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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0948.PDF
MARCH 30, 1939 FLIGHT. 3* lJ FLYING and the CITIZEN The Findings of the New Gorell Committee : Consideration for the General Public AT the end of October last year a committee, under the chairmanship of Lord Gorell, and including a number of well-known personalities in aviation, was appointed to " examine the existing regulations governing the flight of aircraft over populous and other districts, and the adequacy of the means of their enforce ment ; and to consider whether further measures were required to regulate such flying in the interests either of the safety or the amenities of the public." Four months later the Gorell Committee's report was submitted, and this has now been duly published in the form of the accus tomed White Paper. Matters as widely different as the passage of aircraft over Zoos and the technical problems involved in silencing are covered in this report, and among the recommendations of, the Committee are that banner-flying shall be restricted and that licences for this work shall not be renewed after October i, 1941 ; that the flight of single-engined machines over large cities and towns shall be prohibited; and that a new form of licence shall be introduced for the purpose of protecting the public from dangerous flying by pupils. In the first case the Committee did not consider that the immediate prohibition of banner-flying was called for, but it was recommended that it should be discouraged by preventing any addition to the number of aircraft at present operated for this purpose. If. the banner flying industry reached large proportions there would be no hesitation about prohibiting this form of advertising, and it seemed fairer to make a clean cut now before more capital was sunk in such enterprises. It had been suggested that aerial photography might be a potential cause of disturbance, but it was pointed out that these operations are usually carried out at about 8,000 ft. and that very few complaints had been received on the subject of oblique photography from lower altitudes. The Committee did not recommend the imposition of any form of restriction for photographic flying. Service Co-operation The Committee were careful to record that the Royal Air Force authorities did everything possible to prevent or mini mise causes for complaint in the matter of low flying, but they recommended that whatever measures might be applied to civil flying should also be adopted, as far as possible, by the Service. They duly suggested that the Air Ministry should make of laying down, and revising from time to time, a standard of maximum "noise output" for all machines, especially those employed in primary training, whether Service or civil. A certain amount of low flying is inevitable when machines are landing and taking off, but the Committee recommended that the regulations in this matter should be modified to bring them into line with modern conditions and present-day practice. It was impressed that the major scheme for the improvement of Croydon should be put in hand as soon as was practicable (i.e., when Heston had been enlarged, and Fairlop and Lullingstone laid out), and that all pilots should make use of the greatest possible length of runway so that their machines would be at a reasonable height immediately after they had crossed the boundary. The value of property in the vicinity of Croydon has, in fact, depreciated from 35 to 50 per cent., and there are more than eight hundred houses for sale in the district. In the matter of licensing (and following the American system) the Committee recommended that an additional licence, known as a "student pilot's" licence, .should be instituted, and that this "should be obtained (after the necessary medical examination) before any instruction was received. No private pilot should, in the opinion of the Committee, be permitted to carry passengers until he had flown for twenty solo hours—after which, when his logbook, duly certified by the instructor, had been examined by the Air Ministry, his licence would be endorsed with the words, "permitted to carry non-fare-paying passengers." In order to prevent low flying and other offences which might cause danger to the public by pupil pilots, the Com mittee suggested that the soundest method of control will he to endue the flying instructor with some real statutory significance. The chief instructor at each training centre would, therefore, normally fulfil the duties of a control officer. More important, perhaps, in this connection was the recom mendation that a number of control officers should be officially appointed at every aerodrome where flying instruction was given, as well as at major airports and some others open to public use. These control officers would be vested with summary powers to prevent any flying in contravention of regulations. It was considered undesirable that a control officer should be responsible for deciding whether or not the weather was fit for a transport machine to take off. This should be left to the pilot and the operating company. The Committee considered that the only satisfactory method of safeguarding the general public from low-flying dangers was to prohibit certain types of aircraft from flying over densely populated areas. They recommended that only those multi engined aircraft capable of maintaining height with one engine out of action should be permitted to fly over such areas— which would be prescribed by the Air Ministry. The present regulation is "that '' an aircraft shall not fly over any city or town . . . except at such altitude as will enable the aircraft to land outside the city or town should the means of pro pulsion fail ..." Special additional prohibitions referring to exhibition work, to flying over, a "large concourse of the public," and to causing unnecessary danger to any person or property have since been added. Citizens and Denizens The question of causing unnecessary danger to animals (and, indirectly, to individuals) was also considered. Amend ments should, they thought, be made to the appropriate regulations, and machines should not be permitted to fly over, or in the immediate vicinity of, the London Zoo. They were not in favour of extending the prohibition either to Whip- snade or to other zoological gardens. In order that the enforcements of the regulations should be more thorough and practical, it was recommended that arrangements should be made to enable police officers to become better acquainted with air matters generally. In this way more stringent use could be made of the power of sus pension or cancellation of licences in the case of those pilots who had offended either against the regulations or the aero drome rules. In conclusion, the Committee considered that "modern developments in aeronautical technique had intensified the inconveniences resulting from the flight of aircraft over populous areas, at all events in the vicinity of aerodromes," but, on the whole, Service and civil flying gave rise to a sur prisingly small number of complaints from the general public. They felt certain that aircraft noise, the principal cause of concern, was capable of useful reduction. When offences had been committed the fines imposed were rarely commensurate with the gravity of the offence, and the cancellation or suspension of licences would constitute a more effective punishment. In a general way, there was, the Com mittee thought, need for a stricter control at aerodromes, where at present the officers had insufficient powers. In particular, Croydon airport presented a problem of special difficulty to the local residents, and the interests of the latter could not adequately be protected except by abandoning the site altogether. A ** Silencing " Committee ? Among the detailed recommendations were: that a technical committee should be set up to investigate the possibility of reducing aircraft noise (at least in the case of training and similar machines) and of making regulations for control in this matter; that, in case of future trouble, "sky shouting " (or broadcasting from the air) should be prohibited; that the passage of machines over areas set aside for defence training exercises at night should be prohibited during the period of these exercises except in the case of the actual machines being used; that the problems associated with the develoji- ment of aviation (and the impracticability, in fact, of eliminating all noise and low flying) should be made more widely known to the general public; and that the Ministry of Health should be consulted when new aerodrome sites were being considered. The members of the Committee were Sir Lawrence Chubb, Sir Alan J. Cobham, Miss Pauline Gower, Mr. F. Montague, M.P., Sir Hugh Seely, M.P., Mr. W. P. Spens, K.C., M.P., and Major R. H. Thornton.
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