Evening star. [volume], November 13, 1927, Page 8, Image 8

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
8
PLANE INSPECTION
PLAN IS SUCCESS
Scheme Sponsored bv Maj.
r -.veil Proving Great Fac*
r in Reducing Crashes.
A system of inspection. whereby
»i«or« than <U) vital parts Os an air
plane. tin* failure of any one of which
in flight, would cause loss of equip
ment. personal injury or at least in
terrupt the mission of the pilot—re
ceive close check and inspection daily
by a competent mechanic, has just
been installed at Wright Field. Day
ton, Ohio, bringing the number of
Army Air Corps stations using this
accident prevention scheme to IV
In this number Boiling Kind, Ann
cosiia. is included and furthermore it
wms at the fle’d that the perronn*’.
tinder the direction of Maj. Harvey R.
S. Rut-well, commanding office**, work
ed out the system—known as visual
inspection system—on a large scale.
Maj. P.urwell is the father of the
plan, which is blit a small part of a gi
gantic, vet simple, method of running
the Air Corps on the same principles
that are employed in the leading indus
tries of the country. This general plan
still is in the process of experimenta
tion and has not yet been adopted for
tlie use of tbe Air Corps.
Great Strength Required.
Maj. Rurwell conceived tlie* idea a«
embodied in the present system, while
commanding officer of the 3d At
tack Group at Kelly Field, Tex. “At
tack aviation,” the latest development
in aerial fighting, requires that planes,
heavily loaded with bombs and ma
chine guns, operate at altitudes of
around 100 feet or so. raking the
grotnd with steel bullets from the
guns and tossing out demolition
ttombs on troop concentrations and
equipment. Flying st this altitude,
forced landing would mean disaster
in most esses to the pilot, gunner and
plane, owing to the high explosives
carried. ,
If attack aviation were to succeed.
Maj. Burwell argued, there must, he no
forced landings. His safety-inspection
r -hetne was developed and applied to
the group. Xot one plane had a forced
landing in tw*o years' operation.
Noting this success, higher officials
of the Air Corps encouraged Maj. Bur
well to apply his plan on a larger
scale, nnd today 18 of the major Air
Corps posts are functioning under this
system.
Neglect Impossible.
In brief, the system makes if im
possible for plane crews to neglect in
spection of the smallest part of the
aircraft. A large chart, setting forth
the parts of the airplane that must be
inspected, hangs on the hangar wall
near the berth of the plane, and the
* rew chief, after testing out each part,
initials the chart for that particular
section of the plane, in that respect
he is held responsible for the condition
of the plane as it is about to take off.
Thus, when a pilot leaves the
ground he knows hia propeller is in
perfect condition, the fuel tanks are
doquate for his mission, the ignition
functions properly, the controls are
properly adjusted, the instruments
re true, the mechanism of the engine
h >.s been thoroughly tested, the wings
■md tail surfaces are in proper align
ment—in short, the plans is as perfect
<*.-*. human hands can make it.
Records of the Air Corps show that
rarely have forced landings or crashes
twen caused by major mechanical fail
ti *es in the air. To the contrarv. it i«
the seemingly inaigniftcant parts of
tlv* plane that fail and necessitate the
pilot making for the flrst available
patch of ground. While he mav get
down safely many times, there is al
ways the possibility of “cracking up”
•n the ground. Often the occupants of
the nlane receive no injuries, but when
such craek-ups occur on the ground,
hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dol
<;-:rs damage to equipment is sustained.
Safety Is Threatened.
To continue flying for long periods
without g.virg attention to these 60
or more necessary elements in the
P'ane is possible, but Air Corps offi
c l* now atgue that if this old time
procedure were resorted to in the light
c f the visual Inspection plan, it would
constitute waiving all available safety
precautions.
The inspection system makes it pos
sible for a pilot about to take off to
trtl in one glance at the big board in
the hangar that the plane is in safe
condition. Should his eye catch a red
mark in one of the little squares op
posite an Important part of the plane,
th-.t constitutes a warning that every
thing is not es it should be. But if
the pilot believes that this seemingly
small defect is not dangerous or will
r«t bring undue hazards on his project
ed flight, he can take responsibility
6 way from the mechanic for the
nh* ne's condition by signing his name
cpnosite the day's inspection and be
come responsible himself for anything
th M happens subsequently.
When a pilot departs for a cross- l
country flight, say front Bolling to I
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U. D. C. CHAPTER ELECTS
j MISS EMBREY PRESIDENT
I Other Officers for Year Also Named.
II Retiring Leader Is
Praised.
I The Robert K. l.ce Chapter, I'nited
| Daughters of the Confederacy, met at
t Confederate Memorial Home last
I Monday evening and elected officers.
J as follows:
| President, Miss Mary Embrev:
j first vice president, Mrs. Claude N.
i Bennett; second v ice president, Mis.
! Horace Whittaker; recording scrip
| tary. Miss Ora Smith; corresponding
i secretary. Miss t’ornelin Long Hamil
ton: treasurer, Mrs. F. O. Wood; rtgis
trar, Mrs. K. H. Eynliam: parliamen
tarian, Mrs. Maude Howell Smith:
historian. Miss C. Blanche Sinclair:
chaplain, Mrs. R. ft. Whitehurst: cus
todian. Miss Elsie Weeks. Miss Myrtle
Ketcham was retained as custodian
of crosses.
Tribute to Mrs. Walter E. Hutton,
the retiring president, was paid in
speeches bv Airs. George I». Horning,
jr., nnd Mrs. Maude Howell Smith.
An impromptu reception was held,
when all of the officers going out
were thanked for their fine work am'
those just elected greeted.
PARCEL BRINGS SHUDDERS
AT RECEPTION TO KING
Member of Court Carries Plebeian
Looking Package at Formal
Affair.
Correspondent e n ’ ihe Associated Pres*.
PARIS.— A little package wrapped
in gray paper and done up with a
pipk string caused an embarrassing
incident at a royal reception at the
Ely.see Palace.
King Fuad of Egypt was being
greeted by President Doumergue in
the presence of scores of full-uniform
ed officials and diplomats standing
stiffly at attention. A member of the
King's suite with ibe package hang
ing by a loop from his fingers stepped
forward toward the President.
, Consternation reigned. Diplomatic
usage does not provide for plebeian
packages; rules for royal receptions
say nothing about how to handle
them. For a few minutes no one knew
what to do and the Egyptian stoo.l ,
smiling in embarrassment. Then the '
President, realizing the generous if
informal intention, took the package.
Every one breathed more easily.
The package contained an ancient
Egyptian manuscript intended as a
Rift for the French Republic.
Wright Field, he carries with him an
“airplane flight report.” on the bark
of which is a trnnsnipt of the record
of the plane’s condition as embodied
on the board in tbe hangar. This is
for the information of the pilot as
well as the mechanic at Wright Field.
On the face of the report and un
der the heading, “Engineering Data.”
several important functions of the
plane ns it is in flight are listed, and
the pilot is required to ohserve these
performances while en route to the
Ohio field. If he finds during .flight
that the oil temperature increased,
that the gasoline presente dropped or
that the revolutions of the propeller
were not what they should he. there
is spare provided in the report for
making these notations.
On landing at Wright P'ield he turns
the renort over to the mechanic. The
latter immediately sets about to rectifv
any reported inefficiency of the plane
and then makes his inspection of the
other parts, just as the Foiling Field
crew* chief did. On the hack of the
report he sets forth his findings.
Complete Cheeks Kept.
Returning to Washington the follow
ing dav. the pilot hands the flight re
port with the mechanic's notations of
the inspection as well as any com
ments the aviator himself has made,
to the Bolling mechanic, who posts
the result of the Wright P'ield inspec
tion of his own chart. Thus, a con
tinuous check on the plane is kept,
no matter where it is and each flight,
in effect, is a thorough test flight.
In addition to inspecting, the me
chanic. must make any repairs lie
finds necessary, up to and including
the removal of the engine. Any work
that lie or his assistants cannot per
form in the hangar, owing to its mag
nitude. is Rent to tlie* engineering j
hangar of the field, where a corps of 1
expert civilian mechanics gives the
ship a major overhaul.
A combination ladder, and tool box.
mounted on wheels to facilitate its
movement about the hangar floor, is
credited to each mechanic. The tools
are valuable and he is held responsible
for them.
Air Corps officers believe the sys
tem is the very latest and most mod
ern effort in the world today to reduce
accidents, caused by mechanical or
structural failure. The system has
not yet been in existence long enough
to draw a comparison between other I
periods of the past, hut in the light
; of present success the aviators feel a
j forced landing or crash, due to me
chanical or structural failure, will
1 soon become a rare event.
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