Aeronautics: Cabin ‘Chute

Parachutes to lower disabled airplanes have long been under experiment and have been demonstrated with small craft (TIME, Sept. 15, 1930). But Army Air Corps engineers declare that a ‘chute cannot be built big enough to support a heavily loaded transport. Instead, it became known last week, they are developing a combination of ‘chute and detachable cabin. The ‘chute jerks the cabin, intact with passengers, free of the fuselage of the disabled plane and lets it drop slowly. The pilot jumps from the cockpit (forward of the cabin) with his own ‘chute while the remainder of the ship crashes. At Wright Field (Dayton, Ohio) the plan is being tested with a glider carried aloft by an Army combat plane.