470 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 2 



FLIGHT TO HUANCAYO 



We had hoped to be able to get into the lowlands beyond the 

 Andes to make a test of aerial survey methods in heavily forested 

 country; but the delays incident to political disturbances following 

 the overthrow of the Leguia government prevented us from so doing. 

 We did, however, make two trips to Huancayo in the upper Jauja 

 Valley — one by rail to get the lay of the land and one by air imme- 

 diately after the completion of the work at Pachacamac. On our trip 

 to Huancayo by rail we were fortunate enough to locate a good land- 

 ing field — a strip of road, fairly smooth and sufficiently long to assure 

 safety in landing a ship at 11,000 feet altitude. It was near the Car- 

 negie Terrestrial Magnetism Observatory, where we were also as- 

 sured by Mr. Ledig, chief of the observatory, of comfortable quarters 

 and the use of a dark room. 



Heavj^ clouds rendered futile the first three attempts to get through 

 to Huancayo by air. On the fourth attemjDt, however, on April 21, 

 we were successful. It was our first experience in high altitude 

 landing ; later we were to make landings at still higher altitudes, but 

 as a first attempt Huancayo will always be remembered. In landing 

 at such heights the speed of the plane is nearly doubled. That is, 

 instead of the wheels touching the ground at 40 or 50 miles an hour 

 they touch at a speed of nearly 100. In the thin air one has to be 

 careful with the controls. The plane will stall with no warning, and 

 sharp turns are dangerous unless the speed is kept well above the 

 minimum. 



On account of bad weather conditions we were delayed at Huan- 

 cayo for eight days. The wait for good weather was well worth 

 while, however. The oblique photographs of the glaciers of that re- 

 gion stand out as the best of our entire photographic collection. It 

 would be impossible to obtain such pictures from the ground. 



WORK IN THE AREQUIPA REGION 



For the work in the south we were able to use the Akeley motion- 

 picture camera which we had hitherto not been permitted to operate ; 

 and Mr. W. O. Runcie, an expert motion-picture man of long ex- 

 perience in Peru, was engaged to help with the photography. On 

 May 4 both ships lifted their heavy loads from Faucetts Field at 

 Lima and 6 hours later landed safely at Arequipa, 7,500 feet above 

 sea level. For the next week we flew steadily, most of the time with 

 the aid of oxygen. Motion pictures and stills were made of El 

 Misti, Ubinas, the Nudo de Ampato, and the high snow caps of 

 Coropuna. Sta3ang aloft for periods of 4 and 5 hours, the planes 

 climbed as high as 24,000 feet, circled over, around, and actually in- 

 side of the craters of El Misti (pi. 10, fig. 2) and Ubinas, and landed 



