Technology Takes Off, Pursuit of Speed | Microsoft X09-519450503

With a balance of efficiency, range, speed, and payload, the Douglas DC–3 was the first aircraft to earn a profit just by carrying passengers.

Technology

Takes Off

The Pursuit of Speed

When Transcontinental Air Transport began service in 1929 using a combination of railroads and Ford Tri-Motor flights to travel across the United States, brochures touted a miraculous 48-hour coast-to-coast journey.

In the early 1930s, the new streamlined Vega became the favorite of record- coveting pilots. Wiley Post flew a Vega during his 1931 around-the-world flight, as did Amelia Earhart when she became the first woman to fly solo

Navigation

For early pilots, the land was their chart on clear days. Just as in the real world, it’s easiest to navigate in Flight Simulator by simply looking out the window and following landmarks, a technique called pilotage. Using pilotage, a clock, and a magnetic compass, you can practice dead (or deduced) reckoning.

To learn more about pilotage and dead reckoning, read the Old-Fashioned Navigation article in the Learning Center.

The DH–88 Comet races to Melbourne, Australia, in Flight Simulator.

across the Atlantic in 1932. In 1934, the de Havilland DH–88 Comet—the first British aircraft with retractable landing gear, flaps, and variable pitch propellers—won the MacRobertson Air Race, flying between England and

southern Australia in slightly less than 71 hours.

Until the 1920s, pilots relied on written flying instructions that described air routes using the locations of prominent buildings, hills, roads, and trees. Today’s complex aviation charts contain more than 200 symbols to help pilots navigate. Flight Simulator’s Map offers an improved full-color terrain display to show the location of your aircraft at any time. You can also

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The Douglas DC–3 quickly became the hero of many early airlines.

The swift and reliable Douglas DC–3, which was able to carry more people than the Ford Tri-Motor and with greater speed and efficiency, became one of the most widely used transportation aircraft in the world during the 1930s and 1940s.

navigate in Flight Simulator using radio-based navigation.

To learn more about navigational aids, read the Aviation Charts, Everything You Need to Know about a VOR, and Automatic Direction Finder articles

in the Learning Center.

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