FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1920
1920 - 1103.PDF
OCTOBER 21, 1920 Research Committee and the Meteorological Department (which has undertaken to establish pilot balloons and observa- tion stations for studying the upper atmosphere). All the Canadian Government air stations will be available for commercial traffic, and the Superintendent of Flying Operations, the member of the Board responsible for all civil aviation undertaken by the Government, has disposed of a number of hangars to municipalities to encourage and assist the establishment of public air ports. A number of certificates and licences have been issued and it is an important feature of the Canadian scheme that persons taking out civilian certificates at the same time agree to be- come members of the Canadian Air Militia and to attend an instruction course for at least one month in every two years. The Indian Board, which is under the administration of the Department of Commerce and Industry, has decided upon the provision of aerodromes on the Calcutta-Bombay-Delhi- .,:_. Karachi, Karachi-Bombay and Calcutta-Rangoon routes. Both Canada and India have drawn up air regulations, and the New Zealand Aviation Act of 1919 empowers the Governor- ~"General to make regulations by Order-in-Council for the issue of licences to flying schools and pilots, the registration of air- craft and prohibited areas. , -- Australia possesses an Air Service Committee ; the South ' African Government is examining the whole question of aviation ; and the interest of both Dominions has been stimu- lated by the great demonstration flights from England. I shall touch later on a project for an air service from Melbourne. It was mentioned that there was one exception to the lack of air services in the Dominions and Colonies. In the spring of this year the Bermuda and West Atlantic Aviation Company inaugurated a service in the Bermudas with Supermarine flying boats and Avro seaplanes, and more extensive schemes are under consideration. Factors Contributing to Successful Air Services Turning now to the second part of his paper, General „•• Sykes pointed out that our watchwords must be Safety and Reliability ; speed can be improved when these have been attained. The Accidents Branch of the Civil Aviation Department conducts investigations into all serious accidents brought to their notice, and reports on the causes of such accidents, enabling any experience gained to be given general applica- tion. This work has been carried out since the Armistice without specific obligation imposed by Statute, but with the invariable goodwill and co-operation of the aircraft trade and of aircraft owners. Certain necessary co-relative powers are, • however, lacking, and the Air Navigation Bill now before Parliament will remove such disabilities by making obliga- tory notification of accidents involving serious injury to occupants, or serious structural damage to aircraft. Sir Frederick then pointed out that, apart from weather, " the safety of aircraft depends largely upon the engines, and ;; perhaps even more upon their installation and accessories. '•- During the earlier stages of the War the life of an engine was _ from fifty to sixty hours for stationary engines, and fifteen .. hours tor rotary engines. Today these figures stand at two '-. hundred hours and upward, and from fifty to sixty hours, respectively. He then pointed out that increase in relia- ; bility may be furthered in two ways—by using a very light .-; power plant, run normally at about half its maximum power, and by using a plant of greater weight, more solid construc- _ tion, arid greater efficiency, running at nearly its full power. ", The former method is more expensive in first cost and upkeep, H but allows of higher performance and provides reserve power •:- for emergencies. The latter is cheaper, but is thought to :Z' involve a certain risk owing to lack of surplus power in emer- V gency. Sir Frederick also referred to the efforts being made -; in this country to obtain better lift for a given area, and ' mentioned as instances the Handley-Page and the " Alula " wings. --• With regard to the use of different types of aircraft, the 1; speaker mentioned that the airship can, without refuelling, •_••'.- carry a greater weight a far greater distance than the aero- plane. It can fly day and night, and is not so handicapped by fog and bad visibility. The aeroplane is faster and more easily landed and housed. The, problem, however, is not one of rivalry but of co-operation. Typ^s of aircraft of particular importance to us as an island state are the sea- plane, flying boat and amphibian. The speaker gave it as his opinion that it is not unlikely that in the future the aero- plane, the seaplane, and the flying boat will yield much of their sphere to the amphibian. Differentiation of types is required in accordance not only with the distance and natural characteristics of the route, but also with the nature of the freight carried. Whether aeroplane or airship, seaplane or amphibian is used, each will gradually tend to be subdivided into mail, goods and passenger carriers. The special requirements for the first are speed, for the second, weight-carrying capacity, and for the third, speed and comfort. Concerning ground organisation, Sir Frederick pointed out that it is important that this should be as perfect as possible. There are at present in Great Britain 53 civil, official, and privately owned aerodromes and 53 service aerodromes, available for civil aircraft in emergency only, and arrange- ments are proceeding for the provision of landing facilities for seaplanes at a number of British ports, and at French, Dutch'and Belgian ports where Continental traffic is concerned. Under present conditions landing grounds for aeroplanes are necessarily located some distance outside large towns, but we are trying to devise a scheme by which large rivers flowing through towns may be used for landing seaplanes and amphi- bians, thus saving the relatively long journey to the aero- drome. Negotiations are in progress from which it is hoped that the Thames may be used for this purpose. Satisfactory methods have yet to be devised for indicating to pilots on the-Continental services what weather conditions are to be expected at Croydon, and so enabling them, if necessary, to land at Lympne instead. A problem of considerable difficulty is the ground organi- sation for night flying. Aerial lighthouses have been in operation for some months at Biggin Hill and Croydon, another will shortly be located at Lympne, and a third between London and Folkestone. Other civil Government aerodromes will be equipped as soon as night flying is prac- ticable. Permanent electric landing-lights and lights mark- ing buildings are being installed, and experiments are being made in the use of a searchlight for showing up obstructions on the aerodrome, the illumination Of wireless towers and flood lights. Another important factor in the organisation of air navi- gation by night, and in fog or mist is the installation of an efficient wireless direction finding and wireless telephonic system. The direction finding apparatus installed at Croydon enables aircraft to correct their course at night, or in thick weather. Wireless stations have also been opened at the civil aero- dromes at Castle Bromwich, Didsbury and Renfrew, and the number will be increased at the need arises. With regard to meteorology. General Sykes said:— "The safety and regularity of air services are largely dependent upon accurate meteorological reports and forecasts, which give the pilots confidence and enable them to circumvent adverse'weather. The forecast service of the Meteorological Office in the Department of Civil Aviation, issues hourly reports and short period forecasts for the requirements of the moment; it issues four times daily forecasts covering 24 hours to assist in making arrangements beforehand, and it issues synoptic messages which give a bird's-eye view of the weather conditions over the whole country, and enable continental and local meteorologists to anticipate the coming weather in their respective areas. The organisation of the system of local centres, specially charged with the distribution of information, was commenced toward the end of 1919. Ten out of twenty of the projected stations are already in operation, three of them being primarily concerned with the provision of reports and forecasts for the London-Paris- Brussels-Amsterdam services. For points along these routes information is supplied of the surface wind and the wind at 2,000 feet, of the amount and height of any low cloud, of the visibility and the prevailing weather, and, for seaplanes, of the state of the sea. Collective reports are issued hourly by W/T from Croydon aerodrome, together with forecasts for the remaining period of daylight, and copies of these reports and forecasts are distributed to air transport companies and to others concerned. As a result of international agreement, similar reports are issued at Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam." Concerning economic and financial factors, the speaker pointed out that there are innumerable points upon which one could dwell, such as the necessity for simplicity of design, cost of upkeep, etc., but he confined himself to touching upon a few of the main economical and financial features, pointing out that speed must be paid for, but admitting that from the point of view of the public the present charges are undoubtedly high. Our feature which militates against the reduction of charges is the rising cost of petrol, and Sir Frederick stated that we must endeavour to discover other fuels, and that engines must be developed so as to ensure the most economic use of such new fuels ; he said that it was quite possible that we may eventually have to replace the petrol engine by the steam engine. Concerning the burning question of subsidies Sir Frederick said :—" A problem which often comes up for discussion is 1105
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
