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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0282.PDF
FLIGHT, MARCH 22, 1934 trespass by people who realised that time was precious tous and that we would rather pay than go to Court. On the whole we met with kindness. The attitude of Govern-ment officials varied from place to place. Most of them gave every help possible, but there were exceptions. Toanyone wishing to learn the practical side of aircraft operation from the bottom upwards, I recommend a tripof this nature. Being unheralded by scarlet coated putta- wallas makes one learn to know the country quicker thananything I know. Having your capital locked up in aero- planes makes you extremely careful. The necessity ofkeeping aeroplanes in the air earning money enforces good maintenance. It is comparable to starting life in the chorusto get a grounding on the stage. " After my second visit to England I returned alone iDa machine which still flies each week on the Tata Air Line. It was from the experience gained with this machine thatthe idea of operating an unsubsidised air line grew. The same machine is, I believe, the only landplane to haveflown from London to Colombo. "It is eleven months since you were addressed on thesubject of aviation, the last speaker dealing with the past, present and future of air mail services in India, and inparticular, gave a brief resume of the conception and birth of the Tata Air Mail. As I participated in boththese evolutions, it is all the more gratifying for me to be able to tell you how that air mail service has fared duringits first year. " The most noteworthy achievement was an unbrokenrecord of regularity. Such a record is the object of all air line operators, but not many make it in the first year.This is all the more remarkable when the length and terrain of our route and the exceptionally severe weatherconditions are taken into consideration. Our route crosses desert, swamps, mountain ranges 5,000 ft. high, and liesover country which receives more than 250 inches of rain a year. During the south-west and north-east monsoons,for nearly seven months of the year, parts of our route are subject to conditions of bad visibility, caused by stormswith violently turbulent atmospheric conditions, making instrument or blind flying extremely difficult and fatiguing.The Tata Air Mail—the first Indian air line—has chalked up a score that anyone can shoot at, but no one canbetter. During the 160,000 miles flown, no unscheduled landings were made on account of mechanical trouble. Ourengines fly approximately three times farther between over- hauls than a railway locomotive, and our engineering staffis one man per 40,000 miles flown. " I hope that by this time you are duly impressed withthe efficiency of this particular air mail service. You may argue that such records cost money, that Tatas havepoured out money to achieve worth-while results, and that while you applaud their patriotism in cutting out a hottrail for others to follow, air transport does not appeal to you as an investment. Regular air transport is generallyregarded as being possible only when subsidised. It is therefore interesting to note that our unsubsidised air mailservice is now making a profit. " Air transport may be divided into two categories, thatwhich is directly subsidised by the State, and that which is paid for services rendered. In my opinion, direct sub-sidies, although necessary in the early days of air trans- port when aeroplanes were so uneconomic that it was im-possible to make them pay except by selling space at a prohibitive rate, have now become undesirable. A com-pany in receipt of a direct subsidy is apt to become lazy just as a child left among quantities of easily obtainablefood. An organisation existing upon payment for the ser- vices it renders to the public has a strong incentive toincrease its efficiency to obtain a greater volume of business. " If aviation is to grow and be able to give its fullbenefits, it must be provided with the ground organisation necessary for safe operation in all weather conditions byday and by night. No company can face the expense of laying out the necessary facilities, and it is the responsi-bility of every government to bear this burden. It may be argued that by providing efficient ground organisation,a government is indirectly subsidising aircraft operators. This, however, is as unsound a line of argument as to saythat shipping is subsidised because governments provide wireless, lighthouses and docks. It would be equally un-true to say that governments subsidise private motorists or motor-bus companies by providing them with goodroads. " It would seem that the best method of building up anefficient system of air transport is by granting air mail contracts and by providing every modern aid to safe fly-ing. One example will illustrate the result of this policy. In America two air lines provide a service between New York and the West Coast six times daily. The distance of2,800 miles is flown in 20 hours at an average speed,* i eluding stops, of 140 m.p.h. The air mail between Indiaand England, handicapped by the lack of night flying facilities, averages about 36 m.p.h. " In India the Government has done little to encourageflying. They have wisely refused to pay subsidies and have even more wisely realised that the development ofthis new form of transport is better left in the hands of private enterprise which can, and does, take financial risksthat could not be taken with public money. But the Government must accept the blame for the lack of anyground organisation apart from that on the Trans-India route. There is not an aircraft wireless station south ofCalcutta. The Meteorological Department accomplishes wonders" in spite of all handicaps,. But except on theTrans-India route, the Meteorological Department cannot supply aviators with current weather reports ; it can onlysupply a forecast based on observations usually 24 hours old. Bombay possesses the only civil aerodrome south ofCalcutta, and that is only serviceable in fine weather. The average distance between recognised landing groundson the Tata air route is 320 miles. " As regards the future of flying in India, services arebeing developed in the north by Indian National Airways, who run a daily service between Calcutta and Dacca anda weekly service between Calcutta and Rangoon. The Madras Air Taxi Service is soon to open a line betweenCalcutta and Madras. " Tatas have long been aware of the desirability oflinking Bombay and Calcutta by air. Obviously, to be of any use, the service must be a daily one ; later on, per-haps, more frequent. To show real benefit over existing transport, it must leave one terminus after midnight andarrive at the other terminus not later than midday. This would enable letters posted overnight to be delivered earlyon the following afternoon. After very thorough investi- gations we are of the opinion that the route should beinaugurated by high-speed mail carriers. Later on, mails and passengers would be carried together in larger machinesflying the same schedule, if not faster. Our application to the Government has been sent in, and we are ready tobegin operations within 12 months of the completion of negotiations. Needless to say, no subsidy is asked for.We hope the Government will provide facilities for flying a small portion of the route before dawn, will make anall-weather landing ground at or in the neighbourhood of Nagpur and will add any equipment necessary to thewireless stations at Bombay and Nagpur to enable them to work with aircraft. The cost of this organisation permile of air route would be about Rs. 300/-. This com- pares favourably with the Rs. 75,000/- to 200,000/- permile required to build a railway. It is hoped that the small sum necessary to develop this route will findsome place in the coming Budget, otherwise delay is bound to ensue before the preliminary organisation can be under-taken. All of you here to-day are business men, and it is not necessary for me to stress the importance of rapid com-munications as an aid to prosperity.* " More landing grounds are needed if private and taxiflying is to become popular and useful. Cheap machines exist to-day capable of flying between any two points inIndia in one day, but their use is limited by the lack of aerodromes. A great opportunity exists for enterprisingmunicipalities to remedy this by laying out grounds near their towns. Free advice on the subject of sites can be hadfrom the Government or any operator, and the area re- quired is only about 500 yards square. Municipalities inEngland have realised the importance of putting them- selves on the air map, and the number of aerodromes thereis increasing rapidly. I do not believe in dwelling too much on the future. It induces a tendency to hang backuntil the better things promised materialise. India, although late, has made a good start, and I would urgeyou to use the services which exist to-day. They will grow fast enough. " Nothing can stop the development of aviation inIndia, but a great deal can be done to let it develop. It is significant that commercial air transport was born andis becoming lusty in this country in the depths of a slump. A story is told of a friend of mine named Blatherwickthat, while stopped in a traffic block in London one Armis- tice night, he threw a lighted bunch of squibs behind thepoliceman on point duty. When threatened with the penalties of the law he said, ' You can take my name,you can take my number, but you can't stop those damned crackers.' And so it is with flying." * (This proposal has been rejected by the Government.—^ ED.) ' . , -... ., ,,..-:;7;:,.-: - --- 282
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