When Your Child Asks Awkward Questions
NON
THE CHINA MAIL, APRIL 17, 1987.
BE FRANK IN YOUR REPLIES
TONE prepared to say just the
of us, however glib, is al-] YEAR'S ADVANCE
ways
right thing when our children ask
us point blank questions about the The Amsterdam-Batavia
“facts of life."
"Fortunately for the modern par-
Air Service
The results obtained
with the
ATLANTIC AIR ROUTE
PREPARATIONS
ent, conversation about the coming KM. service umsterdam-Batavia LESSONS OF REMARKABLE NONSTOP
T
}
We flounder about endeavouring to treat with courage subjects which our own upbringing has made us feel far too delicate for discussion.
great
This was the case not only with
con-
LONDON-EGYPT FLIGHTS
communication
with
These two flights by. 'Caledonia' actually reached the bad-weather
the and the tests carried out recently be with her sister-craft, 'Cambria',
necessary..
of babies is so frank and noncha- in 1936 once more show the lant that most of us have lost our possibilities offered by air transport self-consciousness about the sub-between Europe and the Far East.
and in constant ject.
The flying-boats 'Cambria' Notwithstanding the large capacity
60 per 'Caledonia” data obtained during ground stations. But there are still plenty of of the Douglas aeroplanes,
Tests have also been made in the questions which tax our knowledge cent of the passages applied for recent test flights preparing for the
had to be refused.
Atlantic service.
transmission of wireless weather re- and determination to be "matter-
in "Caledonia', the Imperial Airways ports to the flying-boats while of-fact."
the KL.M., but also with the other long-range flying-boat which recent- the air. During "Caledonia's re- air serly flew non-stop from Southampton cent flight from Alexandria, for companies which operate vices between Europe and the Far to Alexandria, returned from Alex-example, weather conditions became Information con-andria to Southampton, flying the difficult over France. East, and can therefore be sidered as a guarantee for the 2,300 miles without alighting in 15 as to these conditions was flashed to future success of this intercontinen-hours.
the air-liner some time before she One mother wrote to me last tal air route. Consequently the
with
zone, thus giving her Captain am- week that she was wil aware that K.L.M. looks forward
ple. warning of what lay ahead and she ought to be approaching the fidence to next summer when
enabling him to make any course subject, but hadn't the faintest Amsterdam-Batavia route will
have provided valuable technical adjustments he might consider idea how to start or what to say.flown with larger planes still.
and operating data, paving the way The chances are great that when Another point to be noticed from for further trials now impending her child approached the subject: 1936 is that there is no longer any with a view to the operation of a The organisation now being herself, with the naive curiosity of
of North Atlantic air service.
created will, when test flights are four or five years, the mother evad-question of seasonal variations
traffic. Up till 1936 the amount of
During 'Caledonia's' flights to made across the Atlantic, enable ed the question because "That Hittle
always decreased passages booked
and from Alexandria, and also dur-ground-stations to keep in regular thing-what would she under-
in the winter months, but in 1936
ing recent flights by Cambria', ex- wireless touch with the flying-boats, stand?"?
that remained the same all the year haustive tests were made în re-even when aircraft are out above round. This is even accentuated by the first months of 1987 which ard to wireless communication be-mid-ocean.
tween flying-boats and ground-sta- Yet the child's inquisitiveness is gave a further increase (in Janu- tions. The wireless installations in Exhaustive studies are being indicative enough that the time is jary seven of the nine outgoing the flying-boats embody all the ex- ripe for some explanation, whatever planes were fully booked up).
perience gained in airway wireless her age. It is never in some far- The following figures give a con since its pioneer days, the equipment information available from day to off day that it will be easier, the crete idea of the enormous develop being considered the most modern day special weather maps are be- time is right when the question is ment of the air line to Batavia. Air-
and efficient ever constructed for ing worked out. Then from such asked.
mail increased in 1936 by 23.9 per
maps courses are plotted, just as use in aircraft.
though actual flights were about to While no one can put exact words cent. over with 1935, parcel post
increased by 473 per cent. and During 'Caledonia's' flights to and be scheduled. From this test-work into a parent's mouth or do more
among other things, than warn her not to appear em-freight by 61.8 per cent. while the from Alexandria, and during 'Cam- it is possible, barrassed or upset by the questions, passenger kilometres sold increased bria's test round Britain, and also to estimate the beat heights at it is true that the simplest general by 68.3 per cent. and the percent- during "Cambria's' trials from the which to fly in view of prevailing rule to follow is to answer the ques-age of seats sold was 81.3 per cent. Shannon base, the flying-boats were wind conditons.
The great hopes entertained for tion truthfully. Remember the
DON'T BE EMBARRASSED
truth is never shameful. It is only the financial results of the service what we ourselves make of it that in 1936 have been considerably sur- gives it an aura of illicit discourse. passed largely on
account of the Douglas DC2. being used the whole
We need not tell a child all we year. know at any time. The child could
In 1936 105 return flights between not absorb it. But endeavour to
Amsterdam and Bandoeng were answer each question and be ready to repeat the same answer no mat-performed to schedule; 85 per cent. ter how often the same question is of the outgoing and 80 per cent. of the return planes were exactly on. time. These very favourbale figures Bit by bit, and without embar- are even more remarkable when tak- rassment, the child, will build up ing into consideration the bad the knowledge that will become ex-weather conditions for the year as plicable as experience clarifies it. la whole..
asked.
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