Test Hazard

Year by year aviation grows safer. But whenever a builder experiments with a new design, even if greater safety is the objective, there is the dangerous job of flight-testing it. Some time during the process the chief test pilot and chief engineer must take the plane up to see what strains it will stand.

One afternoon last week at Wayne County Airport, near Detroit, three officials of Stinson Aircraft Corp. flew a new type Stinson tri-motor. The three were Chief Engineer Arthur Saxon, 29, who had been eight years with Stinson, helped design its first plane; his assistant, Samuel Benson; and Chief Test Pilot Owen Pinaire. With two tons of lead ballast in the cabin, they wanted to try the plane's stability.

A mile west of the airport, 800 ft. aloft, the big ship went into a spin, crashed into a grove of trees. Engineer, assistant, test-pilot, all were killed. To their graves they took the secret of the crash. Best guess: sudden shifting of the bags of lead ballast.

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