OCR Text |
Show Passengers Are Picked Up by Plane in Flight WASHINGTON. Army airplanes n full flight can now pick human passengers oft the ground with scarcely a jolt. The method, announced by the army air forces, is based on a pick-jp pick-jp idea first used by a rural air mail service in West Virginia. As a result of experiments conducted con-ducted by the air technical service :ommand at Wright field, project ngineers of the A.T.S.C. said the practice had been developed to a point where A.A.F. standardization ;an be seriously considered. The first human pickup was Paratrooper Para-trooper First Lieut. Alexis Dister of Washington. On September 5, 1943, ae demonstrated the practical use of he new equipment which may nake possible a revolutionary means of rescue for stranded A.A.F. airmen forcefl down in inaccessible locations. The pickup mechanism includes a reel inside the plane cabin with 185 !eet of half-inch nylon rope. At the !ree end of the rope is a hook held Dy a release mechanism. A 10-toot 10-toot wooden pole hanging below the plane guides the tow rope hook into the pickup loop. Automatic delayed action brakes and an electric reeling reel-ing motor weighing a total of 200 pounds, complete the airborne mechanism. me-chanism. Ground equipment includes a special spe-cial harness fastened to a nylon loop hung above the ground between two poles. Pickups are now made at 130 miles per hour air speed. |