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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 2008.PDF
476 FLIGHT, 23 November 1950 CORRESPONDENCE The Editor of" Flight" does not hold himself responsible for the views expressed by correspondents in these columns. The names and addresses of the writers, not necessarily for publication, must in all cases accompany letters. All for £650 a Year AS a "satisfied pupil" of one instructor, and therefore withno personal axe to grind, may I add my voice in whole- hearted support of "Instructor's" letter (Flight, Novem- ber 9th)? There must be few occupations where remuneration has not been augmented to some degree, to take account of the fact that living costs are up by a factor of 2 to 3 since 1939. There can surely be no justification for assuming that the flying instructor, and his wife and family, are immune from these increased costs; and remuneration more in keeping with the times seems long overdue. From my own industrial experience, I know that there are many unskilled and semi-skilled labourers receiving more than £650 per year; and when one considers the long and com- plex training necessary to make a flying instructor, it seems a gross anomaly, and a reflection upon British.aviation, that such a highly skilled man should receive less than a relatively unskilled one. Apropos what the flying instructor does, I consider that " Instructor" understates the case. Many instructors also do duty with the clubs, where they must add to their flying and instructional skill a measure of tact and psychological apprecia- tion to a high degree. Risk, also, is never absent from their day, even though aviation is passing from the romantic era to the safe stolidity of the saloon car. If, as at two airfields I have known, ground crew develop a quaint habit of disappearing when most wanted, the instructor may all but finish his day by sweating to hangar aircraft. To finish it—perhaps at 10 p.m.— he may be expected to spend a further lump of his £650 (minus deductions) in hospitality to club members, while he listens to their enthusiasms, difficulties, and wizard analyses, all based on ten hours' flying. It seems to me, however, that quite apart from, or perhaps inextricably mingled with, any question of just reward, the gravest danger in continuance of the present salary levels lies in frustration of the voluntary spirit. The flying instructor, even paid, must at all times be such an enthusiast for his voca- tion that he discounts risk, hours, boredom, frustrations, dis- appointments, hard work, nerve strain and many other things. He voluntarily gives himself unstintingly to his pupils. To devaluate that voluntary sacrifice of self by inadequate remuner- ation is to invite the attitudes of " safeguarding rights," and of doing the minimum which " just gets by." This attitude is far too common in the nation to-day, and it will be a sorry day if ever it creeps insidiously into the flying instructors' ranks. Stirlingshire. GRATEFUL PUPIL (Private Pilot's Licence 27069). Air Safety THE following observations on aspects of air safety arising outof recent crashes may be useful as a basis of discussion. On the subject of displaced centres of gravity and the way the behaviour of an aircraft may be affected in such circumstances, the following personal experience may be relevant. When following-in a Whitley to land at Dishforth one night in early 1941 I saw it crash in a manner sufficiently unexpected to make me take particular note for future reference—it cartwheeled in, due, it was said, to its e.g. having moved dangerously aft because it was returning with an unused bomb in its fuselage and empty fuel tanks. A few weeks later I was myself landing in a Whitley with empty wing tanks and a full overload fuel tank in the fuse- lage; on throttling back in the final approach, the nose of the aircraft reared up skywards and only the combined weight of the pilot and second pilot thrown forward on the control column brought it down again. (2) The low survival rate in crashes is largely due, we know, to the lack of backward-facing seats, flexible fuel tanks, automatic fire extinguishers, and inertia-controlled cut-out fuel and ignition switches, while other causes which are probably no less respon- sible are the carriage of fuel in the fuselage, instead of only in the wings, and high landing speeds. Yet one wonders whether even with these hazards removed more passengers would not be saved, however inadequate the size and choice of escape exits, if they were briefed as thoroughly in emergency-escape drill as passengers have to be who travel by sea. In the Services there is an extensive scheme of internal and external rescue markings which civil operators ignore on the absurd score that it would frighten, instead of reassure, the passengers—the same reason they give for playing down briefings as much as possible. Yet even if some fare-paying passengers were put off flying because of additional precautions for their safety should not this respon- sibility be accepted for the sake of the others? (3) The incidence of crashes could be cut down, one imagines, if there were more hard-and-fast limits as to the con- ditions in which civil airlines can operate. No aircraft should be flown with passengers beyond the safe limits of its capabilities; ' no aircraft should be allowed to take off unless a defined mini- mum of safe-landing conditions is within range at all points along its route. (These landing conditions should include clear visibility at least in the last stage of landing for a horizontal distance of 1,000 yards, at present landing speeds, and with a cloud base suf- ficiently high to allow a visual hold off.) In this respect there would be some variation according to the type and modernity of aircraft, the skill and experience of the captain, and whether or not the aircraft had a tricycle undercarriage—as well as the obvious variation governed by the landing facilities available at different airports and emergency landing fields. The latter, in particular, is, of course, of primary importance and should not be left to the discretion of the pilot, who should never be left in the invidious position of having to decide whether or not to call for the aid of expensive apparatus, such as FIDO, or to risk the lives of his passengers in order to save his company from the heavy fees which may be involved in making use of such facilities. These fees and expenses should be a charge on the community in exactly the same way as are lifeboat and lighthouse services. (4) For feeder-line services, that is, where aircraft are used on relatively short runs and their entire internal space is made use of for seated passengers, as in omnibuses on roads, considera- tion might be given to reviving the old type of biplane construc- tion, which allows, I believe, larger escape apertures wiuiout loss of strength, and slower landing speeds. Compared with time losses caused by embarkation, the slightly longer time taken on average point-to-point services would not be a very big factor, and in any case the chief saving in time on such routes is surely the fact that the journey is made as the crow flies. (It would be interesting to compare Imperial Airways' time schedules and safety record with those of the post-war era.) Finally, whether or not it is practicable to use them, it cannot be disputed that while passengers are not provided with para- chutes there will always be the chance of a wholesale write-off when civil aircraft find themselves in a position when they land or force-land in nil visibility, or are cruising at altitude when uncontrollable fire breaks out. East Twickenham, Middlesex. D. G. HORNSEY. The Airship "Bournemouth" From Lard Ventry HTHANK you for your article (November 16th) on our airship -*• Bournemouth. To give honour where honour is due, how- ever, I feel it should be made clear that Mr. A. C. Leith has , practically built the car himself, and with S/L. T. P. York- •- Moore did most of the detail designing of the ship. S/L. York-Moore has been one of the most hard-working of the little team concerned with this airship since the start. He will, we hope, either be pilot, or at any rate second pilot, of the airship on its trial flights. His past experience as a Captain of S.S. Coastal and C Star airships has been invaluable. Bournemouth, Hants. VENTRY. I Output and Airscrew I FEAR it is a little late to be commenting on your issue datedSeptember 21st, but details of the Pratt and Whitney T.34 Turboprop give rise to certain questions. Firstly, if this engine develops 5,700 h.p. how come that a single four-blade prop can absorb such power? Is it, perhaps, that the prop absorbs some 3,500 h.p. and the remainder is released as exhaust efflux? Secondly, to develop such power from a 13-stage axial com- pressor of a diameter no greater than 30in is an achievement about which I think we should hear more. Glasgow, W.2. J. R. PLENDERLEITH. [Though the figures quoted in our paragraph were as supplied by the makers we agree that the point raised is worthy of clarifi- cation. P. and W. further state that 5,700 h.p. is the rated figure for a 50-hour test, that the proportion of power delivered to the airscrew shaft is 90 per cent, and that units have con- siderably exceeded the power figure quoted.—ED.]
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