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44

U. S. AIR SERVICES

August, 1931

First Annual Invitation Air Cruise

COMMODORE CHARLES L. LAWRANCE brought his fleet of air cruisers to a safe landing on Lake Montauk, after a formation flight from Marion, Mass., on July 13, thus ending the first annual invitation air cruise arranged by Aviation Country Clubs, Inc. The cruise made memorable four days spend on Long Island and the coast resorts of southern New England. Nineteen planes made the tour. Pilots and passengers numbered about fifty. Participants:
Charles L. Lawrance, Grover Loening, Crocker Snow, Olcott S. Payson, John S. Reaves, B. Allison Gillies, John H. Lapham, Geroge C. Graves, Powel Crosley, Jr., Dr. Harry V. Spaulding, James P. Whittall, James B. Taylor, Jr., Andrew J. Townson, A. Felix du Pont, Jr., Miss Eleanor Hoyt, Earl D. Osborn, Robert Gross, Eugene Detmer.

Some of the guests:
Mrs. Grover Loening, Mrs. Olcott S. Payson, Miss Lilias Moriarty, Rudolph R. Loening, Mrs. John H. Lapham, Mrs. James Whittall, Mrs. James B. Taylor, Jr., Mrs. George H. Townsend, Miss Julie L. Lapham, Miss Mary M. Lloyd, Prescott Bigelow Jr., Erickson G. Perkins, Douglas M. Allen, Mrs. Eugene Detmer.

Planes represented:
Viking Flying Board, Sikorsky,, Keystone & Loening Amphibians, Douglas Amphibian, Privateer Amphibian, Fleet Seaplane, Stearman Seaplane, Bellanca Seaplane, Fokker Seaplane.

The tour left Oyster Bay, on July 10, flew around the west end of Long Island and stopped for luncheon at the timber Point Yacht Club and moored for the night at Watch Hill, R. I. On the following day the fleet flew around Cape Cod and spent the night at Cotuit, where A. Felix Dupont was host. From Cotuit a winding course was followed, first north and then south to the shores of Buzzards Bay, and on July 12 the pilots and passengers were guests of Richard F. Hoyt, at Marion, Mass. George B. Post acted as captain and flight leader. On July 13 Commodore Lawrance brought his fleet of amateur pilots around in formation to salute the Los Angeles, moored to the mast of her tender, the Patoka, at Fort Pond Bay, before giving the signal for landing. 
In the afternoon several members of the air cruise went aboard the Los Angeles and met Admiral William A. Moffett.
"The cruise was a great success," Mr. Lawrance said, "and it will undoubtedly be an annual event. The ladies were especially pleased. We had ideal flying weather and there were no serious mishaps."

A CONTRACT was awarded, recently, to Pitcairn Aircraft, Inc., for two autogiro planes at a total cost of $44,076, the second order for autogiro planes placed by the Navy, thefirst having been delivered in May to the Naval Air Station, at Anacostia, D. C., for test purposes

Safety
The Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce has finished its first report on a safety code. It is the result of a year's work and is a notable good start in the right direction. It states, however that to carry on this important work a committee will be formed of one representative from each of the manufacturers and operating members of the Chamber, that those selected will be headed by a small working committee who will collection suggested rules and submit them to the general committee.
Under Repairs and Inspection it is recommended that they be made according to Department of Commerce Aeronautics Bulletin No. 7H. This bulletin, in addition to telling the technical requirements for repairs and alterations, gives the requirements for an approved repair shot.
Some helpful suggestions are given under Flying Personnel, which is, possibly, the best section of the code. Among others they suggest: No stunting in commercial flying; operating manager not to be permitted to order flights against the judgement of the pilot; elimination of the "bravado" and "daredevil" impressions; discouragement and prevention of competition between pilots to break speed records. 
Fire protection at airports is well treated in detail.
Along this general line of safety, a conference has been called by the Department of Commerce between aircraft manufacturers and the Aeronautics Branch to consider suggested revisions in the Department's Airworthiness Requirements. This conference will be held in Washington, on July 31. The Department generally invites the aircraft industry to confer with its officials when amendments to these requirements are contemplated. Although the Department has only a few amendments to suggest, the test wll soon be presented to the manufacturers to give them an opportunity to study it before the meeting.

In conjunction with the National Air Races, the twentieth national aeronautic meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers will be held at Cleveland, September 1st to 3rd, inclusive. The technical sessions which are being arranged by Dr. George W. Lewis, director of aeronautical research, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Washington, D. C., and Arthur Nutt, vice-president of engineering at the Write Aeronautical Corporation, will be devoted to the discussion of pertinent questions of interest to pilots and aeronautical engineers alike. The meetings have been scheduled so that they will not interfere with the races or demonstrations at the airport.

The Pan American Airways is to put into operation the largest commercial plane in the world, a 40-passenger Sikorsky. The plane will fly between Miami and Baranquilla, Columbia, a distance of 1,350 miles, only 50 of which are over land. It is generally believed that these large ships are the forerunners of transatlantic passenger ships to be run jointly, probably, by American, English and French companies, Pan American to operate to Bermuda, where Imperial Air Lines has a monopoly, and then to the Azores where the Aero Postale of France is now in operation. The Sikorsky plane has a radius of 1,000 miles which can be extended by using a small part of the space now given over to passengers. The men who fly these planes are being schooled for that day when transatlantic commercial flying shall be a reality, and many think that day should arrive within two years.

The American Airways publishes figures showing the temperature over some of the desert regions of the southwest to be 120 degrees, while flying over the same territory at an altitude of 7,000 to 10,000 feet the temperature is 70 degrees. There ought to be some way of getting our bedrooms up there these nights.