Weather Conditions Which May Delay a Trip Because of the recent inclement weather with low lying fog banks along the Yangtsze, the officials of the China Airways last week decidced to. hold a machine in Shanghi The delay calls to attention the really fine work the pilots and work ers of this company are doing, for, before nightfall the day before, reports were being received here from the company's own radio stations at Nanking, Kiukiang and Hankow that fog' banks were forming along. the river and through the Yangtze valley and the climatic' conditions. Jeoked threatening.
Further advices were received to the same effect and though the ma chine was ready and loaded last minute reports were that the fog had come down over the river and visibility was very poor, With the radio men at each station sending hourly reports. to Shanghai it ig possible to know the weather conditions for the- entire distance before the machine leaves Shanghai. Under the present plan, fas the pilot steps aboard in. the morning he is handed reports from anking, Kiukiang and Hankow 80 that he has a knowledge of what he may expect, At the Nanking station he is given additional reports on Kiukiang and Hankow and the second stop, Kiukiang, he again receives the latest advices on weather conditions from Hankow.
Thus is full protection afforded to those using the lines. These re~ ports are being carefully compiled fat the offices of the Company here and ultimately a record will be available of the average air conditions for flying, the Yangtze valley through the year.
'A typical report reads as follows:
Kiukiang to Nanking, Field ov water landing conditions—Lake frozen, Visibility miles and weather—one mile, dull, foggy, temperature 35. Ceiling clouds and movement—1,500 £t,, nimbus, 20 por cent, Barometer tendeney—30.28 up. Surface wind velocity and direction—calm. Special information—No sign of improvement yet, Kuling invisible."
Tiere ave times in rapidly shifting weather conditions when aeroplanes leave stations and are caught mid-way to the next. stop by fog or fog and rain which hampers their flying and makes sitting down" advisable, One came a few days ago and was reported in our columns. The daily aeroplane from Shanghai was forced down by a sudden blinding snowstorm 20 miles below Anking. The machine landed on the river and taxed to the side of a Chinese gunboat where Pilot Birger Johnson ported "the Commander hoisted his colours in honour of our unexpectfed visit and greeted us with smiles, We tied up to his ship and were royally treated, Later when the storm showed no. signs of abating we taxied up the river to the city and spent the night with a missionary who was very glad to seo us. The next morning we took off and completed the trip."
When interviewed Pilot Johnson said that frequently he had been brought down by fog banks or snow storms. They were part of a pilot's life anywhere and flying conditions in China were no worse than those found anywhere else.
have come down several times" he said, "and though frequently 1 have been miles from a city I have always been well treated by whoever was in the vicinity. We have come to-be part of the passing show of naval men and lighthouse keepers along the river and, whenever we stop, it is taken inthe nature of an event. Sometimes we stop an hour or so until the fog drifts away and we take off again and sometimes the stop is longer but never is it long. enough for our hosts. "It often happens that the river-people crowd around us in their boats. They are filled with curiosity but that is all. Never once has the slightest episode taken place that could be construed as menacing. To the river, people, whether naval or civilian, the sight of a flying boat descending is something in the nature of a holiday. They are fine people along the Tie Shanghai-Nanking Railway Administration have resumed: the sale of. Peking-Pukow through kets at the North Station,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.