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Aviation History
1933
1933 - 0805.PDF
FLIGHT, OCTOBER 19, 1933 PRIVATE OWNERS, ARE WE THE LAST OF OUR RACE? By a Private Owner This article, which is from a pilot with considerable experience of legislation matters affecting private flying, raises many points of vital interest to those who use what are usually termed privately-owned aircraft T There will in the future not be enough room in the air for indiscriminate flying in all directions, and therefore flying must be confined to routes. One is going to make it not impossible, but certainly diffi cult, for the private owner to fly as he wishes, but one must consider his requirements only in relation to regular air transport craft to which priority must be given.—Extract from the paper by Maj. R. H. Mealing (see page 1049.J 'HESE words are a threat to the future of private flying. It is not Maj. Mealing who is threatening us. He will not think me rude for saying that there is nothing very startling or original in his paper ; he admits that himself. His paper is an admir able exposition of work done by an imaginative, broad- minded and conscientious man. In the course of his work he reaches certain conclusions. It is those conclusions which constitute the threat. Similar ideas have been voiced before, and I have been called a pessimist for repeating them. Ostriches argue like that. It seems to me essential to face the possibilities of the future, however black, in order to elaborate a workable scheme for overcoming such difficulties as may arise. I have at the moment no scheme to offer ; my contribution is to put forward a few disjointed ideas in the hope that better brains than mine can define and solve the problem. Amateur pilots have had their small value to the aircraft industry and to the nation that subsidised them. Is it over ? Are the main principles governing future air traffic con trol as enunciated by Maj. Mealing correct—or, rather, probable? We shall,have little difficulty in agreeing that the air will be increasingly controlled, whether all of us wish for this or not. Is it going to be controlled in the interests of the flying charabanc? Commercial aviation is going to find it much easier in the near future to take money out of the pockets of people who are flown than out of the pockets of those who fly. There are a great many more of the former, because they do not have to have so much money and no demands in the way of physique or skill are made upon them. This is only just beginning to be appreciated in these islands. Until this year, the little civil flying that there has been in this country has been mostly private flying. I exclude joy-riding, which gets no one anywhere. We have had fun and freedom and, in idle moments, dreamed «f the coming of thousands of private owners flying any thing between cheap low-powered aeroplanes calling for little skill up to high-powered luxury cruisers for those who could afford them. This demanded a flourishing in dustry, good service stations, brisk second-hand markets and frequent and convenient aerodromes. At one moment in 1933 there were operating in England fifteen air lines that eighteen months before had not existed. Where there were fifteen this year there may be thirty next. People are beginning to be flown. The bogey »f the flying charabanc has raised its head. We must now examine the beast. The early days of the flying charabanc in England are going to be difficult, be cause of our winter climate. The overheads of an air line that lies idle during the winter are likely to be too heavy- let it pay. If it is active during the winter, it is likely to be irregular or dangerous, and that will not enable 't to pay. Jo make the flying charabanc a commercial success it m ff ust % with 100 per cent, regularity. As it is more effected by bad weather than any other form of trans port, it will have to devote more thought and money to "vercoming this difficulty than surface transport has found >iecessary. If it is successful, it may become the form of transport that is less dependent on the weather than any ',.] uT' T^is will probably only be achieved by means of " ab°rate equipment and strict control along each air route. The air charabanc monster begins to stir 'Jangerously. Is this reptile likely to be powerful? This is a question of vested interests. The regular air line will be a costly thing because of its ground equipment. It does not appear likely that the taxpayer will have to provide this for national air routes, and many of the 1933 summer air lines cannot afford it. But the railways might be able to do so. It would be silly for them to undertake air operation on a territorial basis ; they will have to pool their air acti vities. With their millions of capital, it would be open to them to secure control of the airports most suitable for their purposes. At and between these, they can establish their elaborate equipment and control, denying it, very naturally, to the independent non-regular competitors, who will consequently be unable to compete. Some of the railways' competitors, however, may be both stubborn and rich enough to lay down their own ground control, with the result that there will be rivalry between the regular air lines. They will multiply and cross each other and then there will be an accident or two. By that time there may well be a National Trans port Board controlling all surface transport ; following a Government Commission, the N.T.B. might take over the control of the air lines. If it did not, some other body would, the important point being that the effect would be roughly the same as if every aerodrome was Govern ment controlled and like Croydon Airport, or worse. If development takes place in anything like this manner, the vested interests behind the flying charabanc will be most formidable. With this article is a map showing the air lines in the summer of 1933. Thej* only ran where surface transport was really slow. With air speeds of only 100 m.p.h., little else was worth while. Maj. Mealing forecasts speeds of 500 m.p.h., but 250 m.p.h. would be quite enough to change the appearance of FLIGHT'S map. It would then be crossed and re-crossed with a network of controlled air routes. GREAT BRUTrAtKTS AIRLINES Sketch Map showing the internal airlines of Great Britain 1047 c 2
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