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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0129.PDF
FLIGHT, 19 January 1950 8-i LONDON AIRPORT GROUND TRAFFIC Final Sections of the M.C.A.'s Study and Report IN last week's issue of Flight (pages 40-44) we sum-marized the major part of an illuminating study* ofthe ground-traffic potentialities of London Airport, made by the Ministry of Civil Aviation with a view to eventual organization of the various services for maximum efficiency. Dealt with in this first section were routing of arriving and departing aircraft in relation to disembarka- tion, loading and maintenance points ; parking-stand re- quirements ; and manoeuvring of aircraft by tractors or other methods (in view of the objection to taxying jet and turboprop types in the vicinity of passenger buildings and other aircraft). Our summary of the report continues here with a consideration of vehicle-handling methods and with notes on the handling of passengers on arrival and departure. Vehicle Movements.—Present operations on the apron at London Airport present a picture of what might be termed "a confusion of vehicles " operating to and from aircraft. Many airlines operate their own vehicles used for aircraft handling and, although it presents no great problems at the moment, the application of this system to a higher move- ment-rate of aircraft will necessitate rationalization of all vehicle movements. An extensive study of vehicle move- ments was therefore carried out on the scale model of the Central Area. For the aircraft movements to and from the S.E. face the necessary vehicle movements were worked out and incorporated in the assessment. On this face, with its 150ft stands, short-haul European traffic will be handled. Among other assumed factors it was also con- sidered that scheme (d) of the tractor-movement study was *" London Airport Ground Traffic Movement." (M.C.A.P. 68.)Price is 6d, H.M. Stationery Office. in operation. Twelve types of vehicle (indicated in the key tothe drawing below) were assumed to be required. It was found that a total of 97 vehicles was necessary toattend the 27 aircraft using the 16 stands on the S.E. face. • On this basis, total requirements for- the whole area wouldbe 388 vehicles. Vehicle-movement rates on the roads were 250 per hour between the inner bays and the building faceand 100 per hour to and from the outer stands. The con- clusion of this investigation was that the road system in usehad the disadvantage of throwing a large volume of traffic on to the road passing in front of the buildings; furtherstudy was therefore made of both alternative-road systems and of the possible provision of conveyors or gangways tocarry passengers' baggage, mail and freight between aircraft and individual stands and the buildings. It was also decided that operation in the Central Area ofindividual fleets of vehicles would be quite impossible. A central pool of vehicles with their use co-ordinated so thatthe minimum traffic is imposed on the apron and the roads leading to it, is considered essential. Further investigationof the conveyor suggestion showed that it was possible to reduce the number of types of vehicles required to four, i.e.,servicing car, oil tanker, sanitary wagon and fire tender. Furthermore, the road between the inner stands and thebuilding face could be eliminated, such vehicles as are required on the inner stands being routed between the stands and theinner taxiway. Vehicles from the outer stands were routed to the ends of or underneath the buildings, and in this waythe passengers from the outer stands could be fed into the handling units to join the same channels as the passengersentering the face of the building from the inner stands. With this method the number of vehicles required was found tototal 72 and, for the whole Central Area, approximately 288. The second scheme seemed to be more practical, and develop-ment of and experimentation with conveyor equipment is already in hand. The general problem of vehicular traffic in 1. 2. 3. •4. 5. 6. Servicing. Step;Passenger. Baggage.Mail. Freight. 7. 8. 9. 10.II. 12. Petrol. Oil.S?nicary. Food.Crew. Fireenjne /Z^ZPASSENCER BUILDINC '$///%, OUTER TAXIWAY Fig. 7. Planning vehicular traffic in accordance with the expected high rate of aircraft movement necessitated extensive studies on the scale model. This diagram shows the position of all vehicles essential for the turn-round of an aircraft at the sixteenth minute of study. The vehicles are identified by numbers, a key to which is given above the drawing.
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