© P. & A. Photos
FIRST LOOK AT BURRY PORT
The number of hours a motor can run, without overhauling, depends not only on the motor itself but the character of the attention given it. Meticulous care of a plane’s power plant is vital. It is not that the motors themselves are any more complicated than the engines of large automobiles, but there simply aren’t any service stations 10,000 feet in the air. An oversight on a highway means only inconvenience; one aloft means inconvenience, too—the inconvenience of coming down where there may be a landing field or there may not.
All of which information may sound indefinite. But I believe exactly the same uncertainty applies to automobiling. Few people who have one or two cars can say exactly what a year’s operation costs, when depreciation, replacement and performance are figured. The cost of upkeep of any machine depends in a great measure upon the amount of time the owner himself devotes, or has devoted, to its care and the degree of skill employed. Withal, I believe that the maintenance of a plane is probably very little greater than that of a similarly priced automobile.
There is a belief, I suppose (and perhaps it is well founded) that women shrink more than do men from the alleged hazards of aviation. Inheritance, training and environment seem to make women less aggressive than men, although in real courage I think they are equals. So much of woman’s excitement through the ages has been pushing the men into adventure that they have the habit of hanging back a little. We can’t infer Lady Macbeth lacked courage or ability because she herself didn’t do the job she wanted Macbeth to do.
Regarding flying risks, as compared to others, there is an endless field for discussion. Figures as to accidents and flying hours mileage I have quoted elsewhere. I know the facts and the conclusions to be drawn from them remain largely a matter of individual opinion. But whether one feels flying fairly safe or not it must be admitted it is safer than it was. Recent steps have been made in securing true safety for the flyer in the last few years. Once attainment of something akin to it was merely a vague hope. If one flew one took the risks. Selah.
The problems of safety are concerned with the engineering problem of the motor and design of plane, the skill of the pilot and ground technique. Probably improvements in the power units will always be made. But it seems impossible that advances can go on so rapidly as they have in the last few years. It has been well demonstrated recently that the multiple engine plane has a factor of safety far beyond what is possible with the single engine.
The Friendship is equipped with three. If one motor fails the other two can carry on, even with the large gas supply for long-distance flying aboard. At the end of a flight, when a minimum load weight has been reached, it is possible with one motor to keep the plane in the air. One engine can also greatly prolong the downward glide of the crippled plane for a forced landing, if need be. For instance, in flying over the ocean if two motors had cut out simultaneously (an unlikely contingency), with the remaining one the plane could have continued much farther than it could have, without any. The power of one motor would have made possible a flatter, and thus more extensive, glide. That long glide might enable one to reach a ship lane, or specifically, come down in the vicinity of some particular vessel that had been located by radio in the meantime.
The plane and the engine, of course, are no better than their pilot. His reliability and skill are essential. There are fine men in the game today and on their capable shoulders the success of flying leans heavily.