The Politics of Blind Landing

Abstract

In 1925, the United States Post Office, acting at the request of the United States Army Air Service, completed a statistical analysis of its airmail operations. The report revealed with stunning clarity the most fundamental problem of early aviation. In the twelve months under study, the airmail service had suffered 750 forced landings, 554 of them (76 percent) caused by the weather. 1 These forced landings had occurred when pilots could no longer see to fly and had to turn back, land, and wait for better conditions. Weather was the nascent industry's greatest foe, and in the ensuing few years aviation promoters pursued a means to eliminate this tremendous obstacle to reliable, safe service. They sought what was then called a "blind landing system." 2

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