Ewing, Robert M.

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 The Knowledge Bank at The Ohio State University Ohio State Engineer   Title:  Learning to Fly at Port Columbus Creators:  Ewing, Robert M. Issue Date:  May-1930 Publisher:  Ohio State University, College of Engineering Citation:  Ohio State Engineer, vol. 13, no. 7 (May, 1930), 10, 26-28. URI:  http://hdl.handle.net/1811/34700  Appears in Collections: Ohio State Engineer: Volume 13, no. 7 (May, 1930)       10 THE OHIO STATE ENGINEERLEARNING TO FLY AT PORT COLUMBUSBy ROBERT M. EWING, M.E. 2Everyone who visits Port Columbus speaks ofit as one of the most beautiful airports he hasever seen and the well-informed say that whencompleted it will rank among the very finest in theworld. Situated six miles east of Broad and Highon the Pennsylvania and the B. & O. lines, PortColumbus occupies 537.27 acres. It is owned andoperated by the City of Columbus and is the east-ern air terminus of the T.A.T.-Maddux transcon-tinental airlines. One of the principal reasons forPort Columbus being spoken of as beautiful is thefact that all buildings are built to uniform specifi-cations, thereby doing away with wooden shacksand tin hangars. All structures on the field arebuilt of yellow brick and present a uniform ap-pearance.The Curtiss-Wright school at Port Columbus isone of the nine accredited transport schools in thecountry. The manager of the base is Lieut. FrankM. McKee, formerly commander of all U. S.Lighter-than-air Service and one of the few per-sons in the country today who hold three licenses,F. A. I. license, pilot's license for heavier-than-aircraft, dirigibles, and free balloons, in addition toDepartment of Commerce Transport License forAirplanes. Capt. Grant C. Melvin, who is opera-tions manager for this base, is a former student ofOhio State and a war flyer. Lieut. Samuel H.Sharp, who is in charge of schools at this base,learned to fly in 1913 and is now a member of the"Early Birds," membership in which is considereda great honor. The chief instructor in the groundschool is Professor Karl Stinson of our own Me-chanical Engineering department and he isassisted by Professor Lutzenberger of the Engi-neering Drawing department. Ohio State is alsorepresented on the staff by two former students,J. B. Medaris, sales manager for this area, andRobert Mathews, local school sales manager. Allof the flying instructors are transport pilots withat least 1500 hours in the air and are graduates ofCurtiss-Wright Instructors School at Detroit.There are three courses offered by the school;namely, the Private Pilot's Course, the Commer-cial Pilot's Course, and the Transport Pilot'sCourse. The Ground School course is included ineach of these courses but it may be taken alone ifso desired. The Private Pilot's course includesD. H. "Gipsy Moth"Curtiss "Fledgling"ten hours of dual control work and ten hours ofsupervised solo. At the end of the course thestudent is qualified to take the tests for a govern-ment license to operate planes for a non-commer-cial purpose. In this course instruction is givenin not more than three different types of ships,all primary training being done in the two-placeCurtiss "Fledgling" which was designed for thepurpose. After having flown a while the studentis allowed to take up a D. H. Moth which is ofthe same general type as the "Fledgling" butsmaller. The OX-Robin is also used. The costof this course is $600, which includes the groundwork.The Commercial Pilot's course, which qualifiesthe student to take the government tests for aLimited Commercial License, covers fifty hoursof flying and advanced ground schools and labora-tory work. The flying training in this coursegoes on from simple maneuvers to cross countryflying and aerobatics. It takes from three to sixmonths to complete the course and costs the stu-dent $1300.The third course given by the school is theTransport Pilot's course and prepares the studentto take the examination for the highest govern-ment license, that of Transport Pilot. With thislicense a flyer may carry passengers for pay anddo any kind of flying permitted by law. Thecourse covers a period of from eight to eighteenmonths and includes two hundred hours of flying,advanced ground school and lab work. The flyinghours are spent in advanced dual control workand in night flying, blind flying, and cross-countryflights. All different types of ships are used fromthe small open jobs and OX-Robins up to the largecabin jobs carrying a larger number of passen-gers. In this course every phase of flying is cov-ered thoroughly and carefully and the student,upon graduation, should be qualified for any fly-ing position. The cost of this course is $4500.While the ground school work is given with eachof the flying courses it can be taken alone at acost of $50. It covers elementary design, repair,construction, and all ground phases of aviationmore or less thoroughly.The Curtiss-Wright equipment at Port Colum-(Continued on Page 26)MAY, 193026 THE OHIO STATE ENGINEERSenior Engineer-Now comes Graduation—but first,how about your THESIS.After months of hard study and workin its preparation, don't throw it allaway by getting poor blueprints.Present your thesis on"Franklin Blue Prints"and be sure of your Degree.The Franklin Blue Printand Supply Company73 S. Fourth St. MA-3420Columbus, OhioPORT COLUMBUS(Continued from Page 10)bus comprises about fifteen planes. There are"Fledgings," "Moths," both OX and Challengermotored Robins, Cessnas, and a six-place TravelAir cabin monoplane powered with a 300 h.p.Wright Whirlwind motor. The ground force ofmechanics, under the supervision of Chief Me-chanic Joe Allen, includes approximately fifteenmen.Another phase of the work done at the base isthe flying service. This includes passenger hop-ping and chartered flights. Every Sunday andholiday several planes may be seen flying aboutover the city with sightseeing passengers. Visit-ing planes can get gas and oil from the hangarand mechanics are ready to service their planes.Telegrams are sent for visiting flyers and trainreservations made. In fact every type of servicethat can be rendered to flyers and travelers isafforded here at the port.The inside of the Curtiss-Wright hangar is veryinteresting. Always clean, with planes neatlyparked along the sides, the hangar presents apleasing spectacle to the visitor. But the biggestsurprise comes when you are ushered into the"lean-to" at the side of the hangar. On the firstfloor is a waiting room which surpasses any or-dinary waiting room, in beauty, comfort, andhominess. Except for its size it reminds one ofthe lobby of a fashionable hotel with its comfort-able chairs and covered floor. On the secondfloor are the offices which, except for the noises(Continued on Page 28)Choice of Americans CollegesTAYLOR STOKERSPurdueVassarJohnsHopkinsCatholicUniversityWisconsinOhio StateKansasPrincetonMichiganDukeDetroitConcordiaTennesseeJVeicHampshirePenn SlateW. .VirginiaCreightonAt Duke UniversityThe boilers that supply steamfor h e a t , l ight and powerhave been fired for a numberof years by Taylor Stokers. Thepicture shows the new build-ings of the University, as de-signed by Horace Trumbauer.AMERICAN ENGINEERING COMPANY 2441 Aramingo Avenue, PhiladelphiaMAY, 1930THE OHIO STATE ENGINEER 27H O W H E R C U L E S E X P L O S I V E S A D V A N C E C I V I L I Z A T I O NE X P L O S I V E SM A K E P O S S I B L E T H EN A T I O N ' S H I G H W A Y SR,kEMEMBER when you drive overAmerica's roads—a network of highways that knits thecountry from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canadato the Gulf of Mexico—you are indirectly utilizing anotherof explosives' many contributions to our civilization.For dynamite makes the modern highway possible. Stone,cement, asphalt, and other road-building materials —allare first wrested from the earth by explosives. Explosivesalso blast trails over mountains, drain encroaching waters,aid in the construction of bridge abutments, and in otherways afford easier access to cities and towns.Not only in road building, but in many industries—on landand sea and underground—explosives are helping usenjoy a richer, fuller civilization.In these achievements, Hercules explosives have played,and will continue to play, an important part. You will findit well worth while to know more about this engineeringtool. Write for a copy of The Explosives Engineer.H E R C U L E SP O W D E R C O M P A N Y( I N C O R P O R A T E D )9 4 1 K I N G S T R E E TW I L M I N G T O N , D E L A W A R EMAY, 193028 T H E O H I O S T A T E E N G I N E E RPORT COLUMBUS(Continued from Page 26)of the planes outside, might be in one of the down-town office buildings. In back of these offices aretwo large classrooms for the ground school, be-tween them a small lab equipped with severaldifferent types of airplane engines, while at theextreme rear is a dormitory for out-of-town stu-dents. All of these rooms are well lighted.Columbus should be proud of its airport and ofthe people who have made it what it is and whoare helping it grow. It is a very interesting placeto visit even for one not particularly interestedin aviation, wThile for those who are it is truly arevelation in airports.AUTHOR'S NOTE.—The author wishes to acknowledge the help hereceived from Mr. Robert Mathews in providing the necessary detailsfor this article.MAY, 1930

Learning to Fly at Port Columbus

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Learning to Fly at Port Columbus

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