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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1595.PDF
FLIGHT, 11 December 1953 749 CIVIL AVIATION SEVEN VISCOUNTS EARN f 1.4m CONFIRMING the provisional figures published in Flight a week ago, B.E.A. have just announced the results of the first six months of operating scheduled services with the Viscount. These results, achieved with an average fleet of seven Viscounts, cover the period mid-April to mid-October:— Revenue flying hours 6,140 Passenger-miles flown 45 million Revenue load-factor 76 per cent Break-even load factor 51 per cent Revenue earned £1,400,000 Costs (including interest) £1,005,00 Profit £395,00 Profit per flying hour £64 Such figures would be remarkable for any new airliner, but the Viscount also has the distinction of being the world's first passenger-carrying turboprop transport. The equivalent annual utilization, for example, works out at just over 1,700 hr per aircraft, which is more than the average for B.E.A.'s fleet— despite the teething troubles which afflict every new type. SKYWAYS YORK INQUIRY O N February 2nd this year an Avro York operated by Sky ways, Ltd., disappeared over the North Atlantic while fly ing the Azores-Gander stage of its journey from Stansted to Jamaica. Last week the Ministry of Transport and Civil Avia tion published the report of the public inquiry conducted by Mr. Roland Adams, Q.C., into the loss of the aircraft, its crew of six and its 33 passengers. Mr. Adams concludes that the outstanding feature of the inquiry is the lack of evidence as to what caused the disaster. The aircraft, G-AHFA, was making a trooping flight for the War Office. It took off from Lagens Airfield at an all-up weight of 68,698 lb as against an authorized maximum take-off weight of 70,000 lb. Its Certificate of Airworthiness had been renewed only two days previously and the four Merlin engines had each run less than a quarter of their overhaul life of 1,000 hr. The crew members were properly licensed and experienced. The Court found nothing remiss about the maintenance, load ing or trimming of the aircraft; the fuel and oil reserves carried; the weather forecast; the navigation of the York; or the com munications maintained. To the Attorney General's question "Was the flight from the Azores to Gander a suitable operation to be carried out by a York aircraft in the prevailing weather conditions?" the Court made an affirmative reply. The aircraft took off at 2325 hr on February 1st and its first Pomar (positional operational meteorological aircraft report) at 0010 hr the following day was followed by four further Pomars at intervals of approximately 1 hr. At 0530 hr there was an urgency signal giving the position of G-AHFA, followed after a scarcely perceptible break by the distress signal "SOS, SOS, SOS, de G-A . . ." after which the transmission broke off abruptly. The facts that the final call was transmitted at greatly increased speed and suddenly broken off led to the conclusion that trouble developed in a sud den and violent manner. The bad ditching characteristics of the York made it unlikely that any survivor could have got out of the aircraft when it reached the surface . . . The report mentions that on January 31st, while being towed by a tractor at Stansted Airport, the York was caught by a gust. The controls were not locked and the elevators were depressed so violently that the control column was forced out of the hands of the mechanic holding it and struck the blind-flying panels, breaking several instruments. The panels were removed and some instruments were changed; an unlicensed airframe inspec tor then made a thorough visual check of the complete elevator control run. The Court had no reason to question the thorough ness of this check and were unable to connect the mishap with the subsequent loss of the aircraft. Although stressing that the cause of the accident was "un- discernible," the Court concluded the report with a number of recommendations which take into account some of the evidence given during the inquiry. The major parts of the recommendations are quoted below:— (1) Steps should be taken by all operators to review the maintenance discipline in and about hangars. ... [a reference to the failure to en sure that the York's controls were locked.] (2) Consideration should be given to the question whether it would be right to impose upon operators the duty of providing provisional schedules for the guidance of captains allowing for adequate periods of genuinely recuperative rest, the duration of which should be related to duty time and the circumstances of the flight. . . . (3) The whole subject of crew fatigue should receive study at an impressive level. ... It is for consideration whether a Departmental A "Flight" impression of the Boeing 707 transport discussed below. Committee should be set up to investigate this important subject. (4) Consideration should be given to the desirability of strengthen ing or reinforcing Clause 40 of the "Compulsory Conditions" of Certificates of Airworthiness by imposing some limitation upon the permitted operation of an aircraft in terms of the degree and duration of icing to be expected. (5) Oil-contents gauges, or some other reliable means of detecting loss of oil, should be made a mandatory requirement on all public transport aircraft. (6) Study should be directed to the possibilities of transferring the contents of the methyl-bromide bottles from one adjacent engine to another. (7) Consideration should be given to the problem of providing ex ternal stowage for a proportion of the dinghies carried . . . PAKISTAN MERGER AMALGAMATION of Orient Airways, Ltd., and the new **- Pakistan International Airlines, for which Super Constella tions have been ordered, is now in progress; the merger is expected to be retro-active from October 1st. At the request of the Pakistan Government, the air survey and safety division of the British Aviation Insurance Co., Ltd., recently completed a valuation of the assets of Orient Airways, who operate Convairs and Dakotas. The valuation, which involved over four weeks' study at Karachi and outstations, was conducted by B.A.I.C.'s Chief Technical officer, Mr. A. B. Hunter, with assistance from the company's Calcutta staff. BOEING TRANSPORT FEATURES "DROGRESS with the Boeing 707 four-jet transport is reported -*- to be on schedule. In the company's main plant at Seattle the first prototype—which will be a general-purpose demon strator—now has its wing fitted, and it should fly, as planned, next June. The civil J57 engines are to be rated at about 10,500 lb thrust. The Boeing 707 was described in detail in our issue of August 7th last. On this page is a Flight sketch of the machine showing a number of new features, such as the flush cockpit roof and windscreen and the bogie landing gear with a 21ft track, which is hinged on the rear spar and is housed in the fuselage when retracted. The number of cabin windows is remarkable and indicates that Boeing are being very cautious in cutting into the pressure-envelope. Each row of seats (assuming that such a window arrangement would be used on an airline-furnished 707) appears to be provided with two to three very small windows on each side of the aircraft. The design pressure differential is 8.6 lb/sq in; this compares with 8.25 lb/sq in for the Comet 1 and 8.75 for the Comet 3, both of which have much larger windows— elliptical in the case of the Comet 3, to save weight. There is, of course, the possibility of eliminating windows completely, but passenger reaction would certainly be unfavourable. I.A.T.A. FARES : UPS AND DOWNS AT the 18-day I.A.T.A. Traffic Conference in Honolulu, which **• concluded on November 22nd, representatives of the 70 member-airlines passed no fewer than 423 unanimous resolu tions covering 30,000 rates and fares. Details were fixed of the final stage in introducing a world-wide network of tourist ser vices by extending the present reduced fare levels to the trans- Pacific routes. Fares averaging 25 per cent below the first- class rate will be introduced from April 1st between North America and Australia and New Zealand; between Malaya, Siam, Hongkong and the Philippines; and between Japan and Korea. There will be no significant changes in the rates for the Western Hemisphere. On the North Atlantic route, both first-class and tourist fares are to be increased slightly: a London-New York tourist return ticket, for example, will be increased from $495 (£177) to $522 (£186) and the first-class return fare on the same route goes up from $711 (£254) to $720 (£257). The cost of first-class travel on mid-Atlantic routes between America and Europe will be increased from October 1st next year, but tourist services will be introduced at the same time. A concession to I.A.T.A.'s newest member, Hunting Air Transport, was the resolution providing for "special tourist" services between the North of England and Scotland and Scandinavia, at fares 10 per cent below tourist rates, in 28-seat DC-3s. It will be remembered that Hunting's attempt to introduce a Scandinavian network was blocked by I.A.T.A.
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