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-6- laws alone cannot do the job. It also requires money. Money and regulatory laws are inseparable and paramount to successful regulatory procedure. We do not wish to speak in a derogatory sense about anyone, but, I do not believe I am alone in my opinion that the Civil Aeronautics Authority, when it was first enacted, got a pretty bad break so far as personnel was concerned. I have no desire to enlarge on this point and wish merely to observe that there has been improvement, and that there is still room for improvement. The development of civil aviation and air line transportation in this country is so important to the citizenry that the best possible men should be picked for appointments to all the key positions of the civil air regulatory agency of our federal government. In fact, everyone in this governmental department should be top-echelon people. -------------- Next is the third paragraph: "WHAT ARE THE PARTICULAR PROBLEMS AFFECTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF AIR TRANSPORT, AT HOME AND ABROAD, AND THE MAINTENANCE OF A HEALTHY AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY, AND HOW CAN THEY BE SOLVED?" The highlight and absolutely uppermost problem that faces the proper and healthy development of air line transportation, both at home and abroad, is all wrapped up in one word -- SAFETY. The development of air line transportation leans so heavily on safety that if anything happens to impair this vital element, the industry suffers immediate and terrific damage. Crashes, particularly a series of crashes, quickly empty air line seats and place air line companies in the red far more quickly than any other factor. The formula for air safety is a simple one. The basic fundamentals of greater air safety are few and easily understood once they are illustrated and explained. To illustrate the most basic reason why this is true, I feel that I should go back to my oldest illustration. It's the one I have used many times in the past. It is the one about the weight of the beams that go into the construction of a railroad coach, and the relation of the weight of these beams to the economic factors involved in rail transportation; and the beams that go into modern air line aircraft, and the relation of the weight of these beams to the economic factors in air line transportation. What a difference! In rail transportation extra weight means little or nothing. It may even mean carrying more payload because the cars with the heavier beams are stronger; but in the air, every bit of weight that is added to the beams and the spars, and to the structure, in fact to every part of an air line aircraft, is sliced off the other end of the melon, commonly referred to as the pay load. The weight, safety, and payload factors in air line transportation are inseparably bound together. Nothing can change this. Here is where the safety factor enters the air line picture and most forcefully. It is on the very sharp-edged blade of weight, performance, and safety that the dollars balance in air line transportation; and that, gentlemen of this honorable Commission. is
