Talosig, Joshua Krister A.

AMTE – 229 4B
History of Aircraft Navigation and Communications
COMMUNICATION
In 1911, wireless telegraphy was put into operational use in the Italo-Turkish War. In 1912,
the Royal Flying Corps had begun experimenting with "wireless telegraphy" in aircraft.
Lieutenant B.T James was a leading pioneer of wireless radio in aircraft. In the spring of 1913,
James had begun to experiment with radios in a B.E.2A. James managed to successfully increase
the efficiency of wireless radio before he was shot down and killed by anti-aircraft fire on July
13, 1915. The First World War brought about an urgent need for communications. Mostly voice
communications are used in this time period that is connected from ground to air. In 1930’s the
first all radio controlled blind landing was invented, it is the pioneer of all high frequency radios
that is used that time which helped them in the war. No matter what size is the instrument aircraft
communication is a must in the aviation industry. The development of radar in the mid-1930s
proved a great advance in air-to-ground communication. Radar could be used to track planes in
the air and determine distance, direction, speed and even type of aircraft. This allowed for better
air traffic control as well as navigation aides for pilots. Radar also proved to be a valuable tool in
targeting for bombers. Radar stations on the coast of Britain could aim two radar beams from
separate locations on the coast towards Germany. By aligning the two radar beams to intersect
over the desired target, a town or factory for example, an aircraft could then follow one radar
signal until it intersected with the other where it would then know to drop bombs. During the
early stages of aviation, it was assumed that skies were too big and empty that it was impossible
that two planes would collide. However, in 1956 two planes famously crashed over the Grand
Canyon, which sparked the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Aviation was
roaring during the Jet Age and as a result, communication technologies needed to be developed.
This was initially seen as a very difficult task: ground controls used visual aids to provide signals
to pilots in the air. With the advent of portable radios small enough to be placed in planes, pilots
were able to communicate with people on the ground. With later developments, pilots were then
able to converse air-to-ground and air-to-air. Today, aviation communication relies heavily on
the use of many systems. Planes are outfitted with the newest radio and GPS systems, as well as
Internet and video capabilities.
NAVIGATION

1927 was a year of unprecedented attempts to establish new records for long-distance flight. It
was exciting but dangerous. Most often remembered as the year Charles Lindbergh flew alone
across the Atlantic, 1927 also witnessed other record flights that presented far greater challenges.
But the limitations of navigation technology often proved deadly. Even the relatively simple
navigational task of crossing the North Atlantic claimed many lives. These disasters marked a
turning point in navigational systems. Engineers greatly improved aircraft performance between
the world wars, but they gave little thought to the challenges of navigation. A handful of
dedicated inventors worked hard to overcome this problem. From 1928 to 1931, a new system of
navigation emerged that made long-distance flights safe and reliable. The long-range military
and commercial operations it made possible would help usher in a new age of economic and
military opportunity—and uncertainty. In the early days of flight, there were no navigation aids
to help pilots find their way. Pilots flew by looking out of their cockpit window for visual
landmarks or by using automobile road maps. These visual landmarks or maps were fine for
daytime, but airmail operated around the clock. In 1919, U.S. Army Air Service Lieutenant
Donald L. Bruner began using bonfires and the first artificial beacons to help with night
navigation. In February 1921, an airmail pilot named Jack Knight put this to the test with his all-
night flight to Chicago from North Platte, Nebraska. Knight found his way across the black
prairie with the help of bonfires lit by Post Office staff, farmers, and the public. By July 1923,
Bruner's ideas for lighted airport boundaries, spot-lit windsocks, and rotating beacons on towers
had taken hold. The Army opened an experimental lighted airway between McCook Field in
Dayton, Ohio, and Norton Field in Columbus, a distance of 72 miles (116 kilometers).Beginning
in 1923, the Post Office worked to complete a transcontinental airway of beacons on towers
spaced 15 to 25 miles (24 to 40 kilometers) apart, each with enough brightness, or candlepower,
to be seen for 40 miles (64 kilometers) in clear weather. On July 1, 1924, postal authorities began
regularly scheduled night operations over parts of this route. In 1926, the Aeronautics Branch of
the Department of Commerce took over responsibility for building lighted airways. By June
1927, 4,121 miles (6,632 kilometers) of airways had lights. By 1933, 18,000 miles (28,968
kilometers) of airway and 1,500 beacons were in place. Each tower had site numbers painted on
it for daytime identification. At night, the beacons flashed in a certain sequence so that pilots
could match their location to the printed guide that they carried. Besides the rotating beacon, one
fixed tower light pointed to the next field and one to the previous tower, forming an aerial
roadway. Official and emergency fields were lit with green lights while dangerous fields were
marked with red. Because of this effort, by the mid-1920s the swashbuckling days of airmail
operations had begun to pass. The lone pilot dressed in a leather flight suit who sat in an open
cockpit battling the elements to deliver the mail was romantic but inefficient. The Postal Service
began to focus on safety and reliability as well as on expanding operations. It established
minimum lighting requirements for all airmail stations: a 500-watt revolving searchlight,
projecting a beam parallel to the ground to guide pilots; another searchlight projecting into the
wind to show the proper approach; and aircraft wingtip flares for forced landings. It also
prescribed that all landing fields should be at least 2,000 feet by 1,500 feet (610 meters by 457
meters) to allow plenty of room for landings. As a final safety device, the requirement for a
searchlight to be mounted on airmail airplanes was appended to the Post Office's set of
requirements. The use of lighted airways allowed pilots to fly at night, but pilots still needed to
maintain visual contact with the ground. A really useful air system demanded two-way voice
communication and the ability to find out about changing weather conditions while in flight. But
in 1926, pilots could only receive weather information and details about other planes in the air
just before takeoff. If conditions changed while flying, the ground had no way to warn them. A
pilot, too, had no way of communicating with the ground.