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[[news article]] Clipper Takes Off Today on First Paid Passenger Flight--Science Leaves Nothing To Chance on Hop By WILLIAM WEER The clipper that flies from Port Washington this afternoon carrying the first planeload of paying passengers to Europe will lack many of the thrilling features which made early flying of the Atlantic such a dangerous adventure. [[text block]] Third Article In a Series [[/text block]] In the 1920's and before "engine trouble" rode as a stowaway in every plane that took to the air, liable at any moment to come out in the open, and its offspring, the dreaded tailspin, was not far behind. The tailspin, in particular, took a heavy toll of those who sought to hop the oceans before Lindbergh. This was a disease--a heart disease, almost always fatal. An overloaded plane, heavy with gasoline started to climb, found the angle or rise too steep, the overworked engine missed a beat, coughed, stopped. The propeller fluttered to a halt. What had been a living machine became dead weight in the air and went sliding down, tail first, like a free kite but faster, to a watery grave. When Lindbergh flew in 1927 the heart of his Spirit of St. Louis was a new Wright Whirlwind engine, which never coughed and never stopped--the cure for the tailspin disease. That was also Clarence D. Chamberlin's engine, and Richard E. Byrd's when they presently joined in the eastward migration across the Atlantic. Powered by 4 Engines The 22 paying passengers who start for Europe today may expect adventures in their flight, but the possibility of a tailspin dive is not in the book. The huge 41-ton ship in which they start on their voyage is balanced, in any case, to avoid such mishaps, and in addition it is tuned to power and more power such as the Wright Whirlwind engines of 1927 only sketchily forecast. Four engines of 6,000 horsepower each drive this ship through the air, each with double the pull of the most powerful railroad locomotive known. Should one of these engines by chance fail, and the chance is slight, the clipper can continue on the sound three Should two engines give up and die, the two remaining can do it. Should any kind of "engine trouble" develop, the engines affected can be stopped and repairs made in flight. [[small news clipping]] shore!" A gangplank will be operating air lines [[?]] [[/small news clipping]] [[image]] Long range direction finder, installed at ground stations, by which a Clipper's position may be determined up to 2,000 miles away. One of the big thrills of Lindbergh's flight was that he did it alone. He was the cook and the captain bold and the mate of his Nancy brig, the bosun tight and the midshipmite--he was pilot, navigator, his own relief, his own passenger. He would have been his own radio man if he had had a radio to operate and his own repairman had there been repairs to do. he was his own weather observer. All that is more efficiently and more scientifically arranged in the clippers that take their oceans in stride. Radio Always on Job Nothing much is left to chance. The clipper carries, at the outset, a load of 4,200 gallons of gas, enough to reach the Azores, first stop on the southern route, and have a third left as reserve The operating crew of 10 or 12 are on duty four hours and off one. Throughout the flight two pilots, a navigator and radio man are constantly on duty. These have their own ample posts and rest quarters. The master, capable of filling in at any post--and also possessor of a mariner's license, because this is a flying boat that may have to take to the water--normally remains in his own quarters, directing the work of others. Should such an accident come, the clipper can remain afloat indefinitely. Should its ability to remain on the water eventually fail, each clipper carries five life rafts that may be launched, with life jackets, carbon dioxide tanks, collapsible oars, rations for at least two weeks, flares to make their position known. As the plane flies it is in constant communication by radio with land stations as well as ships at sea, gathering information as to weather--so important to seamen and fliers. On the half-hour and again on the hour for the first half of the eastward flight to the Azores weather reports go back to the Pan-American Airways field at Port Washington and are received from Port Washington, which has the reports of the United States Weather Bureau and the merchant marine fleet to draw on. Thereafter the communication is with the approaching station at the Azores. In addition, Pan-American Airways has its own consolidated atmosphere reports and, approaching the European side, draws on the reports made up of information gathered from the European merchant marine. A conference of five nations has been set up to gather and collate the weather information. Weather Data Up to Date The weather information acts, of course, as a guide to the plane, which might change her course to avoid storms in the way. If a pre-takeoff weather chart shows very bad weather--and it would have to be very bad--a takeoff might even be delayed. The constant radio reporting has another use. It keeps the land stations informed of the plane's position at almost any moment of the flight. In the unexpected event of an accident, even if it happened suddenly and silenced the clipper's radio before information of it could be sent back, the failure to hear from the plane at the scheduled time would give a fairly close approximation of its position. The hourly and half-hourly reports, by following an established formula, pack an enormous amount of information into a few symbols sent over by telegraphic code. Here, for example, is one such report, picked out of reports that came in during the preliminary mail flights. Words in parentheses are explanations of the symbols. 1900 (time, 3 p.m.) 8,500 (altitude 8,500 feet) 26S (wind force, 26 knots smooth) 271 (wind direction, 1 degree north of due west) 4139 (latitude 41 degrees 39 minutes north 4517 (longitude 45 degrees 17 minutes west) 156 (general speed 156 knots, or 179.4 miles, per hour) 7STCU/160 (stratocumulus clouds above at 16,000 feet) 4CU/40 (0.4 cumulus cloud below at 4,000 feet) 1 (condition of sea calm) .1 (visibility 1/10 of normal) 6 (36 miles of instrument flying in past hour) passed freighter 1833 (passed a freighter at 2:33 p.m. New York time). Thus by radio and with all sorts of inventions those who go down to the sea in airships (at regular passenger rates) are guided across the ocean and prepared against any emergency. The very useful radio has another function which even Byrd, who carried the first radio across the Atlantic, did not dream of. To Byrd and his crew, who circled over fog-bound Paris and then had to strike out to sea again to look for a hole in the cloudbank, it would have been a very useful function. Approaching each landing station--at Horta in the Azores, Lisbon, Marseilles and at Port Washington, and at the stations in Canada, Ireland and England on the northern route, which will be opened to traffic later--the clippers "ride" the radio beam, which keeps them moving directly toward their goal. [[news clipping]] From Sandwiches To Sirloin, Mints Two sandwiches and a bar of chocolate made up all the food Capt. Charles A. Lindbergh had in his historic flight across the Atlantic in 1927. Paying passengers on the Atlantic Clipper can choose from the following menu: DINNER Green Olives Celery Ripe Olives Cream of Asparagus Larded Sirloin of Beef au Cresson Potato Parsille New Peas French Pastry Demitasse Mints BREAKFAST Orange Juice Preserved Figs Grapefruit Juice Sliced Bananas Fresh Strawberries and Cream Dry Cereals Boiled Eggs Bacon or Brookfield Sausage Rolls Orange Marmalade Current Jelly Coffee Milk Tea Chocolate LUNCHEON Relishes Chicken Patty a la Reine Potato Julienne Cold Asparagus Vinaigrette Fancy Ice Cream Iced Tea Coffee Mints [[/news clipping]] [[image]] A consultation in the captain's office aboard a Clipper plane in the European service. The captain, an administrative officer, can also confer with his officers by telephone. [[image - The Clipper in flight]]
