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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 1313.PDF
DECEMBER 13, 1934. FLIGHT. 1317 The Outlooks A Running Commentary on Air Topics Fog Landings / T can, perhaps, be considered a lucky coincidence that wireless developments have marched hand in hand with aeronautical progress. Modern air travel in northern latitudes would only be possible on three hundred of the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year if the pilots and control staff were without its help. Flying out of a fogbound aerodrome with a modern machine is safe enough so long as the '' arrival'' aerodrome is reasonably clear and so long as the pilot can learn imme- diately of any change there for the worse. The time has now come when absolutely reliable methods of fog approach and actual landing are needed if flying is to become the accepted method of first-class high-speed transport. Given the necessary space and the necessary clear ap- proaches, a method such as " ZZ " is safe enough, but it depends on the control officer and is difficult when more than one or two machines are waiting to be given the '' all clear." Passenger machines simply cannot be left in mid- air while another pilot makes several attempts to get in. With regular blind landings, there must come the com- mercial aeroplane which will sink fairly gently and under complete control in the stalled attitude. Wireless Control T Croydon they are doing wonders ; day after day air liners are brought over from the Continent and into the aerodrome, often without their pilots having seen anything of the ground from the time they took off. With the growth of traffic, the air is rapidly becoming crowded with radio transmissions as well as with aero- planes, and already serious difficulties are experienced owing to the limitations of the wave band allotted for this work. It is pleasing to learn, therefore, that a short-wave trans- mitter will soon be installed at Croydon, primarily for the purpose of inter-station communication, but also so that the possibilities of short-wave work with aircraft can be tried out. Short-wave transmission generally obviates difficulties due to atmospheric interference, but it also makes the elimination of noise due to the engine-ignition system more important than ever. Ignition Screening 'r HOSE who examined the American engines of the aeroplanes taking part in the England-Australia Air Race will have been struck with the neat and prac- tical way in which the ignition systems were screened in order to prevent interference with the wireless equipment. .' Our engines have their ignition leads from the magnetos vto the plugs each individually braided and clipped together •fn bundles. If one lead fails the whole mass has to be nn- clipped before the faulty lead can be replaced. The Ameri- can system provides a large metal screening conduit which is attached to the magnetos by a detachable plug, and to the sparking plugs by detachable short lengths of braided .'cable. Inside the conduit are short lengths of unbraided, and therefore light, cable running from the magneto con- nection to the sparking plug lead connections. Any short length can be replaced with ease, the system is much neater, and the use of a great deal of heavy and expensive braided cable is obviated. In England the general policy has been for all military aircraft to be most carefully screened, but commercial users of aeroplanes have jibbed at the cost and trouble. Wire- less manufacturers have therefore endeavoured to produce installations which do not call for much screening of the ignition system. However, with the increased sensitivity demanded of receivers screening is becoming more neces- sary, and there would seem to be an opening here for a manufacturer of complete screened-ignition systems ready for fitting to various engines. This is done in America, but not, so far, in this country. It is a specialist's job, and one which demands greater attention than it has so far received. Performance With Economy 7 JEAVILY loaded commercial aeroplanes require maxi- J~l mum power for the take-off. To achieve this, high- compression and/or supercharged engines are being fitted. These engines require a high-octane fuel when full power is used, otherwise detonation and loss of power occurs. Fuel of a high octane value is expensive, but with- out it machines of this nature cannot get into the air with a full load. A solution which permits the use of full power when re- quired, but which allows economy to be practised at other times, has been evolved by some of the American air lines. A small tank is fitted containing fuel of 87 octane value, which is used for the take-off. For cruising the supply is changed over to the main tanks, which contain a cheaper fuel of only 80 octane value. ••-•-•• - - • - Flapped Safety •'..: * r. :,: '• i / UDGING from the experiences of a member x>i the Staff of Flight who has been flying the first British light aero- plane to be fitted with split flaps, the possibilities of safer flying have not, by any means, been exhausted. This particular machine lands somewhere ' off the clock," glides in slowly and steeply and under full control at any speed down to 40 m.p.h., and cruises at about 125-130 m.p.h. The complete speed range has a ratio in the vicinity of four to one—which is quite unusual for a standard machine. Nevertheless, this wide speed range is not the most useful feature of the machine. By means of the flaps the novice pilot can obtain a wide variety of safe approach angles at will, and can put this usefully fast machine into very small aerodromes and fields without difficulty and without resorting to dangerously slow flying. :," ... r The Future FOR a number of years joy-flying pilots have been inthe habit of using extremely small fields with a varietyof aeroplanes, and they have learnt to bring in the most unsuitable machines " on the edge of nothing." But when the novice starts this sort of thing he is liable to appear in the following day's front-page news. His alterna- tive is to fly a type which can be brought in slowly with safety and which, consequently, does not usually possess a particularly high operating speed. There is no doubt that similar devices will alter all our ideas of performance range and will bring the low- powered 200 m.p.h. machine, which, at present, is safe only in expert hands, into the private owner's category. Meanwhile the use of split flaps has been shown, in just one case, to be entirely without unpleasant control effects. What has been done once can be done again. We no longer need to look on flaps as useful fittings only for the pilot who fully realises their dangers in careless ';peration.
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