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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1159.PDF
•73° FLIGHT JUNE 23RD, 1949 CIVIL AVIATION NEWS London's New Traffic Procedure : LC.A.O. Progress : Italian Operations I THE FUTURE OF THE A.R.R T is unlikely that the Air Registration Board will dis-pute the wisdom of any of the recommendations in the Helmore report except those which might affect its own inde-pendence. Complete independence of the Board is impossible in that certain functions can be performed only with officialco-operation—as, for example, the provision of a flight-testing ground, and the solution of research and development problems. The principle of independence has been jealously guarded inthe past and the report has failed to produce any evidence that sacrificing the Board's independence would promote greaterefficiency. In fact, an official tie with the Minister, particu- larly in its dealings with foreign governments, might causean embarrassing situation. The desire that the Government should have greater control over the finances of the Board isprompted by the view that greater subsidies are necessary to cover an increasing deficit. For the normal functioning of theBoard, subsidies (other than the granting of facilities already mentioned) would not be necessary if fees were charged forwork done, including charges for work of a routine nature on behalf of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, such as the writingof requirements. In the same way, the standing of the Board in the inter-national sphere could be maintained at its present high level only by a council representing all interests, acting as an autono-mous body, whereas a council of members nominated by a Government department might be open to criticism. Moreover,the Minister of Civil Aviation would be responsible for the Board and its functions, an undesirable, situation in view ofthe responsibilities in aviation to which the State is already committed. It should also be placed 011 record that the Board, whoseefficiency has never been questioned, functions in its present form with a staff of only 220. CANADAIR PROVING FLIGHT ONE of B.O.A.C.'s new Canadair Fours left London Airporton June 14th for a proving flight to the Pacific. The aircraft, which carried technical observers from the Corpora- tion, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the aircraft manufac- turers, Rolls-Royce and Marconi, will be away some 25 days, and total mileage is expected to be over 26,000. Landings will be made at 28 different airports and simulated instrument approaches at a further 14 between London and Manila. The route will be eastwards through Pakistan and India, and is intended to form an exacting test of the aircraft, in changing climates to finalize operational procedure before the type is put into regular commercial service in the autumn. CONFUSION AT NORTHOLT THURSDAY, June 14th was an expensive day for more than-*- one Northolt operator whose aircraft burnt many gallons of petrol over the exits and entrances around London. QBIconditions within 24 hours of introducing the new Metropolitan Control Zone procedures caused unprecedented delays in land-ing and take-off which, oddly enough, and in spite of expecta- tions, did not occur at London Airport. New procedures were designed in anticipation of the airwaysscheme which is likely to be introduced towards the end of this year; they incorporate extended boundaries to the controlzone, more exit and entry points, and new holding patterns for both Northolt and London Airports. Regular operators hadbeen consulted about the scheme and at their request safety conditions had been imposed in the form of 1,oooft verticaland ten-minute lateral separation at all points at the boundary and within the zone. For such safety measures the operators were prepared to accept the inevitable delay to movements..The restrictions allow no flexibility of control, since the air- field is the critical point at which the ten-minute separationin landing and take-off must be maintained. The order of take- , off and landing was sacrificed, but an average of four minutesbetween arrivals and departures is said to have been achieved. Throughout this confusion positioning flights were given lowpriority, causing further difficulties. Ministry of Civil Aviation officials have subsequently dis-cussed the situation with representatives of the operators and it is understood that some useful suggestions were made andare being considered in order to avoid a repetition. Since long delays were expected to occur it is strange that such ideas werenot forthcoming earlier or that in their absence a new procedure should be introduced. While it is agreed that with the installa-tion of radio ranges a complete overnight change of procedure would be unwelcome it would perhaps be better gradually tointroduce a new scheme after the equipment has been fully tried out. I.CA.O. THIRD ASSEMBLYI N a review of the year's work given on June 8th to the ThirdAssembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization, Dr. Edward Warner said that more nations were adoptinginternational practices. Standards for technical and economic aspects of aviation were included in annexes to the Conventionapproved by the Council, five of which, designed to be incor- porated into national legislation of member-nations, werealready in force. The remainder would come into effect during the next eight months. Dr. Warner drew attention to a demonstration of readinessto accept inconvenience and temporary disturbance in order to make national agreements effective—namely, the adoptionby 34 members of a standard set of dimensional units. He also pointed out a significant decrease in the number of formalitiesrequired and the time taken for passengers and cargo to pass ' through customs airports. He said that much of the progresshad certainly been a result of abandoning war-time controls, but he believed that a considerable share of credit was due tothe concentration on the subject within I.C.A.O. MCA. FIRE SCHOOLA DEMONSTRATION of fire-fighting with foam and CO2gas was given before Mr. G. S. Lindgren, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry. of Civil Aviation, when he visitedthe Ministry's Aerodrome Fire Service Training School at Car- diff on June 15th. The service has a strength of about 700and is responsible for 37 civil airfields. It is intended that the Training School will, in the first instance, give every mem-ber of the service a standard basic training by the middle of 1950, after which refresher, promotion and specialist courseswill be provided. ALITALIA'S TWO YEARS A LTHOUGH the Company was founded in September, 1940.•**• the first seven months of the existence of Alitalia (Aero- linee Italiane Internazionali) were devoted largely to all theorganizational groundwork necessary to a new airline. Starting with two internal services, covering a total of about 670 miles,Alitalia's aircraft first flew commercially in May, 1947. This Italian company, in which Great Britain, through British Euro-pean Airways, has a 40 per cent financial interest, has since developed services on an international scale, both in distanceand traffic capacity, and the original internal services have been abandoned altogether. For services from Rome, Milan and Naples to London, Parisand Asmara, Savoia-Marchetti SW-95's, four-engined, 30-seaters are used; on routes to Nice, Geneva, Sicily, Malta and Tripoli
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