FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1914
1914 - 0392.PDF
ARMCHAIR 1 By THE Aviation as a Career. IT is Wednesday, April the first, and I am writing these reflections nearly a week before they will be wanted to provide employment for the gentleman of the white apron, who so dexterously picks out small types from little boxes into which I could never find room to place finger and thumb. There must be some reason for this burst of energy, but I may as well disown right away that the date has anything to do with it. The fact of the matter is, that this dreary old world, represented at the moment, so far as I personally am concerned, by a very fine view of the printing works, is bathed in brilliant sunshine. As I sit at my desk, I can see through the windows opposite many of those white-aproned gentlemen, one of whom is, no doubt, busy setting up all that interesting and valuable information about the legal aspect of loitering on roads which a cold, wet day caused me to write over a week ago. To-day I could not write of law. To-day I have no thought for long, cold corridors round and about courts of justice. To-day I can easily put from me thoughts of ushers in black shoulder-capes who cry for " Silence " at inopportune moments, when nobody but counsel is speaking. To-day I hear not the hum of subdued voices as Leader and Junior talk matters over together, to the embarrasment of counsel on his feet. Through my open window comes to me the buzz and rumble of giant machinery, which tells me that our sister-journal of the " Yellow Cover," born one day earlier each week than her twin sister FLIGHT, is in the press and spreading her inky information over miles of pure, white paper, preparatory to starting on her journey to the four quarters of the world early to-morrow morning. To me, this buzz is not of machinery but of bees. It is warm and pleasant to-day, and it requires no effort to locate that buzz in the far corner of the orchard, under the apple trees. If I close my eyes for a moment, the breeze, entering by the window and playing with my hair, is the breeze from off the sea. I am at full length on the top of the cliff, cap pulled over eyes, and pipe in mouth, and I dream what reflections I would dream did modern journalism and a benevolent editor but permit of my working (save the word) under conditions of my own choosing. King Sol is responsible for making this a day on which I want to do things, the more so that I know that in all probability to-morrow will be but a repetition of the wet, cold, miserable days of the past few weeks. On a fine sunny day I feel a quiet joy—at peace with all the world. Should the man I saw last week happen along now, he could touch me for the value of a whole week's luncheons, but should he read this I warn him that to-morrow may be wet, and I shall be in a different mood. There are days when I write this page because I am paid to do it j days when I would rather do anything than write; but to-day, because the sun is shining, I can, in my exuberance, enter with equanimity upon any task usual to the journalist. It is for that reason that I have saved by me, awaiting the first summer day, a newspaper cutting, which I realised I could not deal with until I was brought to the proper frame of mind under the genial influence of the sun. DREAMER. On this day, then, I am prepared to see eye-to-eye with the writer of the cutting in question, but will admit that I am more than suspicious, that on a cold, wet day, I might not be prepared to go quite so far along the line of enthusiasm in his estimable company. The paper in question is, at the moment, running an Information Bureau—a kind of answers to questions—in which they give, no doubt, the best advice they can on a variety of subjects. Here is something asked by a correspondent: " What are the prospects of aviation as a career ? How can I learn aviation ?—Ambitious (West Kensington)." In reply, they give, as a first paragraph, the verdict of Mr. Richard Gates, of the London Aerodrome: " The prospects which I see opening up in the next few years are in every way excellent. But in aviation there is no room for the man who is merely fascinated by the glamour of the career. The man of intelligence and hard work can always get on." With this I am in perfect accord, and had it ended with the words of an expert, I should not have had to wait for a sunny day. " If a man is a good pilot he can always obtain engagements. His pay will vary with his ability, and with the terms under which he is paid. Mileage, records, and passengers carried are all items which help to swell the pilot's fee. One pilot at Hendon earned about ^1,500 last year; ^500 and ;£6oo is almost the minimum for a good man." In agreeing that one pilot at Hendon may have earned the amount mentioned, I will, seeing that it is a sunny day, try to believe the latter state ment also. I realise that the statement is qualified by the word " good," but the definition of what constitutes a good pilot should not be so very hard to arrive at. I have, of course, no data to go upon as to the earnings of the many pilots of my acquaintance, but I happen to be sufficiently in the confidence of several whom I should certainly class as good to know that they would be very pleased indeed to accept office with any firm of standing who would be willing to pay them a salary equal to the amount mentioned. Pilots are undoubtedly men of the large-hearted variety, and the risks they take in the execution of their duty are out of all proportion to the pay received. There is, of course, a great fascination in flying, and in addition it is a healthy life, tending to make a man robust and light-hearted; but I am afraid some of the employers have a tendency to look on it as a healthful recreation, into which men are pleased to come, and to underrate their worth as acces sories to their business. After all, aviation is a business, so far as flying, apart from Government flying, is con cerned, and when a man is sufficiently master of his art that he can be trusted to take valuable machines and lives up into the air, every day, year in and year out, in any kind of weather; when, in fact, he has become a complete master of the art of airmanship, he is a valuable asset to his employers, and should receive remuneration comparable with the position he occupies; and this being a sunny day it pleases me to think that he does so. ® ® ® ® Aeronautics at Yale. IN connection with the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University, it is proposed to establish a course in aeronautical engineering, under the direction of Prof. Breckenridge, which may be taken by the mechanical engineering students.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
