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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 0511.PDF
MARCH 17TH, 1949 FLIGHT 327 Air Safety Debated that when a pilot stalled an aircraft it was considered to bethe pilot's fault whereas the blame might be laid on the designer for the stalling speed being so high. He thought thatmany accidents were "built-into the aircraft," in the early days of design, by junior draughtsmen. Detailed design couldbe overlooked by senior designers and project engineers in their other anxieties, and junior draughtsmen were apt to makemistakes through inexperience. DR. ROXBEE COX referred to Dr. Bergin's statement thathearing acuity could be safeguarded by the use of proper helmets and asked if this faculty was not given too muchprominence. He wondered whether there was a quicker reaction by sight, hearing or feeling. DH. BERGIN said thatat the moment visual aids were better than auditory ones but we had to be careful that the pilots did not succumb to over-loading. In discussing Dr. Bell's contribution on Traffic Control, MR. PETER MASEFIELD said that the economics of air transportwere bound up with safety. They- had to look forward, he said, to mixing jet aircraft with other types and referred to airtraffic control for the Berlin airlift which was achieved through the introduction of "block" speeds. There was also thepractical problem of cheating on timetables, since it had become the habit for some airlines to make fictitious schedules toensure an early landing after arrival at destination. Respon- sibility for the pilot should be reduced during let-down andapproach and they must try, he said, to develop monitored, automatic approaches from long distances. MR. SCOTT HALLagreed with this view and suggested that the instrument industry should be enlisted to help; he thought the RoyalAeronautical Society could make a great contribution by sending special invitations to instrument firms on such occasionsas these discussions on air safety. General Discussion In reply to various questions Dr. Bergin confessed that as yet there was no method of assessing good or bad pilots on selection but as a rough sieve there were certain unsuitable elements which could be eliminated. Certain personality traits contributed to good captaincy. He agreed with Mr. Masefield that automatic flying was desirable, particularly in adverse conditions, but he suggested that in the event of an emergency a pilot's reaction was slower when the aircraft was under automatic control than when the pilot was flying it himself. In answer to an earlier suggestion from Dr. Roxbee Cox that aircraft should be designed to give similar reactions to control, Capt. James thought that it was asking for the impossible and that pilots would be happy for a standard cockpit layout. Dr. Bell thought that it would be possible to mix jets and normal aircraft in the air traffic pattern provided the con- troller knew accurately the position of each aircraft. With DOROTHY SPIGER MEMORIAL FUND THE Society of Licensed Aircraft Engineers announces afurther list of subscribers to the Dorothy Spicer Memorial Fund. Names in this list, the second, are: W. J. Andrews; Miss C. R. Ash; Birkett Air Service, Ltd.; Essex Aero, Ltd.; Fairey Aviation Co., Ltd.; Gatwick Branch, S.L.A.E.; Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators of the British Empire; D. W. Richard- son; Saunders-Roe, Ltd., Lady Handley Spicer. D.H.-AIRSPEED DEVELOPMENTS AS series production of the Airspeed Ambassador draws near,still closer integration between its makers and the parent do Havilland enterprise is announced. Major Hereward de Havilland, D.S.O., has joined the board, and will be joint managing director with Mr. J. Liddell, who has been the financial director of the Airspeed Company since 1940. They will share responsibility for administration, leaving Mr. A. Townsley (works director) free to devote all his atten- tion to the increasing production activities. Major Hereward de Havil- land, who was a Farn- borough test pilot in 1913, has retained an in- tensely practical attitude to aviation, and in the course of the past 30 years has visited almost every part of the world in the interests of the D.H. companies. In view of his widening Mr, j. Liddell. Maj. H. de Havilland. B 27 regard to timetable cheating, he thought there was only a coin-cidental connection between timetables and actual times of arrival; he considered that another and more dangerous formof cheating was the habit of making a deliberately erroneous E.T.A. in flight to obtain earlier landing. Mr. D. Barnet, a member of R.A.F. Transport Command,thought the heart of the problem lay in reducing holding time in which one of the most important contributory factors wouldbe the development of precision instrumentation and equip- ment. The benefit of landing aids would be largely lost itprecision co-ordination could not be obtained. An idea! system of guidance would provide a ground controller with a con-tinuous indication ot the track, height and speed of each aircraft in one piece of equipment. Dr. Bell then stated that if the sate landing interval wereto be reduced to the minimum, it could not be hoped that navigation accuracy would keep pace. Every reduction inlanding interval required a corresponding improvement in navigation. Magical Mathematics Mr. R. H. Hardingham, referring to Mr. North's Paperdeplored the tendency to employ mathematics to explain every- thing and, worse still, to be satisfied with the answers. He.felt that Mr. North's theories on the relationships between airworthiness and safety provided a subjective rather than anobjective exposition and, on the basis of experience and the test of time, theories would no doubt become resolved intothe terms of practical procedure. He thought that the aircraft in its present form presented a formidable task to any authorityconcerned with safeguarding air travel, and airworthiness authorities were reluctantly obliged to extend their spheres ofinfluence to combat the potential dangers inherent in the ever- increasing complexity of the aircraft. The requirements issuedfrom time to time by the A.R.B. had been vetted by every branch of the aircraft industry and thus they reflected theinfluence of a body comprising contractors, operators, insurers and other interested parties. It was not a soulless bodyenforcing its will and requirements on the designer, but the Board treated its requirements as a yardstick against whichthe merits of a non-conforming aircraft could be judged. Mr. Lawrence suggested that if pilots were unable to copewith the inherent deficiencies of the aircraft then they should not be in any category higher than the drivers of other trans-port vehicles. He was reminded by Captain James of the decisions which a pilot had to make on his own and with littleinformation to guide him. Dr. Roxbee Cox, in winding up the discussion, referred toone of the questions which had remained unanswered. It had been suggested that as so many people preferred to cross theAtlantic by the Queen Mary, we should find out what passen- gers required from air travel. The result might encourage theuse of safer and more comfortable aircraft. field of interests in this country and overseas, Mr. A. S. Butleris relinquishing his chairmanship of the Airspeed directorate; he will be succeeded by Mr. \V. E. Nixon, managing directorof the parent company. BRISTOL VISIT : Mr. Chanda, Dep. High Commissioner for India, discusses the Brabazon with Mr. F, C. Chard, Bristol's production engineer. On the right is CjC. Singh, Air Advisor.
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