Airways Communication Service ^ 



By EDWARD B. CRAFT 



THE present development of air transport is bringing out its need 

 for adequate communication in much the same manner as the 

 earlier development of railway operations disclosed for that industry 

 the necessity of special communication services if speed and density 

 of traffic were to be obtained with safety. The electric telegraph by 

 a most fortunate coincidence was available just at the time the rail- 

 ways required it; and as the demand for speed became pressing the 

 telephone was perfected. Today the railways of the country, in 

 general, use the telegraph for administrative messages, where a written 

 record is wanted, and use the telephone for despatching, where speed 

 and accuracy are primary requirements. 



By another fortunate coincidence, radio appears to be available 

 just at the time it is needed for communication with aircraft in flight. 

 Radio in the form of either telegraph or telephone has been highly 

 developed for communication between points on the surface of the 

 globe. For communication between aircraft and airports it is avail- 

 able in principle although not yet so well developed. During the war, 

 both in this country and abroad, radio equipment of relatively crude 

 design was installed in aircraft and proved of great utility. Since the 

 war, radio telegraphy for aircraft has been further developed by the 

 naval and military services, but radio telephony has received less 

 attention, probably because of the inherent difficulties and lack of a 

 pressing demand. 



Following the remarkable success of the Air Mail and the passage 

 of the Air Commerce Act of 1926, we are now fairly launched into an 

 era of air transport of mails, express and passengers. National Air- 

 ways, laid out and equipped by the Department of Commerce under 

 authority of the Air Commerce Act, already compare in extent with 

 the main trunk line mileage of the railways. Scheduled flying over 

 these airways goes on by night as well as by day. A commercial 

 degree of reliability and safety has been reached in so far as the airplane 

 and its engine are concerned and, when surprises due to bad weather 

 can be eliminated, the safety of air transport should compare favorably 

 with that of other forms of transportation. 



Although weather is beyond our control, meteorological science is 

 able to forecast its major phenomena with a high degree of precision, 



1 Contributed to Aviation for October 1928. 



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