Notes

Abstract

ON June 20 Lord Montagu of Beaulieu gave an interesting lecture before the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain on the wold's air routes and their regulation. He pointed out how favourably placed the British Empire was in this matter, inasmuch as its many possessions were so scattered about the globe that suitable landing and halting places could.be provided without the necessity of asking for concessions from other nations. Lord Montagu based his calculations upona± assumed speed of 120 miles an hour, and showed. that with two five-hour periods per day the journey to India could be accomplished in four days. Under the stage which aeroplanes have now reached, the carriage of mails and passengers to India seems quite a feasible proposition; the meteorological conditions along the tracks that might be followed, except at the British end in the winter, are quite good. Crossing the Atlantic is another matter, especially from Europe to America; the shortest track, from Ireland to NewfoUndland, is in the winter a region of gales, mostly from some westerly point, and if the more favourable weather that prevails further south is sought, th distance is about doubled. Lord Montagu's suggestion is that certain levels should be assigned tocertain types of traffic, but it has been estimated that at any given tiitie one-half of the earth is covered with clouds, and h pilot above a sheet of clouds cannot keep his course, as there is. nothing to tll him the strength and direction of the air drift to which heis exposed. It follows therefore that a pilot aiming at. a definite place must fly low enough to the earth frequent intervals; in or above a cloud sheet he would have no herizon and could not rely on astronomical observations for his position.. Thus the traffic to which thehighest levels were assigned would be at a great disadvantage.