FUTURE AIR LINES OVER ARCTIC ARE PREDICTED

Describing the recent flight of G. H. Wilkins over the North Pole from Alaska to Spitzbergen as "the Elizabethan dream of a Northwest passage come true," Vilhjalmur Stefansson Arctic explorer and member of the University faculty from 1904 to 1906 explained to a CRIMSON reporter yesterday several reasons for the importance of Wilkins' achievement.

"Wilkins was second in command of my polar expedition which began in 1913," said Stefansson. "The significance of his recent flight lies in the fact that he has demonstrated the feasibility of transpolar flights. Meteorologists have long recorded the comparative absence of fogs and storms in the Arctic, and it is my firm conviction that the air routes of the future between such points as New York and Pekin, or Seattle and London, will be mapped over the Arctic."

Stefansson explained that polar routes are safer than those, which follow the longer courses further south, as the sea hops are short and covered with ice much of the year. Moreover, the polar route from New York to Pekin, for example, saves 1000 miles of flying distance.

"Another important consideration is the greater carrying capacity of planes in the Arctic," continued Stefansson. "The cold air is heavy, in addition to being variably clear. 'Air pockets are also unknown in the polar regions.

"Wilkins," he concluded, "has given all these well-known facts a new meaning by his flight, and may be considered a pioneer in what will probably develop into one of the greatest air routes of the future."