n SUNDAY. MAY 20. 1982 WEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD OHEGON
4 D - . .
A Story of Two flights; And Changes in 35-Year Span
(Editor's not: The Lone
Eagle, Flying Fool. Lucky
Lindbergh , . . these were
nicknames which stirred
the imagination of a nation
35 yean ago. Thay belong
ad to a tlim. quiat young
man who had just mada th
firt non-itop flight acrom
tha Atlantic. UPI raportar
Robert J. Sarling racanily
flaw tha Atlantic In a mod
arn jat transport. Following
it hii itory of tha two
flights.)
By ROBERT J. SERLING
UPI Aviation Editor.
New York -IUPII- The date
was May 20, 1927. The hour
7:52 a.m. EST. A plane wad
dled down a wet, muddy clay
runway at an airport called
Roosevelt field and finally
lifted into the gray overcast.
Charles A. Lindbergh was
on his way to Paris, 3,640
milns away.
The other day, another
plane took off for Paris. It
carried three pilots, a flight
engineer, a navigator, a purs
er, five hostesses and 72 pas
sengers. It used a concrete
runway 10,892 feet long at
a New York airport called
Idlcwild.
This is the story of the two
fliRhts and the 35 years of
aviation progress that occur
red between them.
It was about an hour before
the 10 a.m. departure time
when Capt. John A. Michel
son, a baldish, burly, cigar
moking veteran of more than
17 years with Trans World
Airlines, walked briskly into
the crew briefing room.
He had just gone over his
flight plan. He had checked
the voluminous weather re
ports flowing in from a half
dozen weather stations, two
weather ships, about 25 other
airliners that had been or
were just over the north At
lantic, and the Paris weather
bureau itself.
Fuel Consumption
Working with a TWA dis
patcher, he had judged how
the winds, assigned cruising
altitude, weather, and the
weight of passengers, bag
gage, cargo and mail would
affect fuel consumption.
He asked for 19,262 gallons,
then added another 2,000 be
cause Paris was predicting
rain and overcast which might
mean a landing delay. As usu
al, the dispatcher tacked on
an unofficial 100 gallons
which airline pilots for years
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'LONE EAGLE'-Thirty-fivc years have pass
ed since Charles A. Lindberg, the "Lone
Eagle" (shown at left in 1927 file picture),
made his historic solo crossing of the At
lantic. And trans-Atlantic flying has under-
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gone some startling changes since the days
of the "Spirit of St. Louis." Lindberg is
shown at right in a more recent file photo,
made in 1958. (UPI)
have referred to as "insur
ance for my wife and kids."
(Lindbergh merely jammed
450 gallons into the fuel tanks
of his Spirit of St. Louis, as
much as they would hold. His
decision to take off was based
on a single weather report
which turned out to be so in
accurate that he later said he
never would have taken off
if he had known what lay
ahead.)
Michclson nodded pleasant
ly to his 10 crew members and
introduced the flight deck
personnel to the cabin attend
ants "in case you don't know
one another."
"We estimate Paris in six
hours and 45 minutes," Mi
chclson announced. "Cruising
altitude will be 33,000. The
weather at Paris will be rain
and overcast but we don't
anticipate Hny problems. They
are not forecasting any en
route turbulence either, so
you hostesses shouldn't have
any trouble with meal service.
Now, for those of you who
haven't flown with me before,
I want to know immediately
if any problems arise in the
cabin. Have you been over
your emergency procedures?"
The five hostesses nodded.
Purser William Ledger
arose.
Who Works Whera
"I want you girls to decide
before we get on the plane
who works first class and who
works tourisl," he said. "Then
I'm coming around to each of
you and ask exactly what's
your station in the event of an
emergency. We'll serve a con
tinental breakfast after we
reach cruising altitude, then
we'll show a movie, followed
by cocktails and dinner. Any
questions?"
"I hope we all have a pleas
ant trip," Michclson said.
(These ll persons man a
$8.5 million Boeing 707 jet
liner. The little Ryan mono
plane that Lindbergh flew
cost less than $13,000 just
about the cost of the nose
section of a Boeing 707.)
The TWA crew filed out of
the briefing room to board a
yellow crew bus. Behind
them, in a wall cabinet, was
displayed the identical emerg
ency equipment their own jet
liner would be carrying.
A radar reflector that un
folded like an umbrella. Six
life rafts capable of carrying
152 persons. Life jackets. Po
lice whistle. Gloves. Sea wa
ter desalter. First aid kits.
Signal flares. Mirror signaler.
Fishing kit. Sunburn lotion.
Yellow dye. Candy, chewing
gum and vitamins. Flash
lights. Pliers, repair kit. Stor
age water. Radio transmitter.
Inflation pumps. Oars. Life
raft canopies. Protestant,
Catholic and Jewish Bibles.
(Lindbergh took along one
air raft with a pump and re
pair kit, a four-quart canteen
t u favor''8 a
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of water, a hunting knift, one
hack-saw blade, a ball of cord
and string with a large needle,
five cans of Army emergency
rations, a flashlight and four
red flares. He had to be talk
ed into carrying this much
because he thought it added
excessive weight.)
At exactly 10 a.m. EST, the
Idlewlld control tower told
Michelson: "TWA 802, you
are cleared to taxi."
Five minutes later, the huge
Boeing 707 trembled impa
itently at the end of runway
26. The five flight deck mem
bers finished checking off 163
separate before-takeoff items,
from gear leveY lights to set
ting and cross-checking alti
meters and clocks.
"TWA 802, cleared for take
off." Pounds of Thrust
Michelson jammed the four
IhrnMlps fnrwnrH Npnrtv 17 -
000 pounds of thrust, the
equivalent of 80,000 horse
power, screamed through the
spinning turbines.
Co-pilot William Johnson
called out the speed as flight
802 eained momentum The
707 would take off the very
second it reached a speed
predetermined by its gross
load, the outside temperature,
and a half-dozen other factors
that dictated the exact mo
ment when Michelson would
pull back on the control yoke.
"05, V-one!" (The maximum
speed at which a takeoff can
be aborted safely.)
"160. Rotate!"
707 Moves Up
Michelson hauled back on
the yoke. At 166 knots, the
nose came up. Behind the
ground - gulping giant was
more thnn 8,000 feet of run
way. The 707 clawed upward.
"Gear up!" sang out Mi
chelson. Exactly 2n3,03 pounds of
metal, ulass. fnhrin fnnH fiml
and human beings were air- I
borne. '
(The Spirit of St. Louis,
called the "M-2" by its build
ers, grossed 5,130 pounds ful
ly loaded 1,000 pounds less
than a single engine on a 707.
It carried 450 gallons of fuel.
Flight 802 burned more than
that in the first three minutes
after takeoff. Lindbergh used
only 2.500 feet of runway and
almost didn.'t make it.)
Thirty minutes later, flight
802 was over Cape Cod and
heading across the Atlantic
at 33,000. The crew had set
tled down to a routine mark
ed by an incongruous combi
nation of relaxation and alert
ness. Michelson's eyes roved
incessantly over his 211 in
struments. The airspeed was
512 knots more than 550
miles an hour. Flight engineer
Fred Moser at regular inter
vals computed precious fuel
consumption.
(Lindbergh passed over
Cape more lhan two hours
after takeoff. He had only 11
flight instruments. His top
airspeed for the enlire trip
was less than 120 miles an
hour. His altitude ranged
from 50 to 10.000 feet.)
Navisator John Larsen was
using seven different means
of determining and keeping
position, Including the new
Dopplcr system, which pro
jects (our invisible beams to
earth. When they bounce back,
their pattern appears on an
instrument thai records the
plane's position relative to a
pre-set course and the dis
tance to destination.
(Lindbergh's sole navigation
instrument was a relatively
new earth Inductor compass.
He hit the coast of Ireland
only 25 miles off his intended
course, but admitted later it
was mostly luck ) ,
Second Officer John Motel
was handling communications.
Four separate radios Twenty
air traffic control position re
ports to be made on the flight
About a doen contacts with
TWA radio. Five fresh weath
er reports from no lesj than
six European cities en route
to Paris.
(Lindbergh had no radio.
His only voice contact during
his trip came near the coast
of Ireland when he swooped
down near a fishing boat and
yelled: "Which way is Ire
lani?" They just waved.)
In the first class cabin, the
purser and two hostesses be
gan preparing liquor and meal
service while passengers
watched a movie on a screen
that dropped conveniently
from the ceiling just ahead of
the seats. The sound came
from tiny earphones at each
seat. Capt. Michelson asked
the purser which movie was
showing.
"It's something with Elvis
Presley," Ledger said.
"Lindbergh didn't have it
that rough," Michelson chuck
led. After the movie, the first
class passengers settled back
for cocktails and dinner. They
had a choice of seven entrees
ranging from broiled Maine
lobster to sirloin steak cooked
to order, plus wine, cham
pagne, appetizers, turtle soup,
coffee and French pastry. The
tourist section didn't have
that much of a choice but
they ate better than Lind
bergh. (He took along, besides the
water, two chocolate bars and
five ham sandwiches. He ate
only two of the latter.)
Flight 802 touched down in
Paris at 10:40 p.m. Paris time.
It had taken just six hours and
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SERVICE IMPROVED Like the size and
speed of aircraft, in-flight food service has
improved in the 35 years since Charles A.
Lindberg first flew the Atlantic. At left are
water, sandwiches and chocolate bars such
as the "Lone Eagle" carried for his 33-hour
journey. At right is the extensive Royal Am-
s-A-J am
bassador meal service steak cooked to or
der, fresh vegetables, imported wines and
champagne, and dessert that travelers en
joy on Trans World Airlines flights between
New York and Paris. TWA's jets make the
trip in less than seven hours. (UPI)
40 minutes, five minutes less
than the original estimate.
For Capt. Michelson, it was
the end of a trip he had made
more than 1,300 limes. And
flight 802 was trans-Atlantic
trip number 52,662 for TWA
alone since 1946.
(At the end of six hours and
40 minutes, Lindbergh was
only 600 miles out of New
York. Ahead of him still lay
more than 3,000 miles and 27
hours of peril and prayer.
(At approximately this mo
ment, John Michelson was a
chubby-cheeked boy doing an
arithmetic lesson in grammar
school. He did not know It
then, but what transpired on
that day 35 years ago was to
put a little bit of the Lone
Eagle into him and every air
man to come. And a little bit
of the Spirit of St. Louis in
the giant jets that would fol-
I low.)
Perl Funeral Home
Named To Order
Perl Funeral home, Med
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member of the Order of tha
Golden Rule in Medford.
The order is an internation
al affiliation of funeral direc
tors having certain hish ideals
of service and rigid eth'.-.i
standards, order officials
noted.
The membership is not per
manent and may be revoked
at any time by the order. Each
year, affiliation with the or
der automatically expires, a"d
the record of each member
for the preceding year is con
sidered before being read
mitted to membership.
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