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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 2731.PDF
502 FLIGH1 CIVIL AVIATION . . . THE AIRLINE PARLIAMENT PARIS was last week the setting for the 10th annual meeting of I.A.T.A., which was held in the Hotel de la Rochefoucauld from Monday to Friday inclusive. On the opening day, Sir William Hildred, director-general, presented his annual report, and M. Max Hymans (Air France) took over from Mr. Gordon McGregor (T.C.A.) as president for 1954-55. Subsequently the reports of I.A.T.A.'s various comnittees—executive, technical, traffic, financial, legal, medical—were presented and discussed by delegates of the 70 member airlines. We hope to review the high lights of these reports in next week's issue. Outside conference hours, the delegates, many accompanied by their wives, were entertained by the French member-airlines—Air France, Aigle Azur, Air Algerie, T.A.I, and U.A.T.—and by the French Government. At the closing session, it was unanimously agreed that the 1955 annual meeting would be held in the United States at a time and place to be determined later, and that Mr. Juan Trippe, president of P.A.W.A., should take office there as the 1955-56 president of I.A.T.A. Two important resolutions were passed at the closing session. The first, noting that European I.A.T.A. operators continued to experience interference by mi.itary aircraft on established air routes, called for urgent action to "alleviate this unsatisfactory situation." The resolution urged I.C.A.O. to consider the forma tion of a unified body capable of co-ordinating the airspace require ments of military and civil aviation, and, as an interim measure, to introduce as uniform procedure for reporting "incidents." The seconrf resolution, in condemning the passenger service charges levied by certain governments, noted that such charges cover only to a minor extent the cost of airport operation but, on the other hand, "automatically delay the time when, dianks to increased traffic, the airports will be self-supporting." AIRWORK'S NEW TROOPING CONTRACT "DROVIDING for the carriage of 7,000 troops per year between •* the United Kingdom and Singapore, the Air Ministry Far East trooping contract has been placed with Airwork, Ltd. Stated to be the biggest single trooping contract ever placed by the Ministry, it runs for 2 years and is valued at "at least £lim." The nights, which will complete the 9,000-mi!e journey in three days (compared with four weeks by troopship) will be operated exclusively with Hermes IVAs carrying 68 passengers in 9g rear ward-facing seats. Commenting on the announcement, Sir Archibald Hope, joint managing director of Airwork, stated: "This is a very important extension of air trooping. ... I think the War Office have shown considerable imagination and foresight in deciding to use air transportation for such large numbers over such a long distance." AN ICED-UP RAPIDE '"THE accidents investigation branch of the M.T.C.A. has -*- published its report on the accident to Rapide G-AFMF on February 19th. The Rapide, flown by Mr. B. K. Waugh and operated by John Weston Adamson (trading as Oldstead Aircraft), took off from Woolsington Airport, Newcastle, for a charter flight to Dublin. About ten minutes after take-off, when flying in cloud the pilot saw ice forming on the wing leading edges and fomv that the aircraft would not climb above 3,200ft. Shortly after wards he lost control of the aircraft, which struck die ground ii a level attitude while he was trying to regain control. Fire broki out but the pilot and seven passengers escaped serious injury. The report holds the pilot responsible for the accident "in tha he did not exercise care when studying the weather forecast: [which gave the freezing level as 1,500ft] arid in consequence madi a flight which should not have taken jjiace." During the investigation the pilot stated that he had chosen ; cruising level of 6,000ft, as he thought the forecast freezing leve to be 15,000ft. The investigators found, however, that the holdei of a conmerci3l pilot's licence should have had sufficient know< ledge of meteorology to realize that such a forecast, which includec references to snow and sleet on hills, was most improbable it mid-February. The airframe and airscrews did not carry de-icing or anti-icint and the flight wa^'therefore, in contravention of air regulations Furthermore, the Rapide's radio had not been maintained ir accordance with the approved schedule, though there was nc evidence to show that it was not serviceable. of the extremeljkhij CONSTELLATION COSTS WHILE there is wide appreciation o extremely, high costs of modern aircraft, it is not always easy, even for experienced observers, to ascertain the current market value of a particular type. When manufacturers do quote prices for new airliners, they usually do so in round figures, and the amount paid pei aircraft by specific operators is not often disclosed by either party. The va'ues of second-hand aircraft vary greatly according to the availability of the type concerned, the condition of individual aircraft and the area in which the sale takes place. At the end of August B.O.A.C. announced that they were trans ferring seven Constellation 049s to Capital Airlines in exchange for Capital's seven model 749As and that " a financial adjustment was involved." The adjustment obviously represented the difference in value between the British Corporation's relatively old, early-type Constellations and Capital's more modern versions, with better payload-range performance. At the time B.O.A.C. were unwilling to reveal the sums involved and we hazarded a guess Flight, September 3) that the current market value of a Constellation 749A was "rather more than £300,000" and that the 049's value might be 10 to 20 per cent lower. Further details of the exchange have now been given by the president of Capital Airlines, Mr. J. Carmichael, in a letter to shareholders. This states that for the seven Constellation 749As Capital will receive $3,850,000 (£1,375,000) in addition to B.O.A.C.'s seven model 049s. For the purpose of the transaction, the Capital aircraft were valued at some £3,375,000 and die B.O.A.C. aircraft at £2,000,000. On this basis, the market value of a Constellation 749A is seen to be not far short of £500,000, or £200.000 more than that of a Constellation 049. Our original paragraph, therefore, under-estimated considerably the price which B.O.A.C. will pay (in dollars) for standardizing their Con stellation fleet. Against this, however, the Corporation states that it picked up some £1,250,000 on the book value of the Constella tion 049s, and that the transaction was therefore mutually advantageous. A SPOKESM the next be the Vickers applied for a autumn. BREVITIES for Lufthansa is reported to have stated that of aircra/t ordered by the German airline will t. TJkc Geman AJEnistry of Transport has for t^e confpany fo begin operations this M.T.C.A. traffic statistics for the United Kingdom airlines during May show a 10 per cent drop in capacity and a four per cent reduction in ton-miles flown in relation'to the corresponding figures for May 1953. Much of this decline was attributed to a drop in B.O.A.C.'s traffic, particufarly on the western routes (due partly to the suspension of South American services following the grounding of Comet*); "B.E A.'s ton-mi;e traffic increased, how ever, by 15 per cent^ and independent airlines operating scheduled services increased their traffic by nearly 40 per cent. The Frye Air'ine Performance Trophy for 1953 has been awarded to Pan American World AieWays for their exploitation of jet streams between Tokyo ajMfHonolu'u. This 3,846-mi!e route, flown non-stop by Stratocruisers, is the longest stage regu'arly flown by an American flag airline. By making use of the 80-100 m.p h. high-altitude tail-winds, PanAm have achieved an average block speed 6T 334 m.p.h. between Tokyo and Honolulu. On September 7th, El Al Israel Airlines inaugurated a fort nightly freight service from Israel to Copenhagen and Helsinki. The service, which is operated t>yC46^Commando, leaves Tel Aviv at 7 a.m. on Tuesdays, axiwffigat Copenhagen at 12.30 p.m. on Wednesday and atEfaWrfki at 4.30 p.m.; return flights leave Helsinki at 6 a.m. on'Tnursdays, calling at Copenhagen at 10 a.ffl. * * * H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh will preside at ceremonies celebrating the 25tfi anniversary of the Guild of Air Pilots end Air Navigators of the British Empire. Ceremonies, which will include an address by the Duke of Edinburgh, who is the Grand Master of the Guild, and the presentation of trophies and awards, will take place at the County Hall, Westminster Bridge, London, S.E.I, on the evening of November 30th. * * * Although Silver City Airways' private airport at Ferryfield came into operation only on July 13th, M.T:C.A. airport statistics for the month show that the total tomafjfe handled there (4,?98) was greater than at any ouier aipidrt in the United Kingdom. Of 14,100 tons of freight set jfefwn and picked up from Bruisn airports in July, some 70 pyj'€ent was in the form of vehicles SIM other cargo carried by Siljrer City to and from FerrySeld, Lyrnpne and Southampton. Inkfal figures for August suggest that during the month Ferryfield* handled 6,500 tons—nearly half the total traffic for all U.K. airports.
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