FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1978.PDF
L -iHT, 2 July 1954 NDIAN EXPRESS: Air- ndia's new Super Con stellation service between \ondon and Bombay was naugurated on June 21st. the aircraft is shown before departure from L.A.P., with be newly unveiled Alcock \ind Brown memorial in the foreground. IVIL AVIATION )ECCA IN ACTION ^N many occasions in the past Flight has described the uses and development of the Decca system of navigation. We tiave firmly advocated its adoption as a standard aid for aviation as well as for shipping, although we are aware of the arguments gainst it. These emanate largely from America, which prefers £o back its own less flexible system. It seems probable that Decca vill, in fact, become a standard European aid not only for shipping but for aircraft—including, of course, helicopters, for which it pffers unique qualities. Recently we had the opportunity to fly an executive Prince . the Paris-London route and to remind ourselves of the simple ad effective navigation and fixing service offered by a Decca Flight Log and to practise some simple plotting to maintain track, Using only a pair of Deccometers. A particular interest applies to this aircraft and its captain in ^iew of a narrow escape which they experienced together some ime ago and of which the story can now be told. Some similarity vith the circumstances of the recent Swissair Convair ditching accident will be noted. The details are perhaps best set forth the words of Captain Poulter as written in a letter to Decca. /e quote: "You may remember my mentioning that I had been involved in an ncident in which our Decca installation passed what was to me the Isupreme test. I am now at liberty to let you have details of this occur rence, which will probably be of considerable interest to you in view of ithe part played by the Decca Navigator and (in particular) the Flight Log. I "The aircraft concerned is a modern, twin-engined machine belong ing to the Standard Motor Company, Ltd., used for carrying company executives and staff on urgent journeys. We were en route from Stutt gart to Birmingham, and had been maintaining track with the Flight Log having been in or over total cloud the whole way. Cross-checking with the radio beacons and ranges had proved that the trace was absolutely accurate. "Ten miles north-east of Manston, at six thousand feet, both engines stopped in rapid succession, giving only very short bursts thereafter. It was decided to try to reach Manston rather than to ditch near the shore, and accordingly a course was set with the aid of the Flight Log to take us west of the field so as to avoid Ramsgate. Unfortunately, turbu lent air caused the aircraft to lose height much more rapidly, so that when we broke cloud at about five hundred feet we were not lined up with the runway. We were, however, able to make a wheels-down land ing on the airfield. Although the aircraft was slighdy damaged, no passengers or crew were injured. "Without the Flight Log, which not only showed us the whole naviga tional picture at a glance but also allowed us to set the correct course immediately, it would have been madness to attempt a landing on the airfield at all. One wonders how many other bad accidents could have been avoided had Decca been available to the pilot. "Incidentally, I have calculated that only twenty minutes' flying saved per week pays your hiring charge, and in fact time is cut on almost every flight by the elimination of small navigational errors and by the ability to place the aircraft for 'straight-in' approaches under even the worst conditions." The views of another professional pilot were expressed a month or two ago in an official report to his company—one of the major European airlines—following a test he made with Decca equip ment. Some translated extracts have been shown to us; they read as follows: We climbed out of Geneva in I.F.R. conditions only with the aid of the Flight Log, the equipment operating per- fecdy from the start. Because the ground speed can be easily read from the Flight Log the E.T.As are always precise to the minute, every necessary correction of the drift angle is im mediately noticeable ... The precision of the Flight Log indication is completely independ ent of altitude or geographical structure. From Le Bourget to Croydon we flew at 4,500ft mostly I.F.R. We could not get an I.F.R. clear ance and had even to leave the airway with a re-entering time at Ashford. With any other radio aid the execution of that precisely pre scribed manoeuvre would be most difficult. .. A holding pattern can be flown at any point. The weather at Croydon was visibility 1,200yd, ceiling 300ft with fog. The airport had no beacons or any other approach facilities. On the usual airport charts the finals for a specific runway are marked; on the map we used there was no detailed information. Downwind was reported still being completely I.F.R., but on breaking cloud on finals we were dead on the V./.P. TRIO: Three B.E.A. Bristol 171s in formation at Northolt; aboard the helicopters at the time were Lord Douglas of Kirtleside, Mr. A. T. Lennox-Boyd and the Mayors of Southampton and Eastleigh. The occasion was the opening, on June 15th, ofB.E.A.'s helicopter service between L.A.P and Southampton. After the Mayors had been welcomed at the city's main airport, they flew on to Northolt for the official luncheon.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
