The Channel

In 1929 a British airliner with 13 aboard fell into the English Channel. Seven were drowned. Last year an Imperial Airways plane exploded near the Belgian coast, killed 15. Last May a French airliner fell into the Channel, killing six. Last week a London-Paris airliner exploded over the Channel, plunged seven persons to their deaths. Few days later old Louis Bleriot, first man to fly the Channel, arrived in the U. S. to tell newshawks that airplanes are still far from safe.

Because it is a 32-mi. over-water jump, because the prevailing weather is bad, the London-Paris air route is unquestionably one of the world's most hazardous. That it is also one of the oldest and busiest, none can deny. Last week's accident was the first in four years for Hillman's Airways, which maintains the fastest daily air service between London and Paris. Imperial Airways, operating eleven planes across the Channel daily, boasts a personal accident insurance rate no higher than that for rail travel. For U. S. airlines the rate is eight times as high (TIME, July 30). Despite this fact, British planes fly only 2,300,000 miles per fatal accident whereas U. S. airlines in the first six months of this year flew more than 3,500,000 miles for every fatality.

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