, varying form £250 to £1500. The Wright machine is priced at £1400, although the inventors have spent many times that amount in perfecting their machine. -_ ■ Incidentally it is interesting to note that there are still an enormous number of prizes to be won by aviators.