• The World's First Scheduled Airline
• The Post Office Begins Flying the Mail
• The Curtiss JN-4D Jenny
• Regularly Scheduled Air Mail Service Begins
• Air Mail Service Takes Root
• Flying the Mail at Night
• A Daring Demonstration
• How Did Air Mail Pilots Find Their Way?
  • Wild Bill
  • What Was It Like To Fly?
• Early Airlines
  • Who Flew?
• Early Aircraft Technology
  • Engine Technology: Water-Cooled Engines
• Airlines Take Over Carrying the Mail

How Did Air Mail Pilots Find Their Way?

Early pilots navigated by looking for familiar landmarks on the ground: towns, rivers, railroads, race tracks, large buildings, and lakes.

Navigating by keeping the ground in view and following landmarks is called "contact flying." Today modern instruments can help pinpoint a pilot's location, but many pilots still use contact flying to find their way.

"Flying 30 or 40 feet off the ground, I still couldn't find the railroad tracks... I kept looking for just one friendly landmark to let me know where I was." -Bob Shank, one of the four original air mail pilots, on flying through fog
National Archives James P. Murray drew this map. Murray entered the map, along with written directions for the route, in a Post Office contest. The winning entries, awarded $50 dollars each, appeared in 1921 as Pilots' Directions: New York-San Francisco Route. National Air and Space Museum Archives
Test Your Contact Flying Skills!