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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 1460.PDF
MAY 16, 1940 CO-OPERATION in U.S.A. Exchange of Data Betzveen Airlines : Government and Industry Collaborate ONE very noticeable feature of air transport in theUnited States is the co-operation which existsbetween«airlines even when they are in competition. Up till lately the greatest degree of co-operation occurred in the field of safety, but because of the beneficial results the co-operation is now being extended to other matters. "It pays to fly," the joint advertising campaign; the recently-signed airline arbitration agreement; the air traffic conference similar to the successful trans-oceanic steam- ship conferences—these are all examples of co-operation. All the airlines and aircraft manufacturers, aided by legis- lation enabling Government authorities to function in an efficient manner, have done their part. Here is what Colonel Gorrell said in an address not long ago about the Civil Aeronautics Act: '' It would appear that the role of Government must be restricted to the most vital things, and that industry itself must be enabled to shoulder much of the burden of pro- viding the regulation which it needs. How this can best be accomplished for industry generally it is difficult to say. One suspects that there is no ready formula which can be applied to every business. But Congress has recently taken a step designed to meet the need of one important industry." Air Transport Association The value of this Act so far as safety is concerned is that the administration of the subject may be, and in practice is, conducted by the Administrator of the Civil Aeronautics Authority and not by the five-man board of the Authority, although the five men do approve safety regu- lations and their amendments The Administrator also directs the construction, operation and maintenance of air navigational aids and makes recommendations to the Government for providing weather service " necessary for the safe and efficient movement of aircraft in commerce." The accomplishment of this important administrative function has had, and will continue to have, a beneficial effect on safety, not only for the air carriers, but for the Army, Navy, and thousands of private and non-scheduled commercial operators. In addition to the Authority and the Administrator, the Act has set up an Air Safety Board to investigate and report on accidents and to make such studies* about air safety as the Authority may request. Painstaking, scientific and co-ordinated effort is respon- sible for the present airline safety record. The effort has been led by the airlines themselves. Frequent conferences' are held to discuss all phases of safety, including opera- tion, maintenance, overhaul, flight technique, and per- sonnel problems. Between meetings, memoranda on these subjects are exchanged. Every operator is put " on the spot" to improve, to keep up with every other operator. It has become embarrassing to do otherwise, particularly as there is encouragement and help from fellow-operators. Four years ago the airlines withdrew from the Aero- nautical Chamber of Commerce. They felt they were big enough to have an organisation of their own, and on January 14, 1936, the Air Transport Association had its first meeting. It is under the aegis of this association that the conferences are held. " Two Schroeders " The industry should be in a position, due to intimate and continued experience, to work out most of the safety problems itself. That is what the air transport industry is actually trying to do—and with some success. It has an operations committee, of which the chairman is Major R. W. Schroeder, vice-president of United Air Lines, a safety-first man. He held the world's altitude record for some time, and was chief of airline inspection in the Bureau of Air Commerce for several years. His policy was: "Let the industry do the job itself. If it cannot do it, help it. If it will not, force it to do so by regula- tion." Schroeder seldom had to invoke the last- mentioned procedure. He was so good in his job and so thoroughly respected that an airline did what he suggested. At a conference in Washington someone mentioned the safety precautions of having two engines, two radios, and in some cases two tails. An insurance man replied that what aviation needed was "two Schroeders." "*-: Three Forms of Training Z- In America it is fully realised that steps must be taken to prevent failure of the human element both in the air and on the ground. This is accomplished by continuous and systematic checking, inspecting and training. The operations committee has worked hard on the subject of training pilots and the elimination from flight duty of those who are unfit. In this work they have made the services of expert flight surgeons available to each of the airlines. Pilot training programmes, data on which are exchanged through the committee, have been put into effect by all airlines. Three methods of training are used: extension courses, with classroom work at times and places convenient for the pilots ; actual flight training and checking by the chief pilots; and simulated instrument flying on Link trainers. Written courses, combined with classroom work, include drilling in things to do and who does them, navigation and meteorology, and the most efficient throttle settings for power and economy. In these courses motion pictures are shown of aircraft in varying flight positions, with silk streamers on the wings to depict airflow and its effect on flight. This is an example of collaboration between industry and Government. An airline provided the aero- plane and crew, while the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics supplied the apparatus and the research brains. Many improvements in airliners have been made pos- sible by the research work of this committee and by manu- facturers of equipment. The Civil Aeronautics Authority has a planning and development section which has done some worth-while experimentation and testing. This division co-operated with manufacturers and airlines on the de-icing problem and is now working on the instru- ment landing system and on fire prevention. Frequent Conferences Planning and development work goes beyond determin- ing accident causes to accident prevention. The engineer- ing and maintenance committee of the Air Transport Asso- ciation meets twice a year. Progress is so rapid in air transport that annual meetings are too far apart. The meetings are rotated among places where airlines have workshops, so the '' host'' airline can show methods and equipment, and agendas are made up of current problems. No more than two papers are read by experts, the rest of the three-day conference being devoted to exchanging ex- periences. The Army, Navy, Civil Aeronautics Authority, N.A.C.A. and Bureau of Standards all send their tech- nical men to these discussions. Probably no industry exchanges technical data to the extent that air transport does. Like the operations com- mittee, the experts exchange notes between conferences. The Army and Navy are on the mailing list for these data, and reciprocate. A sub-committee of engineers has in its membership chief engineers of airlines, two of whom are well-known test pilots. By all these co-operative means is safety on the airlines being sought, and recent accident figures show how effective the efforts are.
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