FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1946
1946 - 0598.PDF
FLIGHT MARCH 28TH, 1946 into wind. It shortened the landing run. Perhaps the author of the article does not stress sufficiently the really critical aspect of landing a helicopter with a '' dead'' engine. This is the very short period, a matter of a second or two, which is the greatest time lag that can be tolerated before the blades are changed into fine pitch for autorotation when the engine stops. In the latest types of helicopter this pitch change is effected automatically. Ethics or Logic?M ANY years ago, Fritz Koolhoven designed a B.A.T. commercial aircraft in which the pilot was seated very far back in the fuselage. Asked why he had placed the pilot in this position, Koolhoven replied that this part of the machine was usually un- damaged in a crash, and so there was a good chance of the pilot living to explain what went wrong. About the same time or a little later, "George" Bul- man was asked by our photographer, who did not wear a parachute while Bulman did, what he would do if the machine got into any difficulty from which the pilot could obviously not save it. His reply was that he would bale out, since he could do nothing anyway to help his passenger by Staying with the machine. We are reminded of these two views by the correspond- ence which has been appearing in our columns lately, in which one suggestion is that members of a civil air- craft crew should be provided with a parachute and dinghy in order that they might be picked up later and be able to give an account of what happened. In this issue a correspondent asks what would be the CONTENTS The Outlook - ... Helicopter Landing Technique - Here and There - Eternal Triangle - Night by Day - Britain's Test Pilots Tyres for To-morrow Design for Comfort - Keeping Them Running Civil Aviation - Correspondence - - - Service Aviation - - - - 305 307 309 3» 312 3M - 316 a 319 323 325 327 effect on the passengers? He comes to the conclusion that they, too, would ask for means of escape, and he makes the suggestion that fewer passengers should be carried and the rest be supplied with parachute-dinghies. The operator is not likely to view with favour the double penalty of losing valuable revenue and at the same time incurring extra weight in the shape of parachute-dinghies for his reduced number of passengers. The suggestion that t>ne or more members of the crew should be provided with means for escape, to the benefit of future safety, is logical if it is quite impossible to make such means available to all on board. Mr. Bulman was logical in his argument, but the ethics of the decision might be challenged by some. It might be remembered, however, that many passengers would flatly refuse to bale out unless the action was carried out for them. MORE BRITISH EXPORTS ? Last week the Emir Abdullah of Transjordan visited the de Havilland works at Hatfield, wherehe saw the Hornet and Vampire demonstrated. The Emir is seen here being shown a scale model of the Goblin jet engine by Major Frank B. Halfonl. ) r» ^ \
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
