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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1263.PDF
MAY 13, 1937. FLIGHT. 475 Topics of the Day More Qadgetry D URING the past few months I have flown or been flown in so many machines'with a full complement, of devices that I have lost most of my initial fear that such complications might add to the danger of flying ; in fact, I feel almost lost when I enter a machine with the barest essentials. I suggest that gadgetry, as such, merely demands additional concentration during the first hour or so, and that one's attentions thereto should eventually be as instinctive as they are during the pro cess, for instance, of working through the gears up to cruising speed in a car. A year ago the thought of being in charge of a machine with flaps, a v.p. airscrew and a manifold pressure gauge would have meant sleepless nights. One lives and learns. Provided that the machine itself is good and viceless there is no reason to view such complications with any mis givings. There will always be the completely simple machine for the absolute novice, and the more expert pilot will always demand the better performance which inevitably means the steady addition of one gadget after another. In the course of a few hours last week I flew one aero plane with four instruments and four controls, and an other with twenty-four instruments and twenty-four con trols of one sort or another. After an initial period of rubber-necking and being decidedly hot round the collar 1 was just as at home in the second as I was in the first; I am always nervous, in any case, of a new type, whether simple or otherwise. Passenger Nerves WE all know the car passenger who is also a driver and makes life a misery by reminding one of this or that, and by pressing the floorboards so very hard that one can hear the body creaking. I have every sympathy with him, and sometimes suffer the same kind of feeling when I am a helpless passenger in an airline machine which is being flown blind for a very long period. Yet it is only necessary to be in a position of knowing what is going on up in front to be perfectly happy in the very worst circumstances. Hence the fact that other wise normal air-line pilots are not disturbed too much by a succession of accidents to other machines. The matter is in their hands and they are much too busy to give more than a quickly passing thought to any possible dangers. During the aforementioned few hours I also spent a matter of three in the control cabin of a transport aero plane which was on the job. In that three hours I saw the ground for perhaps ten minutes or a quarter of an hour in all—and the sky not at all. As a passenger I should have been bothered by needless anxiety; as a watching and working member of the crew I was com pletely happy even when the machine was being brought in on a succession of bearings through a cloud base which was perilously low. The reason is obvious. Not only could I see all the instruments, but I also read the radio messages as they were transmitted and received, and knew almost exactly where we were during the entire flight. Carried out with expert precision, the whole business appeared simple and safe, and the only possible danger was that the radio equipment might elect to fade out altogether at some critical moment. Unfortunately, I am told on good authority that some of our transport pilots are not so expert, and that a few of them have a blind hatred of cloud-flying, and an irre sistible urge to go " down and look " at the most inoppor tune moments. The powers that be should surely look into that accusation. Such tactics simply will not do. Either we wash out all attempts to fly in bad weather or we do it thoroughly and with absolute confidence in the methods used. Half-hearted blind-flying is the most dan gerous thing in the world, and has been at least part of the cause of quite a few accidents which have occurred during the last few years. Business Support FROM time to time since the start of the movement various flying clubs have been formed by and for the personnel of certain firms, but never before have the business chiefs themselves taken such a useful interest as they are doing in the case of the newly formed Midland Bank Flying Club. I mention it only because the idea of real encouragement, by the people who can afford to give it, might well spread throughout the country. In this case the directors have always taken a very real interest in the sports activities of the bank employees, and the flying club is just one more branch which must show its value in due course if the support is to be in definitely provided. Some idea of the extent of this support may be gauged from the fact that members' flying up to the "A" licence stage is covered by the annual subscription alone, and that thereafter the members can fly for 10s. an hour! Obviously, few of the ordinarily salaried employees of any firm can afford to do much flying at normal club or school rates, but the members of this club should each be able to afford an hour's flying every week without unduly straining their finances. Other business houses please copy. INDICATOR.
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