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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0628.PDF
228 FLIGHT. MARCH 2, t(B9 thought a little sacrifice in performance would be well worth while in the interests of safety. CAPT Wr. N. CUMMING disclaimed any particular qualifications to speak at that gathering, but thought the A.R.B. should not insist on obsolete safeguards, but should merely make quite certain that, in the course of its normal duties, the aeroplane should not be strained to a point which had not been foreseen in the calculations. He was sure the G.A.P.A.N. would do all it could to help the A.R.B. MR. N. H. WOODHEAD asked for a definition of "air worthiness." He thought it possible that the pilot's conception might not be the same as that of, the designer or constructor. He also pleaded for a simpler presentation of airworthiness mathematical problems in the technical Press. [When we get around to it, we will present Mr. Woodhead with a nice little book on Maths, without Tears.—ED.] He failed to understand why the Board's inspection was limited to machines of 10,000 lb. weight and ten passengers. With reference to "approved" firms he thought that if a firm was approved it should be approved and left to deal with its own inspection. [That is a point of view which Flight put forward more than once when the "approved" scheme first came into being.— ED.] He would also like to know whether the Board intended to have on its panel test pilots only, or whether they would have airline pilots also. In his view that was rather essential. The test pilot was the best man for quantitative tests, but the best man for reporting on a new machine for its general qualities was the man who was going to use it. Without flying a machine for a considerable number of hours one could not judge its qualities. Fatigue might arise as a result of wrong placing of seats, or through a badly placed or dimen sioned windscreen. He also queried why non-spinning aircraft should not be produced. Medical Cooperation WING COMMANDER P. C. LIVINGSTON said the problem of fatigue was an extremely important one. The Director of Medical Services was giving much of his attention to it. During this year and next there were going to be answers to a number of different aspects of this question. A close co-operation was developing between the flying branches and the medical branch of the service. This co-operation could not fail in the end to benefit both branches. MR. L. A. WINGFIELD thought the A.R.B. might have some difficulty in drawing the dividing line between safety and per formance when it came to details. He quoted as an instance the case of de-icing equipment. There was some question as to where the Board's province ended that that of the operating company began MR. G. B MUSSON thought the A.R.B.'s function should be to encourage the development of aircraft, and to see that de velopment was carried out along the right lines. He wished to know the Board's position on the matter of development of wireless equipment He thought the best way to get per formance figures was from the constructor's test pilot. The ordinary pilot could not always get the best out of the machine in the way the firm's test pilot could. The Board's function should be that of an observer rather than that of a test pilot. Fatigue was not a question of the safety of the aircraft, but more attention should be paid to the comfort of crews. He had known of cases in which pieces of equipment, although excellent in themselves, were wrongly placed so that their use became difficult. CAPT. R. C. PRESTON thought the work and position of the Ground Engineer had been inadequately recognised during the evening's debate. He related an experience he had last year on a flight to Edinburgh. It had caused him some trepidatio as it followed closely on the first renewal of his C. of A I the A.R.B. instead of by the A.I.D. He asked for cios/ liaison between the technical staff and the working Groun I Engineer. In replying to the points raised in the discussion, Dr. Roxbee Cox said, to Capt. Digby, that the question of engine fading was one which was being closely examined by the Board. At present he could not say anything about possible preventive measures. He agreed with Mr. Lankester Parker about stalling, but was less interested in the definition of the term than in the ability of an aircraft to fly dead slow without doing anything dan gerous. Whatever tests the A.R.B. did would be directed towards ensuring that those unfortunate unsymmetiical occu rences did not happen. To Mr. Brie's remarks about recovering from a spin, Dr Roxbee Cox said the problem was one in which the designer and the scientist still had a lot to do. At the present state of knowledge it would be premature for the Board to lay down any hard and fast rules. Certain aeroplanes had been found difficult to get into a spin, and it would be a very good thing if they' could be analysed so that one might know to what was due their reluctance. Mr. Brie, had mentioned that the only sound basis for aviation was safety, and his own definition of airworthiness was "safety." He agreed with Capt. Cummins and others that it was up to all to collaborate with a view to making aeroplanes safe. Safety should be aimed at, even at the expense of performance and immediate profit. " If," Dr. Roxbee Cox said, "safety means carrying one less passenger, let us carry one less passenger." In reply to Mr. Woodhead, Dr. Roxbee Cox said that lie had recently had a talk with an eminent Dutch scientist who feared that accidents might have been caused in the past because cer tain warnings which he had expressed in too technical language had not been understood. He thought the reason for drawing the line at 10,000 lb. gross weight and ten passengers was that this quite arbitrary division was introduced because the Air Ministry felt that to pass all aircraft, irrespective of size, on to the A.R.B. would be rather a tall order. He thought there was a corresponding division in connection with ships, and that had probably been taken as a basis. All Types Represented As regards the pilots' panel, Dr. Roxbee Cox said the inten tion of the A.R.B. was that the list should include people with experience of large aircraft, small aircraft, airline work and private flying, so that when a particular type came up for tests the most appropriate pilots could be selected. He agreed that it was not possible fully to assess the qualities of an aeroplane unless a considerable amount of time was spent on it. As only a limited time was available for tests, these would be de signed to show whether the aeroplane had any unfortunate vices, and to indicate whether there were any points which might be improved, having regard to the needs of the pilot. He felt that when the Central Medical Board had completed their practical investigation into the causes of fatigue, it would prove a most valuable contribution to safety and might be used as a basis of airworthiness requirements designed to prevent the occurrence of fatigue. To Mr. Musson, Dr Roxbee Cox replied that he hoped the A.R.B. would be able in some measure to assist in seeing that development took place in the right direction, but its scope was somewhat limited. Mr. Roxburgh, speaking " as a pilot who had never shone in any capacity," proposed a vote of thanks to Dr. Roxbee Cox. This was duly accorded. WHY AND WHEREFORES OF PLASTICS POSSIBILITIES of plastics for the fabrication of major air craft components were mentioned by Mr. H. V. Potter, B.Sc, F.I.C., M.I.Chem.E., in the course of the second Keith Lecture, given at the Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh, under the auspices of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts. Mr. Potter (who is managing director of Bakelite, Ltd.) said that the question of size had hitherto been a drawback, but moulded laminated paper and wood had been produced up to 20ft. in length. The lecturer dealt with the production and use of resinoid plastics. The first of these was the phenol-formaldehyde type, the constituents of which were obtained from coal and carbon monoxide and hydrogen. By mixing this resinoid with various fibrous fillers, moulding powders were produced from which mouldings could be made in a few seconds. A disadvantage, commercially, of the phenol plastics was the fact that they could not be made in light colours. This need was met in 1920 with the development of amino-plasties, in which type the phenol was replaced with urea, obtained from carbon dioxide and ammonia From both phenol and urea resinoids sheet materials could be produced, the former being of primary importance in the industrial sphere and the latter having a wide field of use for decorative work. The phenol sheet resinoid products were used in the manufacture of lar?e gears, bearings and aeroplane instrument panels, and more " than a million components for electrical insulation purposes in-a single telephone exchange might owe their origin to tm material. In yet another way the phenolic resinoids were assisting dustry by facilitating the production of corrosion resista paints and varnishes. The resinoid was used here to rep or to supplement the natural resin base normally employe . Mr. Potter next referred to the alkyd, vinyl and methyl acry^ late resinoids. From the last-named type an organic irJass ^ obtained which was light and non-brittle, and was being ci»3asingly used for aircraft screens and windows.
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