CHAPTER XII
PROBLEMS AND PROGRESS
IT would be wrong to attempt to lure people into the air with any false assurances that everything connected with aviation runs like clock-work. It doesn't. Because the whole industry is so new it probably has more difficulties proportionately than many others. Growing pains are inevitable. Aviation is only now emerging into the status of an industry. Hitherto it has been largely a jumble of gallant individual efforts. Even today, there are more independent producers of airplanes than there are automobile manufacturers. The survival of the fittest, with accompanying combinations, will come just as they have come in the motor industry.
2500 FEET UP—A. E. AND MRS. PUTNAM SIGN THE GUEST BOOK OF JAS. H. RAND'S TRIMOTORED FORD THE "REM-RAND"
A. E., THEA RASCHE, RUTH NICHOLS, AT THE WESTCHESTER-BILTMORE
Most present-day manufacturers are swamped with orders. Eventually the better products will survive. In plane buying the same sort of selection as prevails with automobiles-—that is, that based on quality—will become effective.
No thoughtful person associated with aviation makes any claims as to the infallibility of air equipment. Of course there are accidents. The surprising part is not how many, but how few, there are.[1]There is an element of unfairness in comparing mechanical failures and human errors on the ground, with those in the air. The results are so different—as matters stand today. An automobile engine gives out. Normally the worst that happens is a stalled car, and some resulting inconvenience. Even if a wheel comes off the damage, and danger, is comparatively slight. But let an accident of similar magnitude occur in the air, and the consequences may be serious. Serious, that is, unless there is a landing field in reachable distance. And therein lies an outstanding problem of American aviation development.
During 1927 there were 482 municipal and commercial fields in the United States, with 56 under construction. In addition there were 53 army and 8 navy fields. Taking the whole lot, and adding the comparatively few in Canada and Mexico, it gives a pretty thin coverage for the continent.
While it is true that in some parts of the country, notably in the level areas of the west, one can land with safety almost anywhere, it is necessary to have service as well as landing facilities. Obviously adequately equipped fields will follow the economic justification for them. And that justification is fast approaching.
Too often cities have delayed in purchasing land for air terminal facilities. Acreage near a population center was either not available or too expensive. Many landing fields, excellent in themselves, are so remote that the primary appeal of flying, namely, its time-saving element, is hopelessly offset by the waste of time in getting to and from the airport.
Notable among the cities attacking the problem is Chicago. A five million dollar bond issue is being put through there which will finance the creation of a model airport. It will be situated close to the very heart of the city itself, actually only ten or fifteen minutes by automobile from Chicago's business center. This is in contrast to the forty or fifty minutes required to reach the present municipal field. Chicago's lead may well be followed by other American cities-although, of course, a number are already well equipped.
Hind-sight is so easy—and so costly. If, for instance, in the development of our larger cities, especially the comparatively new towns of the middle western states, we had been able to visualize the present day requirements of the automobile, how easily modern traffic problems could have been prepared for. All our cities have faced the experience and the expense of widening streets already built; and all of them are shadow-boxing with the unsolvable puzzle of forcing a thousand automobiles through inadequate thoroughfares designed to handle perhaps a hundred facilely.
It is possible, of course, that long runways won't be necessary for the aircraft of the future. Science may teach us how to alight and take off from very small areas, such as the tops of buildings. Even if such events do eventually come to pass, there will be plenty of meantime for the cities to reap reward for their investments in landing fields. At the worst, in after years what a generous gesture it would be for the municipalities to plan to turn these unused fields into playgrounds for the derelicts whose mentality has finally snapped under the strain of a too enthusiastic promotion of aviation!
Just another word about fields a word of warning, if you will. A great many communities, even really small ones, can support and will be bencfited by landing fields. But the smaller community should not strain its resources trying to create elaborate airports, for which economic support reasonably cannot be expected. After all, the field, if adequate in area, can grow into an airport.
The activities of the Department of Commerce are admirably summarized in the Air Craft Year Book published by the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America, from which the following paragraphs are quoted:
"Civil aeronautics made great progress during the first year of Federal cooperation and supervision under the Air Commerce Act of 1926, efficiently administered by the Department of Commerce, under the direction of Assistant Secretary William P. MacCracken. New airways were laid out, lighted and mapped. Improved lighting equipment was developed and installed. Many municipalities with Federal encouragement and assistance other than monetary established adequate airports. Airway bulletins containing airport maps and information were published and distributed. Radio aids to avigation passed through their laboratory tests and started on service tests. Plans for better aeronautical weather service have been formulated and partially installed.
"Undoubtedly the outstanding accomplishment of the year was the promulgation and enforcement of the air commerce regulations with practically no friction or upheavel, at a time when the industry itself was undergoing tremendous expansion. . . .
"One of the greatest problems confronting the Department of Commerce in its aeronautical duties was to secure adequate appropriations. Civil aeronautics in this country is being successfully developed without Government subsidy, but this does not mean that the Federal Government will not have to spend large sums of money for aids to avigation, and to promote the use of aircraft in commerce. . . .
"One of the most interesting problems has been that of organization. The Air Commerce Act provided comprehensively for the promotion and regulation of civil aeronautics, but it did not create a new bureau in the Department of Commerce to perform the functions. The intention was that so far as practicable, the duties 
GOODBYE
AT TOYNBEE HALL, LONDON
"Accordingly, the task of establishing, maintaining and operating aids to avigation along air routes was assigned to the Lighthouse Service; the mapping of air routes, to the Coast and Geodetic Survey; the scientific research for the improvement of air navigation aids, to the Bureau of Standards; and the development of foreign market to the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.
"The department had no facilities for the examination and licensing of aircraft and airmen, for the enforcement of air traffic rules, or for the collection and dissemination of aeronautical information. It was necessary to set up new instrumentalities to deal with these matters, and two special divisions were accordingly established—the Division of Air Regulations and the Division of Air Information. For convenience of reference these two divisions, together with the Airways Division of the Bureau of Lighthouses, the Airway Mapping Section of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Aeronautical Research Division of the Bureau of Standards, are collectively referred to as the Aeronautics Branch of the Department.
"The work of the Air Regulations Division includes the inspection of aircraft for airworthiness and their registration as aircraft of the United States; the examination and licensing of airmen serving in connection with licensed aircraft; the identification by letter and number of all aircraft, including those not licensed; the investigation of accidents and the enforcement of air traffic rules. . . .
"It is contemplated that practically all new production aircraft will be manufactured under what is known as an approved type certificate. In order to secure such a certificate the manufacturer submits to the Air Regulation Division plans and specifications with a stress analysis. This is checked by aeronautical engineers and if found satisfactory an airplane built according to these specifications is then given a thorough flight test. After this has been successfully accomplished the certificate is issued. Thereafter planes manufactured according to the approved plans and specifications will be licensed upon the manufacturer's affidavit to this effect and a short flight test. The department's aircraft inspectors and aeronautical engineers visit the various factories from time to time to check up on materials and workmanship, but Government inspectors are not stationed regularly at any of the factories.
"To carry out the medical certification of applicants there have been 230 doctors appointed in various parts of the country, all of whom operate under the medical director of the Aeronautics Branch.
"Pilots receive identification cards and licenses when they have satisfactorily passed their medical, piloting and intelligence tests. The license is renewable periodically, depending upon the class in which it has been issued. These classes include the air transport, limited commercial, industrial, private and student pilot licenses. Each calls for different qualifications, all of which are explained in the Air Commerce Regulations.
"Aircraft are registered in classes according to weight. All craft which operate in interstate commerce or in the furtherance of a business which includes interstate commerce are required to be licensed. All aircraft whether operating in interstate commerce non-commercially or solely within a State must bear identification numbers issued by the department and must obey the air traffic rules contained in the Air Commerce Regulations.
"The Department of Commerce keeps in touch constantly with activities of the manufacturers and of the aerial service and transport operators by means of periodical surveys. These surveys reveal that during 1927 a total of 2,011 commercial airplanes were constructed, with unfilled orders for 907 planes, representing a total value of $12,502,405. The operations in the field by the commercial flyers approximate 13,000,000 miles of flying; 500,000 passengers carried, and 2,500,000 pounds of freight and express transported.
"The Airways Division selects and establishes intermediate landing fields and installs and maintains lighting equipment and other aids to avigation on established airways. In addition, it is charged with the establishment of radio aids, maintenance of a weather reporting service and a general communication system throughout the airways.
"The field service now consists of 20 airway extension superintendents, all pilots, 11 inspectors, 6 engineers, 4 mechanics, and in addition, radio operators, caretakers and numerous weather observers, at intermediate fields and in some cases at beacon lights."
The air problems of the army and navy are peculiar to themselves. Governmental support is naturally important in the development of planes and motors and in quickening production. Then, too, both branches are turning out trained pilots, useful in national emergency, many of whom will eventually find their way into the fields of commercial aviation.
I can't help expressing the wish that men already trained could have more opportunity to fly. Many excellent flyers who served in the war, and later, want to keep in practise. They can, of course, join the reserves and fly Peteys (P.T.s), the training plane which replaced the Jennys, recently condemned. But flying a P.T. doesn't equip one to pilot the modern pursuit and larger planes. Unless these men are able to afford the luxuries of planes of their own, they can't obtain any adequate training and their great value in possible national emergency is lessened. Could they be permitted to fly new type planes that are in the army hangars, it would save all the lost motion of retaining them in time of need, besides keeping them interested.
Probably no department of aviation touches the business people of the country more closely than the air mail, which, by the way, includes not only letters but express and freight as well. The Aircraft Year Book analysis of the activities of the Post Office Department is so admirable I again quote from it verbatum:
"The Post Office Department, relieved of the details of the actual operations of flying the mail through letting out this work at public bidding to private operators, has been devoting its efforts exclusively under the direction of Second Assistant Postmaster General W. Irving Glover, to the building up of the network of privately operated air mail lines and of bringing to the attention of the public the value of the air mail service.
"One of the high lights in the operation of the air mail service in 1927 was the splendid demonstration by this service of the safety of commercial operations with able pilots, good equipment and efficient ground organization, under most trying flying conditions. This is attested by the Post Office Department's record last year of a single fatality in 1,413,381 miles of day and night air transportation.
"Another achievement was the steady increase in the use of the air mail by the public. This is shown by the fact that while the mileage flown by private mail route operators was practically the same in June, 1926, as in June, 1927, the amount of mail carried by these private lines had increased from 29,673 pounds in June, 1926, to 55,026 pounds in June, 1927. Another measure of the increase in the use of the air mail service is found in the Government figures showing that 
ARRIVING IN BOSTON BY PLANE, JULY 9
LADY HEATH AND THE HISTORIC AVRO AVIAN WHICH A. E. BOUGHT FROM HER
"A third notable accomplishment of the Post Office Department in 1927 was the success of its night flying, which has led it to authorize a considerable additional mileage of night mail carrying by private operators. The overnight operations now in effect and to be put into effect as speedily as the additional air mail routes are lighted, aggregate approximately 2,800,000 miles per year. The night flying program includes the following services each night of the year:
| Miles | ||
Chicago, Ill., to Rock Springs, Wyo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
1,100 | |
Boston, Mass., to New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
192 | |
Chicago, Ill., to Dallas, Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
987 | |
Cleveland, Ohio, to Louisville, Ky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
339 | |
New York to Atlanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
773 | |
| 3,991 | ||
"This night flying, formerly done by the Post Office Department, but now relinquished entirely to private mail transport companies, aggregates more than a million and three-quarter miles of flying in the year, and constitutes the greatest night air flying operation in the world."
In the development of aviation—especially long distance flying, and pioneer over-water efforts—meteorological study is vital. In connection with the Friendship flight I have told somewhat of how its backers cooperated in supplementing the work of the Weather Bureau with separately collected data. These efforts brought home to us all, I am sure, a vivid reali zation of how much is to be done in that field―a need understood better by no one than the weather experts themselves.
Our knowledge of Atlantic weather is extraordinarily incomplete. Generally speaking, the machinery for securing the requisite data actually exists, but there are not funds to pay for its utilization. The Weather Bureau has no appropriation to meet the costs of the constant reports that should be radioed in by ships at sea, if the Bureau is to be able to forecast with accuracy precise detail conditions prevailing in various areas.
Meteorologists tell me, for instance, that if reports at intervals of say every four hours could be secured from vessels between America and Europe, much, if not all, of the uncertainty regarding trans-Atlantic weather conditions as they affect air travel could be avoided. Shortly, it seems probable, Congress will provide funds for such work. Possibly even an international code will be created, with the cooperation of the steamship companies themselves, so that supplying such data will be automatic. At present, providing it is purely a matter of individual accommodation, and the person getting it has to pay the transmission bills which are likely to be heavy.
Reports six times daily, say from a hundred different vessels, would permit experts on both sides of the Atlantic to lay out weather charts of incalculable value. The information sent would primarily include barometic pressure, temperature, wind direction and velocity and visibility.
Ultimately the exact position of storms and their movements will be determinable. With such information the fast-flying sturdy airships of the future can set their courses so as to avoid these storms, and to take advantage of favorable flying conditions.
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ACCIDENTS AND THEIR CAUSES
Planes Involved in Accidents Licensed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Unlicensed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166200 Pilots Involved in Accidents Licensed pilots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Unlicensed pilots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165200 Probable Causes of Accidents Pilots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100 Mechanical defects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 Structural failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Weather. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Other causes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Unknown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8200 Kinds of Flying Engaged In Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139 Student. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Experimental (including trans-oceanic). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Demonstration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Air transport. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12200 Fatalities—Various Causes Pilots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79 Mechanical defects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Structural failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Weather. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Other causes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Unknown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19164 Fatalities in Post-Office Air Mail Operations
Calendar
YearMiles Fatalities Miles per
FatalityPilots Passengers 1927 1,413,381 1 0 1,413,381 1926 2,583,056 1 0 2,583,056 1925 2,521,758 1 0 2,521,758 1924 2,161,077 3 0 720,359 1923 1,870,422 5 0 374,084 1922 1,756,803 1 0 1,756,803 1921 1,914,733 7 2 273,248 1920 1,048,444 8 5 74,886 1919 461,295 4 0 115,324 1918 102,548 1 0 102,548 Total. . . 15,831,517 32 9 . . . . . . . .