Flights, Flyers

Many a sportsman has his pilot's license, his private plane. But not until last week could he look forward to the prospect of a day at his flying country club. Miss Ruth Rowland Nichols, Junior Leaguer of Rye, N. Y., enthusiastic amateur aviatrix with a non-stop flight from New York to Miami to her credit, shouldered the task of promoting three clubs in New York and New Jersey, forerunners of a nation-wide chain of private and exclusive country clubs devoted to aeronautical sports. Associated with Promoter Nichols are such younger capitalists as William A. Rockefeller, William Hale Harkness, George Pynchon, George Post.

Last week, Polish and U. S. pilots complained. Poles, employed by the commercial Aerolot Co., demanded higher wages and, when their demands were refused, set a precedent for air pilots by going on strike. U. S. assistant pilots on the "model airway" between Los Angeles and San Francisco found their new duties beneath the dignity of flying men. Their duties: cooking and serving buffet luncheons for passengers, Pullman porter service for dusty topcoats and hats. They grumbled, did not strike.

Reviewing the record of British civil aviation in 1927, the Air Ministry was able to announce proudly, last week, that for the third consecutive year not a single passenger was killed in scheduled commercial flights. The U. S. listened enviously, with reason. Air mail and air transport operations in the U. S. in 1927 were marred by six accidents, seven deaths.

On April 14, 1927, the Curtiss Flying Service Inc. broke its record of faultless performance. Pilot John Parke Andrews, Passengers Mary Seaman and Carl C. Stoll Jr., were killed in an accident at Mineola, L. I. Last week, Carl C. Stoll ST., of Louisville, Ky., filed suit for negligence against the Curtiss Flying Service, Inc., the first legal action of its kind in the history of New York courts. At the same time, Illinois courts were concerned with a novel phase of flying. Mrs. Gertrude B. Weingarten, mother of 6-year-old R. Paul Weingarten Jr., asked Justice Adolph Joseph Sabath to enjoin her husband (divorced) from taking their child for rides in an airplane, stressing the child's nervousness, irregular eating. Justice Sabath pondered, granted the injunction.

Racing to circle the world in 18 days, John Henry Mears has adopted the number 13 as a talisman. Reasons: 1) There are 13 letters in the name of the airplane (City of New York) which carries Racer Mears and Capt. Charles B. D. Collyer across Europe and Asia; 2) the 13 letters in the name of J. D. Rockefeller, who gave each of the globe-circlers a lucky dime; 3) the 13 letters in the name of Standard Oil Co., which "brought Mr. Rockefeller no ill luck"; 4) the first letter of "Mears" is the 13th of the alphabet.