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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 0454.PDF
29O FLIGHT •MARCH IOTH, 1949 Air Safety between instructors. Operational abilitycould be obtained only by experience, and the best pilots would be those whoset out to learn continually and benefit by the mistakes they inevitably made. Speaking of physical fitness, Capt.James mentioned the Ministry of Civil Aviation medical service, which was anexamining body to record certain data and pronounce upon pilots a verdict offit or unfit. Since every pilot was re- quired to be examined every six months,and was consequently in danger of losing his job on each occasion, the speakerthought there was a case for the estab- lishment by the airlines of a free medicalservice, the cost of which would be offset by a reduction in the turn-over of pilotsand a lowering of the sickness rate, which would result in a higher yearlyutilization and an increase in operating efficiency. Such a service would treatpilots as patients and disclose to no one their medical history without previousconsent. By assisting pilots to keep fit a contribution would be made towardssafety in flight. Capt. James made some criticism ofpilots' conditions of service in so far as flying hours and hours on duty wereconcerned. Although flying hours were a measure of experience, experience inone type of flying did not necessarily represent fitness for other types. Con-ditions on routes, and particularly the difference between long and short stages,presented a problem which made the existing official limitation of 125 hoursevery 30 days quite unrealistic, and it should be left to the pilot (protected byhis associations) and the employer to decide the safe maximum flying or hoursof duty according to types of aircraft, weather and experience on individualroutes. . The lecturer believed strongly in theprofessional pride of pilots as indicated by self-imposed discipline and the know-ledge that their contribution to civil aviation was not limited to flying air- craft. He looked forward to the daywhen no regulations and disciplinary codes would be necessary. Examples of recommended proceduresto ensure efficiency and discipline in air- line flying, in which emphasis was laidon checking all drills and procedures against check cards, were next given bythe speaker. Procedures during taxying, take-off, climb, descent, instrument fly-ing, approach and landing, he said, all took into consideration the comfort ofthe passenger as well as the safety of the aircraft. With regard to flight-crewcomposition, he maintained that it was essential for each member to be trainedindividually to a high standard and also to be trained to operate in a team. Sinceit was generally impossible to maintain the same crew for any length of time, itwas vitally important to have standard procedures and drills. Standards of Operation Route operational standards were thought by the lecturer to be necessary, and, whereas the Ministry were respon- sible for licensing aircraft and personnel, common standards of operation would not be forthcoming until every operator was required to produce proof of com- petency in operations. It was in the interests of safety and efficiency that all operators should study the I.C.A.O. pub- lications on standards and recommended practices for operation of aircraft in scheduled public transport and, wherever possible, comply with them. Emphasis was laid by Capt. James upon the need for high standards in in- strument flying and navigation. The holding of the requisite licences was not enough in itself; constant prac- tice under supervision was necessary. Standards of navigation and flying could fairly easily be assessed, but there remained what was, to his mind, the most important factor to be determined —ability of each pilot to know his own limitations when up against various day- to-day operating problems. Each phase of each operation had to be carefully assessed and decisions based upon train- ing and instruction. The value of imposing "weather minima '' to ensure an adequate safety margin in operation was a debatable point among the pilots but the lecturer felt that the time when every pilot knew his own limitations and was capable of making decisions unassisted had not been reached, and it was necessary in the interests of safety to restrict the level of operations to an average. For efficient operation, however, that average had to be high. Referring to route facilities, the lec- turer compared the measures of standard- ization which had been achieved by I.C.A.O. in the technical and commercial fields, but he deplored the fact that standardization in navigational and ap- proach procedures was far behind. It was therefore necessary for pilots to be efficient in several systems in order to be able to use any particular aid installed at airfields on the routes. Thus the pilot was still relying mainly on his fuel re- serve in maintaining an adequate degree of safety. Another vital requirement for safe and efficient operation was a high inter- national standard of en route navigation and timekeeping. With, high traffic density it was vital that aircraft should maintain accurately a predetermined track and maintain time schedules along the routes. In the investigation of accidents Capt. James considered that good pilot-repre- sentation was essential and that they should be given opportunities to state their case and bring their experience to bear. The main object of accident in- vestigation should be to determine the cause and take remedial action, and not to allocate blame. In conclusion, the lecturer said that not only should an airline expect its pilots to take an active interest in their aircraft, but it should train and en- courage them to take an interest in ground organization and, where neces- sary, to praise and criticize. PHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECTS By Dr. K. G. BERGIN, M.A., M.D., A.F.R.Ae.S. I NTRODUCING his paper on ThePhysiological Aspects of Air Safety,Dr. Bergin said that, however muchimportance was placed, and rightly, on such factors as aircraft structure andperformance, meteorological aids, ground traffic control, and the many other detailswhich were concerned with an aircraft's safety, the ultimate factor in this, as inalmost every form of transport, was almost always the human one. Although there might be, and usuallywere, contributory causes leading up to an accident, subsequent enquiries fre-quently recorded an error of judgment on the part of the pilot as being the finalprecipitating factor. Whether that judg- ment was right or wrong, just or unjust,was not for the lecturer to say. It did, however, underline the vital importanceof the physical and mental state of the person in whose hands the control of theaircraft lay. Dr. Bergin then discussed under severalprincipal headings the physiological mechanism on which safety in flightdepended. Vision.—Two most important visual requirements for a pilot were good powers' of convergence and fixation, and satis- factory power of accommodation. Con-vergence, with fixation, was the power of the eyes to converge on an objectwhich was approaching, or being approached. When the distance betweenthe object and the viewer was rapidly decreasing, as occurs in flying, flexiblecontrol of this power was of the greatest importance for the maintenance of onestereoscopic image. These attributes of convergence, fixa-tion, and accommodation were particu- larly important-as an aircraft approachedthe ground to land, and as a means of assessing the position, speed, and changeof direction of other aircraft in the air. Failure to judge such matters correctlywas the cause of many mishaps, particu- larly in the vicinity of airfields. The significance of these powers fromthe point of view of air safety was that they could be noticeably impaired byfatigue, inadequate oxygen, illness or other factors, the presence of any one ofwhich in a pilot might create a poten- tially dangerous situation in the air, and must therefore be prevented at all times,if possible, when flying. Night Vision.—Night vision was ofgreat importance in flying. In this con- nection it must be appreciated that anentirely different set of organs on the retina were responsible for vision bynight as opposed to vision by day. Vision by day was accomplished by means of" cones," so called because of their shape, whereas the "rods," the organswhich operated by night, under condi- tions of minimum illumination, werethin and cylindrical. Ability to see by night varied con-siderably in different individuals, this variation being due to the difference inresponse of the rods in different eyes to illuminations of low intensity; the re-action was a photochemical one, depen- dent among other factors on the produc-tion in the rods of a substance called " visual purple." An individual's nightvision was adversely affected by a num- ber of factors, including glare, lack ofoxygen, smoking, alcohol, inadequate Vitamin A, and fatigue. Under starlightconditions it was reduced by as much as B 20
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