Adrift

Landplanes are speedier and more efficient than seaplanes, because they have no bulky floats to add weight and increase air resistance. Landplanes are used, accordingly, on the London-Paris air route, though they have to fly over an angry strip of the English Channel. Even a landplane, however, will float for some time.

The empty space of the fusilage provides quite a large degree of buoyancy, till the water leaks through the cloth covering. To test the flotation of one of the huge air liners, the British Air Ministry has determined on an interesting experiment. One of its less valuable planes will be put into flying condition, loaded with a weight equivalent to that of fuel, pilot and eight passengers and set adrift in the sea off Felixstone. The probabilities are that the plane will float for hours, thus reassuring the public that nothing but a few hours' discomfort would follow a plunge into the sea.