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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0387.PDF
20 March 1953 385 and Athens) (five weekly); London-Zurich (daily and nightly); London-Geneva (daily) and London-Copenhagen-Stockholm (daily). As previously announced the new aircraft will be used only on "tourist" services, offering fares about 20 per cent below the 1952 summer level. The first three aircraft have been de livered as 40-seaters, but the standard interior layout of 47 seats is being incorporated in the fourth and subsequent aircraft. The full fleet of 26 Viscount 701s will be supplemented in 1955-56 by 12 Series 80is which are to be used on high-density short- and medium-range services. As regards interior layout, this larger ver sion should be particularly flexible, carrying between 54 and 82 passengers in varying degrees of comfort or—as a passenger-freigh ter—cargo [in the strengthened front cabin with 44-59 passengers aft. B.E.A.'s chief executive estimates that, up to stage distances of 600 miles, the Series 801 has "potentially a lower cost per seat mile than any other aircraft, including the DC-6B and the Britannia." It seems likely that^ pending the introduction of the 801, piston-engined Elizabethans will continue to operate many of B.E.A.'s routes of less than 800 miles stage-length, with Viscount 70 is at their economical peak, flying the longer and/or more competitive services. That the Viscount can perform with excellent economy on much shorter stages is indicated by Air France's intention to open a daily London-Paris service with Viscounts in June. B.E.A.'s normal operating procedure will be to cruise the Viscount at the quadrantal height below the optimum altitude for weight and ambient temperature. The resulting height will usually be between 15,000 and 21,000ft. Flight planning will be greatly simplified by a system of fuel calculation devised by Mr. Chadwick, B.E.A.'s senior route facilities officer. Briefly, this consists of a set of tables which tell the pilot his fuel requirements for any likely combination of basic sector and diversion to alterna tive airfield under any temperature condition. Speedy and straight-forward flight planning is one of the most important factors behind the quick turn-round so essential to airline opera tions; by providing a simple substitute for the complicated set of graphs which would otherwise have been required (with conse quent difficulty of interpretation and possibility of error), this method has established a useful precedent for future turboprop procedure. Cruise control will be effected on a straightforward "how-goes-it" basis, by which flowmeter readings are periodically checked against a line representing the maximum accceptable full consumption over a period of time. As a result of experience during the Viscount 700 trials a system of calibrating the fuel in lb or kilograms rather than in gallons, both for refuelling and en route purposes, will probably be introduced. Under high temperature conditions (when weight calculations are naturally most critical), the proposed method will create a fuel saving equal to the weight of one passenger per thousand gallons taken aboard. Initially, at least, fuel reserves will be carried for 60 minutes stand-off. B.E.A. will not ask for any traffic priority in operating the Viscount, which is fully capable of fitting in with normal pro cedures without difficulty or penalty. To avoid costly delays in departure from crowded terminals, a special "pre-clearance" system, as already demonstrated by the Comet, will be employed. The crew will normally arrive 80 minutes before take-off time; within an hour the radio officer will, during the course of his normal pre-flight checks, contact control by V.H.F. to request an "engine starting time." This will confirm the estimated time of departure shown in the flight plan which would by then have been in the possession of the controllers for 30 minutes—enabling Passenger-appeal: the interior design of B.E.A.'s new aircraft matches the high standard of performance and comfort inherent in the Viscount itself. The model of Capt. Cook's "Discovery" on the forward bulkhead of this machine identifies it as the flagship. early warning to be given of any possible delay. Assuming that there are no delays, the radio officer can pass this information to the traffic officer who, with walkie-talkie radio, can then instruct the tarmac control whether or not the service will proceed to schedule. Passengers can be taken aboard six minutes before engine starting. Since the chance of hold-up decreases as departure time grows nearer, there is almost positive assurance of take-off within the scheduled time. The final engine check, carried out on the runway at three-quarter power with brakes on, occupies less than two minutes. Deliveries.—B.E.A., the first airline to order Viscounts, are naturally first to take delivery. The present intention is to in augurate regular Viscount services on April 19, coincident with the start of summer schedules. The Corporation hope that by this time six aircraft will have been delivered, with further machines arriving at the rate of one a month until August, when the delivery rate will be doubled. B.E.A.'s Discovery-class fleet will therefore be complete in about a year's time. After an interval of some two years the first Viscount 80is will begin to take their place beside the Series 701s. Half the Air France order for 12 machines should be completed this summer and the remaining Cointrin, Geneva, is the setting for this study of another B.E.A. Viscount— G-AMNY "Sir Ernest Shackleton"; the occa sion was a recent proving flight, when a block time of less than 2 hr was achieved. •
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