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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 0752.PDF
APRIL 28TH, 1949 FLIGHT 497 CIVIL AVIATION NEWS Holiday Loads : LC.A.O. Meeting : London's Lights IN BRITISH HONDURAS: This Lodestar belonging to British West Indian Airways, Ltd., is seen at Belize. A subsidiary of B.S.A.A., B.W.I.A. operates services between the islands of the Caribbean and the South American mainland. B.EA. EASTER RECORDSP ROVISIONAL figures issued by B.E.A. show that from April 14th to April 19th, 9,500 passengers passed through the Kensington terminal, 5,000 on outgoing services. Of 2,393 passengers on B.E.A's outgoing Continental services, 1,373 flew to Paris. On .April 14th, three times the normal number of flights to the French capital were made. By April t2th no further bookings were being accepted on services to Geneva, Rome, Zurich, Bordeaux, Marseilles, Athens, Lisbon, Malta and Madrid. # On the internal services the Channel Islands route was most popular, with 630 passengers leaving Northolt; four extra flights daily were made on April 14th and 15th. Other U.K. services which were heavily booked during the week-end were those between Liverpool, the Isle of Man and Belfast, London to Belfast and London to Glasgow. The new Welsh service Was fully booked for Good Friday. Exact comparison with pre-war Easter travel is not possible as some of the records were destroyed during the war, but it is known that this year's figures approximately double those for the Easter rushes of 1938 and 1939. They also show a very considerable increase over the figures for 1947 and 1948. I.C.A.O. LONDON MEETING DELEGATES from nineteen member-states of I.C.A.O. metin London for a conference on the Joint Financing and Operation of Air Navigation Services which began on April 20th. Under consideration are four cases in which inter- national co-operation is required to provide navigation facilities essential for the safety of international civil aviation :—arrange- ments for maintaining the North Atlantic Ocean station network ; a request from the Greek Government to assist in rehabilitating and maintaining certain facilities and services used inter- nationally ; requests from the Danish Government for assistance in maintaining the Loran station in the Faroe Islands; and meteorological and communications services in Greenland. In London in September, 1947, it was agreed that a minimum of 13 North Atlantic weather-stations should be maintained and the cost apportioned among the ten powers concerned in a ratio dependent upon the frequency of services maintained by their airlines. This agreement expires in 1950 and new arrangements for maintaining the network are being considered at the present conference. Included among the facilities for which the Greek Govern- ment seek assistance is Ellinikon Airport, near Athens Capital outlay of the airport for all purposes is estimated at ^825,000 and annual operating costs at /i75,ooo. The Loran chain in the North Atlantic consists of three stations, one in Iceland, one in the Hebrides and one Danish- operated station in the Faroe Islands which was established by Great Britain during the war and has been operated by Den-mark since November, 1946. The station is not used by Danish shipping or aircraft and is hampering radio-telephoniccommunication with ships. The Danish Government, how- ever, has agreed to maintain operation of the station on theunderstanding that the work of reducing frequency inter- ferences be continued and assistance given in the operationalcost. Since the end of the war the Danish Government has beenengaged in taking over the network of weather stations established in Greenland during the war and converting themto civil aviation requirements. The Danes, whose 1949 share in North Atlantic civil air traffic amounted to only 1.7 percent, have submitted a claim for international contributions to the maintenance of the network which will, when finally estab-lished, comprise 16 stations spread all over Greenland. Plans for increasing the speed and efficiency of meteorologicaltelecommunications facilities in the North Atlantic Region were drawn up at a recent meeting attended by some 30delegates from seven member-states of I.C.A.O. Recommenda- tions included the setting up of central clearing-points to beoperated for the collection and distribution of weather data on each side ot the North Atlantic, one point being at Paris andthe other at New York, and the adoption of a new set of abbreviations to be used for weather messages. LONDON AIRPORT LIGHTING HTHE instrument-landing runway at London Airport has been -*• equipped with an approachway of G.E.C. low-intensity approach lights. These lights, which are arranged for pole- top mounting, have their light distribution in the form of a narrow beam 4 deg above the horizontal and showing through 360 deg in azimuth, thus making the approachway visible to an aircraft coming in from any direction, and to aircraft on the circuit. GIE.C. have also supplied the high-intensity runway lights which, as reported in Flight of March 31st, have been specially developed as part of a high-intensity visual landing scheme that will eventually keep the airport in operation even if visibility drops to 200 yd by day or 100 yd at night. The lights, which are recessed into the runway and project only 2in above ground level, have a smooth contour and present no obstacle to aircraft, while the design is such that stresses on the domed cast-iron top due to aircraft running over them are not transmitted through the glass ring through which the beams are omitted. A special arrangement of the optical system and reflectors produces a beam in each direction along the runway with a maximum intensity of over 5,000 c.p. The distribution of intensity is such that the maximum assist- ance is given to the pilot, while the light emitted in directions
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