Word: runway
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...that he was among the handful of Reserve officers accepted in the postwar Navy. He was assigned to the battleship Arizona, in charge of a small air unit. His first planes were French Nieuports-war relics with the reliability of dime-store watches. They took off from a short runway built over the Arizona's forward gun turret; it was a good way to end up in the drink, and at least once, Pride did. There was little improvement when Pride's outfit got British Sopwith Camels. Recalls Pride: "When they landed, they humped." Of the rickety...
Aircraft designers look forward to the day when all interceptors will be "uninhabited"-i.e., rise without pilots to guide them and attack invading bombers by remote electronic control. Presumably, such interceptors will be launched like rockets and so will not need runways to get into the air. Interceptors inhabited by pilots are still in fashion, but last week the Air Force demonstrated at Edwards Air Force Base (see cut) that they can be launched like rockets without benefit of runway. This is considered important in cases where advance bases are lacking or have been destroyed by the enemy...
Many of them blamed the slopeline approach lights. In the official instructions distributed to its pilots by American Airlines appears the following entry for Idlewild Airport: "Caution! Slopeline approach lights in operation on Runway 4 can be mistaken for runway." The same warning is given about the slopeline lights at Washington and Los Angeles. No matter what is decided about last week's crash, many pilots will believe that the Italian captain tried to land on the water between the piers...
Dashes & Jags. The slopeline consists of two lines of lights at the end of the runway, on sloping supports like saw teeth. When an airplane makes a correct approach, they blend into two continuous lines. If the approach is not correct, they look broken up into dashes or jags, telling the pilot what is wrong...
More dangerous is a thick-weather possibility: when the pilot mistakes the slope-line lights for the lights outlining the runway. Many pilots have had this illusion and have pulled up just before landing on water or broken ground. The Italian captain may have made this mistake and actually landed on the pier that carries the lights...