FUTURE OF FLYING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3357, 25 October 1911, Page 3

FUTURE OF FLYING.

AEROPLANES AS LARCE AS LINERS. THE AUTOMATIC? STABILITY OF AEROPLANES. A striking feature of a discussion on flying, for which the mathematical and engineering sections of the British Association joined forces at Portsmouth recently, was the attack made upon the notion of automatic sability. No subject, said Mr. Berriman, the opener of the discussion, was ol greater interest to the public than flying. So far the art had progressed by reason of the daring of airmen and the enterprise of aeroplane builders. Now it ought to attract minds which had matured in other directions and which should bring in the aid of science to increase the safety and the efficiency of flying machines. Professor Petavel, just returned from a month’s flying on Salisbury Plain, threw doubt upon the possibility of obtaining automatic stability, and even said lie did not /think it was necessary or desirable. Any mechanism worked by gusts of wind or ensuring automatic stability would probably bo clangorous in other ways. With ■ this view Sir William White .agreed. He said he felt an instinctive distrust of automatic appliances. In his opinion there was nothing like human power, directed by a strong will and careful observations. Professor Troughton looked forward to the day when aeroplanes would bo as big as Atlantic liners, and could afford to disregard the small holes in the air that had been mentioned.