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November, 1931 U.S. Air Services

A Pilot THAT Never Tires AND ELIMINATES Risks in Blind Flying

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ELMER A. SPERRY 
Inheritor of a great name and maker of the robot pilot. 

A CURTISS Condor which flew over Newark Airport last month carried several newspaper men and other guests invited to inspect in operation and at close range the robot pilot, product of the Sperry Gyroscope Company. The human pilot was also present, Robert G. Lockwood, right as the rain. It would be hard to produce a piece of mechanism which could take the place of Robert G. Lockwood, but the purpose of the iron pilot is to relieve the human organism, not displace it. The breathing soul who struggles towards the light in this value of tears must, if he has elected to be a pilot, take his plane off and land it. But the guests in the Condor noticed that while Mr.Lockwood sat up on the back of his seat, out of reach of the controls, the robot stuck to the proper compass direction. The risk of blind flying is eliminated, according to enthusiastic supporters of the device. The automatic pilot requires no visibility to remain on course and on even keel. The human pilot simply adjusts the automatic device to the proper compass direction, throws in a clutch, and turns his attention to weather maps, radio reports, or his fellow passengers. Also it is a fact that the device flies a plane more smoothly than man, even though he be only a little lower than the angels. After successful experiments conducted by the Army and Navy air services for several years, the Sperry company received permission to introduce the device to civil aviation and the test mentioned is the first of a series to be conducted with one of the big 18-passenger Condors such as are flown by Eastern Air Transport between Newark and Jacksonville. Installation of the iron pilot was made at the plan of the B/J Aircraft Corporation, Baltimore. The Sperry pilot will be made part of the regular safety equipment of Eastern Air Transport's planes as soon as the Department of Commerce gives it consent. 

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Black and White photograph of Elmer A. Sperry