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Show Expect Rise in Air Accidents "fersonnel Expansion Cited As Army Officers Are Told to Give Facts. WASHINGTON. The lowering oi the average experience of the pilots now training for the army air corps will result in an increase in the rate of Hying accidents, because of the greater number of men involved and the risks in training for modern mod-ern aerial combat, the war department depart-ment announced in an explanation of recent accidents to army planes. The proficiency of the air corps pilots .and the condition of the army planes and ground equipment are not measured by the number of such accidents, but rather by the accident acci-dent rate, officials stated. "In 1940, army airplanes were flown more than 900,000 hours as compared with about 77,000 hours in 1921, but the percentage of accidents in 1940 was far below that of two decades ago," the war department said. Give Public Facts. The announcement came as Henry L. Stimson, secretary of war, met with 150 army public relations officers of-ficers whom Maj. Gen. Robert C. Richardson Jr., head of the war department de-partment public relations section, had called in from all parts of the country to discuss publicity policy and problems. The secretary told the officers that the success of the army's program depended upon its morale, which in turn depended upon the morale of the people at home who supported it, and he warned against the feeling feel-ing of disillusionment which would spread if these people felt they were being deceived. . "Nothing can undermine, this morale, mo-rale, both of the army and of the people behind it, so rapidly and so thoroughly as the feeling that they are being deceived," he said, "that they are being given the real facts about their progress and the progress prog-ress of the cause which they are preparing to defend." The war department report on accidents ac-cidents did not reveal any precise figures as to the number of acci- dents, but merely . gave percentages percent-ages covering the various reasons causing them. "The detailed data on accidents maintained by the air corps indicate that personnel errors still account for 80 out of every 100 mishaps of all kinds, fatal as well as those which result in no injury to persons and only slight damage to property," the report stated. "Mechanical failure or defects in airplanes and equipment equip-ment caused but 14 per cent of all accidents and less than 6 per cent of these were due to miscellaneous miscel-laneous and undetermined causes." Personnel Errors Blamed. As to the fatal accidents, in which one or more persons were killed, during 194 0 77 per cent were due to personnel errors, while but 4 per cent were caused by faulty material and 19 per cent were chargeable to miscellaneous and undetermined factors, the war department said. The war department pointed out that because of the great expansion of the air corps in the last two years, the proportion of experienced flying instructors and commanders of combat com-bat units had been greatly reduced contributing to a higher accident rate. In closing the report warned the public to be prepared for further increase in-crease in the number of accidents. "At the same time a warning is sounded that in view of the great increase in the amount of flying there will be a proportionate increase in-crease in the number of accidents, fatal and otherwise, with which the air corps and the public will be confronted," con-fronted," the war department concluded. |
