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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1038.PDF
FLIGHT, i June 1950 NEARtR BY WATER : Although there is sh*keland Airways DC-3 flight serving Akureyi. on the North Coast, the airfield is some^ IS miles distant; their Canso service, %on the ffttiw tend, alights in the harbour itself. International services use Reykjavik. CIVIL AVIATION NEWS U.K.-PORTUGAL SERVICES LAST week B.E.A. announced its complete withdrawal fromthe Lisbon route with effect from tomorrow. June 2nd. Explaining this action, a joint announcement from the twoBritish corporations pointed out that B.O.A.C. services to Central and South America are now in a position to fulfil allthe traffic requirements between Britain and Portugal. The route is, in any case, duplicated by the Portuguese airline,Transportes Aereos Portugueses. It will be recalled that Sir George Cribbett, the Deputy-Secretary of the M.C.A. recently visited Portugal to discuss load-capacity problems. CONGRESSIONAL CONTRIBUTION? T TNDER the stimulus of continued British success in jet*-' transport development, and influenced by the recent warnings that in an emergency the present U.S. transportreserve might prove somewhat inadequate, a concerted effort was recently made in Congress to introduce legislation whichwould ensure procurement of cargo and transport aircraft. Current opinion in American aviation circles undoubtedlyreveals an attitude of deep concern towards their industry's procrastination over the construction of jet transports. Inthis connection a member of the C.A.B., Mr. Harold Jones, is visiting Great Britain to study developments in this field.It is understood that one of the points he wishes to investigate is the claim that the Comet can be operated at 20 per cent lowercost per ton-mile and fly a 50 per cent greater mileage than present piston-engined transports. It has also been stated,however, that when Mr. Jones returns to the U.S. (we hope by- then he will have been convinced) " it will not be his intentionto instigate a sales campaign for the Comet." Although jet transports are already in the design-studystage, the extent of Britain's lead in this field does not appear to have decreased. That this is realized is evidenced by therecent warning to the Senate Commerce Committee, by the vice-president of the U.S. Air Transport Association, thatAmerican airlines might have to "buy British." Admittedly, he was urging the approval of a government grant to stimulatethe development of prototype jet transports. The proposal called for a grant of $12,500,000 (to be ad-ministered by the C.A.A.) to help defray the cost of service- testing new aircraft types. Contrary to a previous statement,the U.S. Budget Bureau has informed the C.A.A. that it does not object to use of North American B-45S for this purpose. Meanwhfle the commander of the M.A.T.S., Maj. Gen.Laurence Kuter, has called for definite action one way or the other. He deplored the uncertainty which had prevailedhitherto, and which, he said "was hampering progress, dis- couraging airlines from purchasing and manufacturers frommoving forward on their own." U.S. APPROACH LIGHTING AT one of the sessions (that on May 17th) of the I.A.T.A.Technical Conference held at Asbury Park, New Jersey, from May 9th to 20th, the C.A.A. threw some light on thecontroversial subject of approach lighting systems at airports in the United States. It was revealed that new systems to beinstalled this year will be based on I.C.A.O. standards—a statement hailed by the airlines as "breaking the inter-national log-jam on approach lighting." The C.A.A. intends to install single-row approach lightingsystems at 17 airports before the end of this year and will also add to the list of five airports now using "slope-line-*'equipment. " Adequate approach lighting systems are regarded by theC.A.A. as a necessary aid to I.L.S. or G.C.A., particularly in very bad visibility. I.A.T.A. has advocated the use of theseinstallations at some 1,400 airports throughout the world. The Americans consider that their use to date has beendelayed mainly because most governments, although agreeing substantially on the I.C.A.O. standards proposed, have beenwaiting to see which course the United States would take. The '' slope-line'' pattern of light, an adaptation of theI.C.A.O. type "B" specification for high-intensity systems, is already in use at Washington, Idlewild, Los Angeles,Indianapolis and Arcata. This pattern is designed to indicate to pilots their glide path, angle of descent and angle of bank.For less critical conditions the C.A.A. is using the I.C.A.O. type "A" specification, which provides a smaller numberof lights ranged along the left of the runway—an arrangement intended to assist pilots in lining-up. The American choice, however, will not imply standardiza-tion throughout the world, and pilots on international routes will still have the opportunity of comparing the respectivemerits of the three systems approved by I.C.A.O. The " line- and-bar " arrangement installed at London airport is reportedto give very satisfactory results, even in conditions of extremely limited visibility, and the French adaptation of this sameprinciple (installed at Le Bourget and Orly) is also working well. Considerably more operating experience will be neces-sary, however, before pilots can justifiably claim preference for any one of the systems at present used. HELICOPTER POSSIBILITIES SPEAKING at Swansea on May 22 nd, the Minister of CivilAviation, Lord Pakenham, described the B.E.A. Cardiff- Liverpool helicopter passenger service (due to start to-day) as the beginning of a new era in air transport. Lord Pakenham con- sidered that the helicopter might well be the answer to our future transport problems, and said that, although a considerable amount of development work still remained to be carried out,
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