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Aviation History
1926
1926 - 0558.PDF
November 11, 1925). We wonder if this should by any chance be a misprint and should have read " weakly" ? In the notes dealing with the report given in this issue of FLIGHT space is not available to publish the tables of statistics, but the official summary of these tables is given, being, according to the report, " a summary of the principal facts revealed by these tables." A careful perusal of the tables might reveal quite a number of other facts which were of interest, although possiblv in some cases less reassuring deductions might result. Thus in Table A, dealing with British Civil Aviation, the number of passengers carried is seen to be 14,675, as against 13,478 in the previous year, an improvement of more than 1,000. But if one turns to Table B which gives the total number of passengers carried between Great Britain and the Continent, it is found that this greater number of passengers actually repre- sents only 52 per cent, of the total carried, the foreign air lines having carried the remaining 48 per cent., while in the previous year the British percentage was 58 per cent., the year before that 79 per cent., and in 1920 as much as 92 per cent. Thus, in spite of the steadily growing increase in the number of passengers, there is little cause for complacency as far as the British share is concerned. The effect of the " horse-power miles " basis, which has been in force since last December, is reflected in the tables, since the greater number of passengers has been carried in fewer machine flights, i.e., 4,461, as against 4,677 machine flights for the previous year. The machine mileage also shows a reduction, from 890,000 to 865,000. This, of course, is a result of the use of larger machines, i.e., machines carrying more passengers. The fact that a machine like the de Havilland 50 (which is exceptionally economical and comes nearer being a paying proposition than many others) is penalised under the " horse-power mileage " system, seems to have been overlooked. " Joy-riding" figures show a most gratifying increase, the number of passengers that have been carried during the year reaching the imposing total of 67,329, this being a " record," the best previous year in this class of flying being 1920, when the number was 66,102. The machine-miles flown in " joy-riding " is very much less, being only 169,000, as against 524,000 for 1920, which seems to indicate that " flips" are getting shorter. This excellent increase is all the more remarkable when it is remem- bered that the joy-riding concerns work entirely without Government subsidy. From the safety point of view the year has been extremely good as regards British civil aviation, not a single accident having occurred which resulted in death or serious injury, and this applies to the British air lines as well as to joy-riding. At the same time, only one accident to a foreign aircraft occurred during the period under review, one passenger being killed and one seriously injured. The efficiency of British subsidised air services is dealt with in table D, and the total " efficiency " for the 12 months is shown to have been 93 per cent., as compared with a figure of 94 per cent, for the previous year. The highest efficiency was reached in the months of April and June, 1925, when 98 per cent, of flights were completed uninterrupted. The lowest figure is that for January, 1926, when the efficiency was only 80 per cent. On the face of it these figures AUGUST 12, 1926 are excellent, but when one comes to look at them a little more closely it is found that the old system of basing the " efficiency " upon percentage of flights completed to flights commenced is still in force. This, as we have repeatedly pointed out, is no criterion at all of the regularity of the services since, by refusing to send machines off in anything but perfect weather, it is quite easy to reach an efficiency of 100 per cent. We do not, of course, for one moment suggest that this policy has been followed. As a matter of fact, it is well known that flying has repeatedly been carried out successfully in very bad conditions. But this does not alter the fact that the method of expressing the efficiency is fundamen- tally wrong. The only criterion which is of any real use is the proportion of flights completed to flights scheduled. Statistics of the number of involuntary landings show that in the period April, 1925, to September, 1925, the number of involuntary landings from all causes represented 5 per cent, of the total flights commenced, of which 42 per cent, were due to weather, 42 per cent, to engine or installation failure, and 16 per cent, to other causes. In the period October, 1925, to March, 1926, there were 13 per cent. of flights interrupted, 60 per cent, on account of weather, 25 per cent, due to engine or installation failure, and 15 per cent, due to other causes. As regards the flying stock in use on the air lines, the report discloses the fact that this consists of a total of 14 machines, with a total seating accommodation of 178 and a pay-load capacity of 37,000 lbs., certainly not very imposing figures for a " million pound monopoly company." Turning now to the progress of aviation in Canada, space does not permit of lengthy comment on the report, but perhaps the whole spirit of Canadian aviation may be indicated by the following quota- tion from its pages : " It is noteworthy that, while in practically every other country the main effort has been the operation of state subsidized or operated air services for the carriage of passengers, mails or express, development in Canada has been on quite different lines. Up to the present, in Canada flying has been used principally as an improved method of observation. Straight transportation work has been subsidiary to this, and has been undertaken only when other modern facilities were lacking. This development, peculiar to Canada, arose from natural conditions existing in this country after the armistice. Foresters, surveyors and those charged with the administration and development of the outlying districts had watched the progressive growth, in capacity and efficiency, of aircraft during the war. They were fully alive to the possibilities of aircraft for increasing the efficiency of their services. There was, therefore, an immediate demand for aviation in these lines of work the moment men and machines were available to develop them. It was accordingly decided to concentrate on those services for which there was an immediate need : in forestry and aerial surveying ; in transportation to the remoter parts of the country." w m m m A New Italian Air Line A NEW Italian air line was inaugurated on August 1, linking Brindisi with Athens and Constantinople. At present the service is weekly and is limited to the transport of mails and freight. Later the service will be more frequent and passengers will be carried, whilst it will probably be extended. 483
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