Emergency

Last week was National Air Travel Week, staged by U. S. airlines to get more of the U. S. citizenry up in the air. Impressive were carefully-staged transport flying exhibitions, but the most thrilling demonstration was not on the schedule.

Chicago Airport, at the start of one evening's rush hour, suddenly went black. A main supply cable of the Commonwealth Edison Company had failed. Due between seven and nine were a dozen planes, 100 passengers. Unable to warn them because the airport's 14 radio transmitters were dead, quick-thinking operations men dashed to ships still on the ground, flashed the word aloft over battery-run airliner radios.

Already on its way down, one ship from New York landed with only its searchlights to feel the way. Two others went to Milwaukee. Still others approached the area slowly, awaiting a lights-on signal. Then one of these, from Fort Worth, with 15 passengers, prepared to descend. The great field was outlined feebly with lantern light. Down came the ship, its searchlights poking through the black, when suddenly the field lights blazed on and a frantic hour was over. Next day Chicago's City Council decreed immediate installation of an emergency power plant for Chicago Airport.

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