Flying the Atlantic in Sixteen Hours: With a Discussion of Aircraft in Commerce and TransportationBrown, Arthur Whitten, Sir
History
Flying the Atlantic in Sixteen Hours: With a Discussion of Aircraft in Commerce and Transportation
Brown, Arthur Whitten, Sir
Aeronautics, Commercial; Transatlantic flights
6. Recognition of the right of crossing one country to another, with
the privilege of landing, but under the reservation of the right of the
state crossed to apply its local rules, and if necessary to force the
landing of the visiting machines on signal.
7. Recognition of the principle of mutual indemnity to cover damages
to persons or property due to aircraft--the state of the offending
machine to make reparation and then to recoup itself in any way it sees
fit.
8. Recognition of the necessity of a permanent international
aëronautical commission, in order to keep the development of the legal
side of aviation abreast of the development of the science itself.
9. Recognition of the obligation of each state to regulate its internal
legislation along the lines of the clauses of the international
agreement.
The main airways of the world are still hypothetical, but some of their
main terminals, in relation to the centers of industry and population
and the trade routes, will certainly be London, New York, San
Francisco, Tokio, Delhi, Colombo, Cairo, Cape Town, and Rio de Janeiro.
In particular London, New York, Cairo and Rio de Janeiro are fitted to
be great junctions for air traffic. London is the logical distribution
center for passengers and freight from North and South America bound
for Continental Europe or the East. The New York terminal should link
the transatlantic airways from Europe with the airways of North
America. Rio de Janeiro should perform the same function for South
America, and also be the center of seaplane traffic up the Amazon.
Cairo is destined to be the junction for the air routes between Europe,
Asia, Africa and Australia. From it dirigibles or aëroplanes may pass
to India (via Damascus and Bagdad), to Cape Town (via Nairobi), to
Australia (via Aden and Colombo, or Delhi and Singapore), and to London
(via Algiers or some point in Southern Italy). Cairo is also likely to
be an important base for seaplanes and flying boats plying up and down
the tremendous waterways of the Nile and the Great Lakes.
The British Empire is especially bound up with the airways of the
future. The geographical position of the Briton forces him to think in
Imperial terms. In 1776 Great Britain lost her most valuable colonies
largely because the Atlantic Ocean made adequate representation of
the colonial interest physically impossible. Since that day cables,
steamships and the wireless have helped to overcome the distances that
separate the overseas dominions from the British Isles. Aircraft and
well-organized British air routes should be the greatest step in the
consolidation of the far-flung Empire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account