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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 1979.PDF
430 FLIGHT, 28 September 1951 WORK of I.A.T.A.'s COMMITTEES Reports on Traffic, Technical, Legal and Financial Matters Presented at the A.G.M. THOUGH much of the actual "in session" time of the I.A.T.A.Annual General Meeting was (as we reported last week) occupied by discussions on the forthcoming experiment with tourist fares on world routes, there were, of course, many other topical items on the agenda. Questions relating to the introduction of jet transport, for example, provided something of a link between the commercial and technical phases of the discussion. Large- scale use of this kind of equipment will naturally depend upon the speed with which airlines and governments can effect improve- ments in communications and meteorological services and provide the necessary navigational and traffic-control facilities to accommo- date the high speeds, high altitudes and high fuel-consumption characteristic of jet-powered airliners. An appreciable part of the "talking time," therefore, was concentrated on the report of I.A.T.A.'s Technical Committee, which was delivered by its chairman, Mr. J. T. Dyment, of Trans-Canada Airlines. In addition to the activity of the main committee, the scope of this report also included a large number of working groups and I.A.T.A.'s European technical liaison office at London. The Technical Committee Speaking of I.A.T.A's relationship with other technical organizations,Mr. Dyment said that co-operation with the International Telecom- munications Union had been intensified; that the Association hadparticipated in the World Meteorological Organization's congress; and that it now has permanent representation on the "steering" committeeof the International Standards Organization. It had also been noticed during the past year, he said, that manu-facturers had increased their representation at I.A.T.A.'s technical sessions, both sides having now recognized that it was of mutual interestto have a direct exchange of views on the operating requirements and design features of airline equipment, in order to achieve better andmore economical results. Mr. Dyment also mentioned the fact that although I.C.A.O.'s workduring the past five years in setting up standards and recommended practices in all but a small part of the technical field had been largelysatisfactory, in several regions implementation of these standards by governments had not progressed as quickly as was desired.Further extracts from the Technical Committee's report, classified in accordance with the nature of the investigations undertaken by individualworking groups, are summarized below:— Communications and Radio Aids.—I.A.T.A. has been particularlyconcerned during the past year with attempts to gain permission of governments for the airlines to transmit "class B" commercial messagesover the aeronautical fixed telecommunications networks rather than over commercial cables and leased wires. Both LC.A.O. and I.T.U.now have the matter under consideration, and while no conclusive agreements have been reached a successful outcome is foreseen. Special attention has also been paid to improving aids to final approachand landing and short-distance navigation—now considered to be some- thing of a bottleneck, particularly in areas of high traffic-density. Two working panels undertook a partial investigation of the I.C.A.O.standard I.L.S. They also made proposals for improving G.C.A., radar range and accuracy; and evaluated the potentialities of D.M.E. andDecca. Standard specifications were also drawn up for non-directional radio beacons, which I.A.T.A. feels will be in use for some years tocome in low traffic density areas, and for 75 mc/s beacons and Consol. With the gradual introduction of pilot-operated R/T. communicationson long international routes, I.A.T.A. has had to pay special attention to the establishment of world-wide standard procedures for its use; anR/T. "Procedures Manual" has been drafted and submitted to I.C.A.O., which has now disseminated the important sections of it to states asofficial I.C.A.O.-approved practices. The expenditure of a considerable amount of time and money, andengagement of personnel, in developing, purchasing and installing better airborne equipment for R/T. communications is envisaged forairlines throughout the world, but it is thought that this will prove a worthwhile investment. "Attempts to rationalize the original I.C.A.O. provisions for air-worthiness of aircraft," says the report, "have so far resulted only in the existence of two differing sets of recommended practices, eachadvocated by different countries. Even though these are only recom- mended practices, this is not as desirable as removing both from theI.C.A.O. Annexes and permitting individual states to continue with their national requirements pending the finalization of a single newstandard which can be agreed by all." The I.S.O. Aviation Section has agreed to make the standardization ofexternal couplings a first effort. I.A.T.A. hopes that couplings will be devised which will make it a very simple procedure to bring into usesuch procedures as underwing fuelling throughout the world without the use of flow-restricting adaptors. Operations.—As the result of studies conducted by a specialist groupof senior pilots concentrating on the crucial "last three minutes of flight," I.C.A.O. has asked its member states to conduct flight tests of anew arrangement of I.L.S. marker components to ease the transition from instrument to visual flight. Analysis of approach lighting systems has also resulted in the con-clusion that the requirements for low visibility systems can best be satisfied by a single row of high-intensity lights placed along the extensionof the runway centre-line. The only systems that can be adapted to meet the group's requirements appear to be the Calvert and theAmerican A.T.A.-A.L.P.A. systems. The group is now proceeding with a study of threshold and runwaylighting and methods by which to integrate it wilh approach aids. I.A.T.A.'s European Air Traffic Control panel has now agreed on animmediate plan of control along routes in the European region having a weekly traffic density of 100 movements or more. Under these pro-posals, a network of reserved air lanes, aligned as far as possible with projected or existing airways in Europe, would be based on the facilities •currently available and in use. The panel has been completely practical in its approach, realizing that any attempt to solve present traffic controlproblems in Europe must be designed with an eye on the exchequers of European governments. I.A.T.A. has already taken special measures with I.C.A.O. and otherauthorities in order to eliminate or alleviate the problems set up by the increasing amount of military traffic and jet aircraft operations in Europe. Traffic Conferences Report The report of the I.A.T.A. Traffic Conferences covered the 1951composite meetings of the three Traffic Conference areas into which the world is divided; it was submitted by R. E. S. Deichler, AmericanAirlines. The Traffic Conferences provide the machinery for agreement between member carriers concerned in any international route on rates,fares, conditions of carriage and agency matters. These agreements must be reached by unanimous vote and are subject to the approval ofinterested governments before they can become effective. The salient points of Mr. Deichler's report are given below:—Both the machinery and extent of agreement were improved during the past year. Agreements were reached on fares and rates betweenNorth, Central and South American points (which was the last major gap in the world-wide rate structure) and on such routes as that betweenLondon and Sydney, which can be served both east-about and west- about. The enforcement of Conference agreements through an I.A.T.A.inspectorate has brought about more careful and less ambiguous drafting of Conference resolutions. While the Bermuda resolutions were notable for the number ofagreements reached—running to upwards of 500 unanimous resolutions —it was felt that too much time had been spent in the discussion ofdevices by which one airline could lure traffic away from a competitor. This kind of business amounts to a very small percentage of any carrier'spayload and i« not worth the effort and expense necessary to get it. The establishment of an I.A.T.A. Traffic Management Committee isconsidered necessary to handle the numerous management and economic problems with which airlines are now faced.Many basic traffic policies should be studied in the light of their effect on the trend of fares and rates and, primarily, on profits. The touristservice is a good example of how an emotion for a popular service can very well overcome the hard facts of business. The Legal Committee The report of the Legal Committee—submitted by its chairman,Mr. K. H. Staple, secretary and legal counsel to B.O.A.C.—covered also the activities of the special Warsaw Convention Committee and anumber of special studies made by I.A.T.A.'s Legal Adviser. The committee is composed of legal experts from a number of memberairlines and they act as consultants to the whole industry. Excerpts from the reports are given below:— Some time was spent during the past year in trying to arrive at asatisfactory definition of "scheduled international air service" under the Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation. The question is at presentbeing discussed by I.C.A.O. and is important because the definition would set a line between scheduled and non-scheduled commercialflying, which are subject to different kinds of government regulation. So far, no definition has been found which all parties feel distinguishesadequately between the two types of operation and which takes into account all of their characteristics. Another continuing problem is the legal sufficiency of the proposedTraffic Conference resolutions governing charter rates. It is felt that present charter resolutions contain too many loopholes. There shouldalso be some means of resolving the two divergent attitudes on the part of the airlines toward their conditions of carriage, which are the basiccontract between the carrier and the purchaser of passenger or cargo space. For wholly efficient interline business, these conditions shouldbe identical among all members. Little value has been found in a suggestion that I.A.T.A. transportdocuments contain a clause under which airlines may disclaim liability for damage or loss of baggage and cargo due to navigational errors onthe part of crew. Member airlines are warned that they may experience difficulties asa result of selling tickets in India, and possibly in other countries, to persons under 21 years of age; an airline ticket in a legal sense i::•_ acontract, and such contracts with minors are void. Members are to be supplied with a suggested form of indemnity bonding the parents orguardians of minors buying tickets. During the year opinions were also given, and studies made, on suchsubjects as the Warsaw and Rorre Conventions on liability, and the legal aspects of insurance, interline traffic and ground-handling problems. Concluded on page 433)
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