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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 1114.PDF
FLIGHT, NOVEMBER 3, 1932 " I should like to congratulate you on your very pun gent criticism of the latest example of the Air Ministry's interference with the liberty of the individual, as in stanced in A.N.D.ll, Section VI. " It is, indeed, preposterous that a person owning a very large estate, and being interested in aviation, may not follow his hobby to the extent of building and flying his experimental aircraft around his own estate without first obtaining the permission of the Air Ministry. " It would almost appear that the latter is jealous of the success of thajt much-hated harridan D.O.K.A., who for such a long time has inflicted her ridiculous regula tions on a long-suffering general public, and that the Air Ministry have determined upon an intensive campaign directed against the aviation public. "It is most devoutly to be hoped that your editorial will have the effect of stirring up aviation circles and result in a combined effort being made to liberate civil aviation generally from the intolerant restrictions imposed upon it by what is after all primarily a military bureaucracy. " I have just one criticism to make of your editorial. In the penultimate paragraph you cite an example of how this recent restriction may affect an ' approved ' firm. " In point of fact there is no change, the position for some time past having been that upon completion of an aircraft the ' approved firm ' is responsible for recom mending to the Air Ministry the issue of a C. of A. In order that the regulations may be met, it is necessary for the Chief Inspector of the ' approved firm ' to satisfy himself by means of final inspection and flight trial that the aircraft is in a satisfactory condition and does in fact conform to type, and furnish a certificate to that effect. " This inspection certificate must bear a date approxi mately corresponding to the date of application for C. of A., and therefore it is customary for the C. of A. to be applied for before the aircraft leaves the constructor's works. " Even if permission could be obtained for a flight for the purpose of delivering an aircraft without C. of A. to the agent, the approved firm, or some other approved organisation, would have to carry out a further inspec tion and flight trial on the sale of the aircraft by the agent before the recommendation for issue of the C. of A. could be made. " The present procedure is certainly detrimental to the interests of agents, as in many cases, owing to having new machines in stock, they have to sell a quite new aircraft which may have some months of its C. of A. already expired, and should the purchaser desire a full twelve months' C. of A., the only alternative is to apply for a renewal at a cost of £5 5s." Mr. Alan Goodfellow, whose connection with aviation insurance places him in a position favourable for judging coldly and unemotionally the risks of flying, and who, through his prominent association with the Lancashire Aero Club since its formation, is intimately familiar with the practical side of private flying, has sent us the follow ing brief note: " I write to congratulate FLIGHT upon drawing atten tion to the drastic restrictions on private enterprise im posed by A.N.D.ll. It would, in my opinion, be quite sufficient to give the Secretary of State for Air discre tionary powers to prohibit the flight of any uncertified aircraft except over land or water belonging to, or leased by, the owner of the aircraft, in any case where a good cause was shown to apprehend unreasonable risk to pro perty or persons of third parties. The fact that aircraft owners are already compulsorily liable for third-party damage, and that in the very near future compulsory third-party insurance may be introduced, also affords a sufficient safeguard for most purposes. If, however, re striction is necessary, it would be sufficient to make it a criminal offence to cause damage to third parties where it could be shown that the machine causing the damage was uncertified, and that its unaiiworthiness was a proximate or contributory cause of the damage." From a reader whom we will call " Mr. Y " we have received the following mild criticism: " Definitely, I go ninety per cent, with you, but I con sider that in allowing loose persons whose qualifications consist of ownership of a machine and a recently-acquired ' A ' licence, the State is doing something much more dangerous. " An inferior pilot, with no engineering resources and very limited development finance, establishes himself at an aerodrome, which, being licensed as a public aerodrome, is not preventable. He crashes—perhaps one can see it coming days beforehand—and there are two effects: "1. The general adverse effect on flying. Nowadays I think almost negligible, in view of public appreciation of the amount of safe flying that does take place. "2. Association of the name of the aerodrome (or club, or school) with the crash. " In theory, no doubt aerodrome proprietors could make things difficult for this type of experimenter and send him elsewhere. In practice, no aerodrome turns revenue away, and very few aerodrome managers are competent to draw a line between the safe and the unsafe experimenter. "I do not suggest elaborate control for the isolated case I am quoting, and on the contrary see in such con trol an opportunity for established interests to handicap, if not to make impossible, any radical development which might threaten their interests. Future policy might en visage a special form of licence which definitely earmarked (and recorded by means of registration of very distinct type) the experimental nature of the flying, but which was readily obtainable by anyone with any experience or real pretentions to carry on." Mr. Lee Murray, who in collaboration with Mr. W. S. Shackleton is now running a very successful business as consulting engineers, particularly in advising on the suit ability of aircraft types for Australian conditions, is an Australian pilot of high standing, and is in addition a qualified aircraft engineer, is not usually of the " dreamy " type, but in this instance A.N.D.ll seems to have had a rather peculiar effect on him, as he sets out in the follow ing letter: " I bought a copy of A.N.D.ll on Friday afternoon, and in the evening commenced a careful reading, with some rather rapidly-growing pleasure in the warmth of the fire. You must remember that it is impossible for me to translate the regulations in the light of any very exten sive experience of their working, but in the small experi ence which I have had the officials of the airworthiness department are most helpful in their interpretation of the regulations. On the whole I think my opinion of them is scarcely worth writing about, but I would like to tell you something of my week-end. " On Friday evening I had the most extraordinary dream, which you, as an interested student of psychology, may be able to throw some light upon. My wife was apparently extremely ill, and the nurse (fully qualified) had sent for a physician of great repute. On his arrival he telephoned for a surgeon of almost equal skill, and when he arrived the two of them borrowed my writing desk and commenced to fill in official forms at some length. Greatly mystified by this procedure, I somewhat nervously approached them and questioned them as to the necessity for this delay. " They explained that the British Medical Association had decided that it would no longer recognise the right of qualified men to carry out operations on their own initiative, unless they belonged to an approved firm ; unfortunately, the physician and surgeon belonged to two different firms, so that they were sending a description of the proposed operation to the authorising department of the B.M.A. for their approval. After all, the surgeon explained, we kill with the knife where you kill with the aeroplane, and we cannot have the whole responsibility on our own shoulders. " In the meantime my poor wife was gradually slipping down-hill, and I cursed loud and long at this generation of spineless technicians. As the last curse echoed around the fireplace I woke up. wondering still in some anxiety if the approval could possibly arrive in time. " It was a senseless dream—I can see that quite clearly now—for, of course, the medical people have certain quali fications which prove they are competent, and no one questions them unless the patient dies prematurely. This happens so seldom that no one dreams of interfering. " A curious thing about this dream was that everyone appeared to be calling my wife ' Prosperity.' " I cannot understand it, but perhaps you can help me, and I would much appreciate hearing from you." " P.S.—The approval must have arrived in time, be cause I can remember now that a son called ' Invention ' was born on Saturday morning. Of course, the Authoris ing Committee are such good chaps that the approval is almost always in time."
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