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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1345.PDF
9 September 1955 five minutes after that report the Otter was water-borne atGravdal—visibility a good three miles, cloud-base attest a X*"' * ^^ ^ ^^ ^^V ^ theghX Another source of variety is the passengers themselves—asmixed a bag, if one may say this without suggesting disrespect as on any o&er airline. There were two indefatigable elderlyAmerican lady travellers, protected in polythene from head to toe against the weather; Servicemen on leave; a girl-child withbrilliant blue eyes and the most flaxen of hair who came up l? V1^.T cockpit; a sad Frenchman going to visit a grave in die Allied cemetery at Narvik; and a preponderance of localfisher people, the kindliness of whose faces did not disguise the hardness of wmter life in these wild islands. Week-end charter trips can make a very pleasant change to thepilot s life. He may go off into the mountain lakes with a happy party of passengers to catch magnificent fish which they cook onthe shore over a pmewood fire by the light of the midnight sun It costs £20 per flying hour to charter a Norseman, but since themachine takes seven passengers, and there are hundreds of fine lakes within an hour of Narvik, the cost per head can be keptfairly low. The Otter—similarly powered, but representing a greater capital investment—is rather more expensive. Pilots receive a reasonable basic salary, plus 15s an hour flyingpay, so that their income compares favourably with that of S.A.S. crews; and as they are normally on a temporary posting tothe North for the season only, they are all-found. There is not much flying to be done when they return to Oslo for the 459 winter; thus they can recover from the heavy summer's work.On the last day the weather was almost good on the leg to bvolvaer, and as we left Gravdal the stratus clouds disintegratedand the sun actually broke through for the first time in five days. We craned forward hungrily in the cockpit to catch some of itswarmth, and climbed to 3,000ft over a glassy sea. Once more, cinema-superlatives crowded inadequately to mind. With aslight turn we looked back on the full range of the Lofoten peaks, sketching over a hundred grotesque miles, dark against a brilliantsky. The horizon ahead was crenellated with mountains in disarray, and away to the south, on the Arctic Circle, snowfieldsof the Svartisen Glacier arose glistening in the sun. We looked down and tried to spot whales. This account is finished next morning at four o'clock. Thesun has shone brilliantly all night, and the DC-4 is now speeding south over that same glacier. It is almost painful trying toabsorb and retain an impression of the snowfield's sublime grandeur while the smell of warm rolls and coffee issues fromthe galley aft. The four engines grind smoothly, the seats are soft, and the Australian lady in the next row vouchsafes theinformation that she has written 42 postcards, with a picture of the midnight sun on them, during her four hours beyond theArctic Circle. Yet all this is infinitely detached, sophisticated and dull ^compared with scuttering around the screes below theGoat's Horns, to slide down into Svolvasr's friendly little harbour, and shout "Morn!" to the postman in the patrol boat. If I have to see anywhere and die, I had rather it were Norway'sNorth than Naples. HELICOPTER CONFERENCE—A POSTSCRIPT TO see yourself as others see you is a good exercise for mostof us, whether "us" means individuals, industries or coun-tries. For the purpose of looking at ourselves in the helicopter industry, no mirror can be better than Rotterdam, themain port of an advanced and enterprising country. A country, moreover, with an unparalleled tradition in all branches of trans-port operations, but without a comprehensive aircraft industry of its own. In this environment the sound of grinding axes ismultiplied by diversity and subdued by the presence of dis- passionate judges, and so becomes a not unpleasant purr. It was an act of faith and foresight on the part of the authoritiesin Rotterdam who joined together under the banner of the "Rotterdam Helicopter Syndicate" to organize and sponsor a con-ference of potential buyers and potential sellers of the trans- port helicopter. How great an element of faith is still needed inthe active pursuit of helicopter plans was proved, not unnaturally, during the last session of the congress, a session devoted toeconomics. In fact, it could be said that the preceding sessions were spentdebating the propositions advanced by the last lecturer, Mr. Ledeboer of K.L.M. He proved in the most lucid manner, withthe help of several diagrams, that two and two make four. In helicopter language, that the series of severe compromises whichcharacterize present-day helicopter services can be worthwhile only under exceptional conditions and cannot even competeagainst express rail transport, with all its installations available and paid for. Most helicopter enthusiasts welcomed Mr. Lede-boer's statement, because each found in it some particular aspect of realism dear to his own views. This writer was mainly pleasedwith the emphasis on high frequency as an inseparable part of a fast transport service. In the main, however, it is good to have one authority whichcannot be swayed by enthusiasm: one of whom it can be said, "et tu K.L.M., then follow XYZ." My particular history booktells of an old weighing-machine at the university of Leyden which became the goal of all those unfortunate women accused of witch-craft in mediaeval and renaissance Europe. A certificate from Leyden stating that she was possessed of measurable weight savedthe wretched victim of malice and prejudice from the stake. It is good to have an authority which can certify sanity, includingeconomic sanity. Unhappily, we all know that the transport helicopter has nocause at present to apply for such a certificate, but can be used here and there to train the operator or the public and to servespecial conditions. During this period it may not matter very much whether you lose a little money because a small vehicle isemployed which cannot be economical or whether you lose a lot of money because you have not learnt to use a large and economicalvehicle in a competitive manner. It does not matter provided you believe that helicopters arecoming. If you do, then the K.L.M. approach is irrelevant and the real question is how to prepare yourself most economically torthe coming of the helicopter. The answer in North-West Europe would seem to be the one proposed by Vernieuwe of Sabena, namely, a co-operative enterprise by the European airlines. It isinconceivable that the soul of the Flying Dutchman should not respond to such an idea, and, on the whole, it has.The contrast between present and future possibilities remains the central problem in transport helicopter planning and becamethe central theme of the congress. It was not always clearly distin- guished by the various speakers, and listeners were often shuttledbetween the practical day-to-day problems of the existing and the wide sweep of the imagined. It could not even be said that thepresent was entirely the preserve of practical men or the future the playground of the theorists. Vernieuwe is the practical opera-tor who strays into the dim future of the post-helicopter era, Mejer-Drees and Treibel the theorists who accept the limitationsof the present in examining operating techniques and facilities. The contrast between present and future appears to become aconflict when faced by city authorities with enough foresight to plan and build rotor stations. This writer hopes that they man-aged to find some guidance for action in the thoughts of the designers at both ends of the helicopter field. A fundamental chainof reasoning can lead to such guiding principles. In the future of flying of any kind, and of vertical flying in particular, muchis uncertain. Perhaps the most hotly debated doctrines of con- figuration, type of power unit, and layout of operating sites arethe least certain of all features. It is certain, however, that vertical or near vertical flight into the heart of cities is an improvement incommunication which must come. Operating facilities and oper- ating techniques will develop and reduce the demands on operatingsites. Vehicle size and number of movements will grow and increase the demand on operating sites. It is reasonable to assumethat the two developments will counterbalance each other. In short, communities which fashion their sites to the demandsof present-day imperfect helicopters with imperfect landing faci- lities are likely to find themselves ready for future perfect vehicleswith perfect operating aids, whatever the shape of vehicles to come. If it is possible to draw these conclusions from the many ten-dencies revealed during the four sessions then everything which was said falls into place in a panorama of which the details areobscure but the outline clear. The brush with which the details will be drawn is in the hands of the designers, who, on this occa-sion—however felicitous the conceptions they represented—graced their ceiling by modest understatement. This tone, adopted byHislop (Fairey), was pursued by Morain (S.N.C.A.S.O.), and the representatives of Sikorsky and Piasecki.Those who (like the present writer) have, despite constant re-examination, come to regard the helicopter as the generic formof air transport with the capacity of entering built-up areas must have taken away from this congress the conviction that we haveat last come to a point when the designer can say "give us the job and we will finish the tools." We hope that our hosts drew some such conclusion from thisevent to which they contributed not only their own invaluable experience in helicopter operations but a style of hospitality soperfect that even the ice-cream plates for the final supper were warmed. J- S.
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