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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1631.PDF
AUGUST ZZND, 1946 FLIGHT Built-in Cabin Comfort Planning the Interior of an Airliner : Essential Design Features That Will Appeal to the Passenger By N. D. RYDER A L THOUGH speed is the chief commodity /-% which the airline operator offers to his -*- -*• customers, he must see that he does not supply it as an alternative to comfort; to-day the air traveller expects both. Comfort, of course, is one of those relative words, and its precise interpretation depends (broadly) on the age and the bank-balance of the individual. It must thus be borne in mind that accommodation which would amply satisfy the Spartan standards of, say, a young Scoutmaster travelling to an international jamboree with two blankets and a ground- sheet, might provoke adverse comment from a middle-aged, well-to-do company director hastening to the other side of the Empire on one of his business-cum-pleasure trips. It is a sad fact, moreover, that air travel is a compara- tively expensive method of transport and is likely to remain so for some time. And since wealth and waist-line gen- erally gain ample proportions only with advancing years, the bulk of potential airline passengers will not be hardy youngsters; they will be physically and financially "com- fortable" people of middle age or more. Theirs is the standard of comfort which the operator must provide. The fact that the aircraft industry has not yet reached any marked degree of standardization in the design of air- THE SPACIOUS SANDRINGHAM.—The cabin designer has fewei.troublesin providing generous "elbow room " in a flying boat than in land- based aircraft of comparable size. Observe the handy felding tables,adjustable head-rests and generous seat spacing. liners is an advantage to those concerned with the plan- ning of cabin interiors in that it leaves them a compara- tively free hand ; within reasonable limits they are riot handicapped by having to conform to fixed dimensions and shapes (crippling restrictions when one tries to refurnish a bomber as a passenger-carrying vehicle). Airline opera- tors, however, have acquired quite a lot of information about what is wanted and what should be avoided in lay- ing out passenger accommodation, and so it is possible to set forth a few elementary rules on the subject with the laudable object of giving the best possible service to the air-travelling public* No attempt can be made here to particularize for specific types of operation—to differentiate in detail as between short- and long-distance requirements, different types of route, and varying frequencies of service —though these factors must, of course, be studied in assess- ing the final cabin details in each indi- vidual case. For the present we have room only to deal with general prin- ciples. As with the handling of freight, ex- perience has shown that aircraft still spend far too much time on the ground, especially the smaller types of airliner flying over the shorter routes. Indeed, one knowledgeable operator has calculated. that in this class of work it is worth sacrificing 8olb of payload to save five minutes on the ground; economically they cancel each other, and the operator reaps a credit balance in the form of better satisfied customers. So far, airport de- lay has been the most frequent source of passenger complaints. Rapid entrance and exit to and from the cabin is one of the most vita.' points in design if time on the ground is to be saved, and yet it is one which has not received very much attention in the past. There are several things OFFSET AISLE.—In airliners of medium size such as the Viking, the " two-and-one " seating arrangement permits adequate space for each passenger without restricting the width of the aisle. The large square window! and s indirect roof lighting are good features. * The subject is receiving considerable attentionin the U.S., and a paper on "The Planning of Cabin Interiors for Transport Aircraft" was recently readbefore the S.A.E. by Mr. Walther Prokosh, of Eastern Airlines' engineering department.
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