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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 1635.PDF
232 FLIGHT Commercial Aviation Commentary By ALLEN GALE No. 5 of a New Series WITH passenger load-factors running at around 6*o to70 per cent, the airlines still have quite a lot of leewayto make up in the matter of passenger sales. Especi- ally is this going to be the case when "air-coach" travel spreads to this side of the hemisphere, since the enormous increase in offered seats cannot fail to reduce these load factors. There is no doubt then that some pretty aggressive sales policies are required today and that there is plenty of room for new ideas. I have always wondered why the airlines take no advantage of their sizeable staffs in this connection. True, the commercial people are usually busy plying their trade, and no doubt the ticket agencies do their share to the best of their ability. But why not recruit the aircrew, the traffic staff, the office staff, the engineers and the operations officers to the sales department ? Let them all try to sell seats and, when they do, give them an incentive bonus of, say, 5 per cent? In this way the airlines would save i\ per cent over the normal agency commission, they would undoubtedly sell more seats and the employees would reap an additional financial reward in proportion to the good work they had done on behalf of their company. The adoption of such a scheme would cost the airline nothing, since payments would be made only on results; and it would certainly be a stimulant to company staff relations. Since the whole matter would be an internal one, it is difficult to see why I.A.T.A. should object—or, for that matter, anyone else. All the airlines could do it and it would still be a good idea. I pass on this notion for what it is worth. If it's a bad one for any reason, obvious or otherwise, I should be greatly interested to hear why. TT has been said by one much wiser than I that the English- man is perpetually confounded by his weather. It is always colder, hotter, wetter or drier than he anticipated, and he is always unprepared. On this account we have suffered endless years without universal central heating, our pipes freeze up with unremitting regularity every winter and our pioneers abroad sweat their hearts out in tropical climes whilst other nations laze in air-conditioned rooms around the corner. Snow usually sends us into a whirl, too, if it arrives in any quantity—and nowhere more so than on an airfield. Typically, we have got by in the past with many im- provised remedies, but now at last the M.C.A. has got around to ordering some snow-ploughs. These are of the rotary type which has proved so successful in Canada, and the U.S.A. and are being made under licence through an agreement between a London firm and an American one. If our present luck with the elements persists, it looks as though they will be very useful next winter. THE introduction of the British Instrument Rating some •*• two years ago was both necessary and desirable from everyone's point of view. It raised our pilot licences to as high a standard as is achieved in any other country, and it also served to improve the instrument flying of many people who, with no accent on this type of work, were in some cases a little out of date. With the many approach aids which are available in this country the M.C.A. were wise not to tie the examinee down to any one of these, and it was the candidate's choice which set the syllabus. As far as I remember, the aids which could be used in the test were S.B.A., Radio Range, I.L.S. and Babs. Now I hear there is a proposal to include G.C.A. in the syllabus; and whilst, no doubt, the Ministry have given this matter careful thought, there are some queries as to the wisdom of this move. As most people are aware, G.C.A. is a talk-down system in which the pilot plays no part in the orientation of his aircraft to the landing position other than by obeying the instructions passed to him by the G.C.A. director. In contrast to the other aids, in which the whole success of the operation depends upon the pilot's skill in converting the aural or visual signals which he receives into compass headings and changes of altitude, the pilot using G.C.A. has the simpler task. It would seem, therefore, that since a separate part of the examination covers all aspects of general instrument flying, the use of G.C.A. will not tell the examiner the complete story about the candidate's ability to make an instrument approach. With due respect, the whole thing is a little reminiscent of taking a written examination with the answer-book propped up in front of one. Whilst recognizing the value of G.C.A. as a primary aid, I still think it best if candidates were examined on those aids which require co-ordination between instrument flying and the reception of radio signals. In this way the examiner would get a better appreciation of the pilot's true ability at an important aspect of his job. TTHE other day I happened to overhear a conversation between a businessman and one of the large airlines. He was enquiring about the delivery of a small parcel of his mer- chandise to the Far East. Somewhat to his surprise (and much to his disgust) he was told that there was "a minimum of three weeks' delay on this route." His subsequent remark to me was to the effect that there wasn't much point in using air transport when a ship could get there just as quickly. I countered by saying that the Abadan oil crisis had made fuel difficult to get in certain parts of the world, and in any case there was a big shortage of freight aircraft. This latter point he just couldn't understand, since he had heard that quite a lot of the charter companies were going broke, or had already gone that way, through lack of business. There is no doubt that an anomaly exists somewhere, since no charter operator in this country would agree that his business prospects were wonderful or that the present crisis has brought him a great press of work. Apart from the very serious fuel shortage (for which no one can blame the avia- , tion interests in this country), there is also a grave lack of long-distance aircraft suitable for the carriage of freight; and for this state of affairs we have ourselves to blame to some extent. When one reflects upon the number of such aircraft which found their way on to the Berlin Airlift a bare two years ago, and which in many cases now lie rotting on the perimeter tracks of various airfields around the countryside, one is forced into the assumption that someone has bungled. Easy as it may be to assume wisdom after the event, there were many who pointed out at the time that such aircraft, and the companies who operated them, ought to be kept in existence since they constituted something of a national asset. Such advice was not heeded; many Lancastrians, Haltons and other ex-Service aircraft were allowed to fall into dis- repair, to say nothing of others being sold abroad, such as the three Skymasters which belonged to Skyways. Once again we are hoist by our own petard of careless planning or lack of foresight. Let us hope that those respon- sible for such matters will now recognize the value of an independent merchant fleet of the air and ensure that when matters revert to a more normal state that such free-lance companies as have helped in this crisis are kept alive, witi their aircraft, to assist with the next.
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