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Aviation History
1920
1920 - 0198.PDF
-••-• .- • ' * . -•*/-•'••". ." /FEBRUARY 19, 1920 Accidents and their Causes We find from the figures supplied that there was a total of 18 accidents during the period covered by the returns. Of these four resulted in the death of one or more occupants of machines. Eight caused non-fatal accidents to persons riding in machines. One accident caused the death of a third party, and five were unattended by injury to indi- viduals. Analysis shows that there was one accident result that collision occurs and a fine ship is sent to the bottom. The driver of a car underestimates his speed at a corner and piles his car up in a field. So in the case of aircraft, it is impossible to eliminate the factor of human judgment, and if we get rid of every other cause of accident that must still be present. But how really small a quantity this is may be very adequately judged by the statistics with which we are dealing, and which show that there is actually one to every 32,900 miles flown, and that the time flown error of judgment involving accident to a machine per accident was about 465 hours. One accident per 1,960 flights happened—a very fine demonstration of the safety of aerial travel. If we take the number of fatal accidents for purposes of comparison, we find that one person was killed for every 100,000 miles flown. We doubt if any other method of transport can show better figures than these. At least two of the recorded accidents can be properly classed as avoidable. One was due to the jamming of aileron controls, which certainly ought not to happen if the design is right in the first place and frequent inspection is properly insisted upon while the machine is in use. The second avoidable accident seems to have been caused by a back-fire from the motor causing the ignition of petrol vapour in the cockpit of the machine. Proper placing of the petrol tank and the provision of suitable gauzes in the induc- tion manifold would seem to be called for in the case of machines of this type. The greater proportion of accidents were caused by engine failure. Six cases were recorded, and it must be said that so small a number, averaging one to every 100,000 miles flown, is not at all a bad record. Still, we have always to keep in mind that we are striving for that relative perfection in engine design and construction which shall ensure that there shall be no failures at all. We doubt not that this high degree of reliability will be reached before long. Obviously the record indicates that already we are within measurable distance of it now, so there need be no misgivings on the score of what we may term ultimate reliability of the motor. In this connection it would have been interesting to have known the precise causes of such failures as are disclosed in the returns. It would have been valuable to have learnt whether such failures were due to ignition trouble, valve breakages or other valve defects, or defects in the petrol system. If we were to hazard a guess we should say that the greater proportion were due to ignition failure, but as to that the returns say nothing. Two accidents were caused by errors of judgment on the part of pilots, and a similar number to weather conditions. Unintentional interference with the dual control caused one accident, while one of the recorded fatalities was caused by a pony-trap crossing the line of flight as the machine was leaving the ground. The really unavoidable accidents seem to have been those caused by errors of judgment and by weather condi- tions. It is perfectly obvious that however in- herently safe any method of transport may be, there is always the human factor to be taken into account. It does not matter whether the mode be railway or steamer, motor car or aircraft, there must always "be present a certain, almost infinitesimal, danger from failure of the human mechanism. The railway signal- man pulls a wrong lever and an accident happens involving, possibly, the loss of a score or more of lives. The officer in charge of the bridge on a liner mis- calculates and gives a wrong helm order, with the not necessarily fatal or even accompanied by personal injury—for every quarter of a million miles flown. If anyone wants a safer means of transport than is connoted by this essentially simple fact, well, he will have to look for it elsewhere than on this very im- perfect planet. The Price of Petrol At a time when commercial aviation is striving to keep its head above water and to place aerial services on a re- munerative basis, the price to which fuel has soared is an exceedingly serious matter for the industry. The recent findings of the sub-committee appointed to investigate the subject, under the powers delegated to the Central Profiteering Committee, have resulted in the considered statement that there is no justification for the continual upward trend of prices, and that there is no reason why the cost of petrol should be morethan 2s. io\d. per gallon retail, and that of benzole 2s. &\d. per gallon. There is some reason for the belief that certain members of the sub-committee were in favour of declaring that the proper price should be in the neighbourhood of 8d. per gallon less than the figures given above. Unfortunately, "it is quite impossible for the Govern- ment to take effective action to regulate the prices charged for motor fuel. The moment anything of the kind was attempted there is no reasonable room for doubt that all motor fuel would disappear from the market, and would go to other countries where people are prepared to pay the extortionate prices demanded by the get-rich-quick combines which control supplies. So that we are faced with the position that while it is essential to the proper development of transport, land and aerial, that a plentiful supply of motor fuel at a cheap price should be available, costs are soaring out of sight, and the end has not, if we are not mis- informed as to the intentions of the trusts, come yet. We confess that the remedy seems far to seek. Development of home sources of supply is one way out of the difficulty, but it is obvious that this cannot be done in a day or a year. There is a remedy, if it can be applied, and one that we think would result in almost immediate relief. It is this : apply the principles of the League of Nations to what is really a vital matter for the world's transport. Now, there are but four, possibly five, countries in Europe which are really petrol users. Britain, France, Italy, and, to a smaller extent, Spain, are those we have in mind. Germany normally uses a great deal of motor fuel, but her circumstances are such now that she may be left out of the argument without affecting the position. We know that if we refuse to pay the prices demanded by the trusts we shall get no petrol, and that it will all go to the other countries we have named. There- fore, it is useless for our own Government alone to attempt to control prices ; but what if all the countries involved in the trust operations fixed a common price ? The Profiteering Committee finds that the price is too high, and that it should not exceed 198
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