Right Side Up

Fire. A big Curtiss Condor of Eastern Air Transport, New York-bound from Richmond with 18 passengers, was 20 min. past Baltimore when smoke began rolling through the cabin. A poorly insulated heater pipe in a rear compartment had set the fuselage afire. Hostess Elizabeth Westwood (all E. A. T. planes carry young and personable women as hostesses) circulated among the passengers, assuring them there was no grave danger, while Co-Pilot G. J. McDonald fought the flames with fire extinguishers. Pilot E. C. Kondat raced to an emergency landing at Fort Hoyle. Md., sideslipping the plane to blow the flames away from the cabin. By the time the burning ship had landed, fire apparatus from the Fort was on the field. Unhurt, the passengers continued to New York in the company's next plane.

Wheel. When Pilot Charles ("Chuck" ) Weiblen of Pittsburgh Airways took off from Pittsburgh's Bettis Field for Buffalo with three women passengers, airport officials saw one of his wheels dangling crazily. Unaware of the damage, Pilot Weiblen would naturally attempt a normal landing at his destination--and crack up. A mail plane was dispatched with a sign ''broken wheel" hastily painted on its side. Pilot Weiblen saw, turned back, made four attempts to land on one wheel. On the fifth he succeeded, dug a wingtip into the ground, damaged the ship only slightly. The three passengers took off in another plane.

Engine. Over Lake Erie flew an amphibian of Transamerican Air Line, bound from Cleveland for Detroit. The engine tore partly loose from its mounting, caught fire. Pilot Otis Beard "sat her down" on the water, put out the fire, signaled to a Coast Guard boat for a tow. His four passengers, too, continued by air.

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