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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1515.PDF
630 FLIGHT In the news again: Comet 2 G-AMXD is seen returning to Hatfield last Friday on completion of supplementary tropical trials. CIVIL AVIATION . . . ^ missile test range at Woomera. The R.A.F.'s Comet 2s will have a full-category Certificate ofAirworthiness and will operate pressurized at the designed differ- ential of 8| lb/sq in. Fuselages have not been completely rebuiltto the new standards evolved for the Comet 4, and the life of the aircraft will therefore be limited. New fuselage panels incorpor-ating re-stressed windows of oval shape will, however, be incor- porated. The first Comet 2 to be so modified has beeninstalled in a pressure-tank rig at Hatfield, and the first flying example will be completed shortly. Deliveries to TransportCommand are expected to begin early in 1956. G-AMXD, the fourth of the 12 Comet 2s originally orderedby B.O.A.C., has not been modified, and will be retained as a test aircraft (as a precaution, the cabin is not pressurized beyondthe equivalent of 25,000ft, and the crews use oxygen masks at high altitude). Since, in January and February 1954, G-AMXAsatisfactorily completed tropical trials at Khartoum and Johannes- burg, the necessity for a second series of Comet 2 trials might bequeried. The explanation is that engine thrust and structure weight have both increased since the 1954 tests, and that theC. of A. programme demands precise measurement of the effect of these changes. As the shortness of G-AMXD's stay in Africa indicated, thesetrials are not necessarily lengthy or elaborate. They involved, in fact, about 20 hr of en route flying and 8 hr of tests, includingabout a dozen measured take-offs. Some of these were made at Khartoum, where temperatures of up to 87 deg F (ISA + 30)were encountered, and the others were at Entebbe, 3,760ft above sea level, where the effects of altitude as well as tempera-ture could be checked. As is generally appreciated, calibrated results of such trials arenot immediately available, being dependent on the analysis of automatic-observer records and other data. However, it is possiblefor the pilot to form a fair on-the-spot impression of whether the aircraft is performing to expectations. Mr. John Cunningham,who was in command, said that he was well satisfied with the behaviour of both the aircraft and its engines, Rolls-Royce AvonMk 117s. These give 7,300 lb s.t., compared with the 7,150 lb of the Avon 503 in the earlier Comet 2. A secondary object of the trials was to obtain data on theeffects of high and low fuel temperatures. Here again, the results An impression of the Convair 440 Metropolitan as it will appear in the colours of Sabena, who will take delivery of eight in the summer of 1956. Externally, it differs from the CV 340 in having a lengthened nose, with provision for storm-warning radar, and rectangular-section (instead of twin-pipe) augmentor exhausts. were satisfactory. The lowest fuel temperatures recorded at alti-tude were in the region of —4 deg F, well above the point at which waxing takes place, increasing to + 5 deg F or thereabouts onlanding. In normal practice, fuel temperature at touchdown would be higher, following a slower descent than is employedduring test flying. On most of its en route stages, the Comet reached a cruisingheight of about 40,000ft and a speed of 480-500 m.p.h., the exact values varying, of course, with temperature. On each stage,including the 2,170-mile Khartoum-Rome sector, it carried lead ballast bringing its total "payload" to just under 13,0001b, whichis the capacity figure for the Series 2. Mr. Cunningham's co-pilot was Peter Bugge; others aboard were E. Brackstone-Brown andR. V. Ablett (flight engineers), S. Borrie (performance), J. Marshall (instrumentation) and W. R. Hawkes (fuel), A. Howard(inspector), D. Murrin (A.R.B.) and E. Holley (Rolls-Royce). Now that tropical trials have been completed, the main partof the C. of A. trials still outstanding is the A.R.B.'s final assess- ment of handling characteristics. Other remaining duties forG-AMXD include autopilot trials and general development of the Avon 117 of the Comet 2. EASING THE TRAVELLER'S LOT ""FACILITATION"—the simplification of airport procedures-*- —is the subject of an I.C.A.O. meeting which opened at Manila on October 10th. Proposals put forward include less de-tailed passenger landing cards, elimination of written passenger baggage declarations, speeding-up of outbound baggage inspec-tions, elimination of passenger manifests, and the simplification of documentary requirements for the importation of goods. The British delegation, headed by the M.T.C.A.'s Mr. L. C.Nash, are suggesting the abolition of carnets and other forms of customs security for non-scheduled private and commercial air-craft on short visits to a foreign country; a reduction in the amount of information required to be given in applications forpermission to make non-scheduled traffic flights; and for a modi- fied form of customs documentation for the release of privategift packages, trade samples, etc., below a specified value. The delegation will also suggest the abolition of the requirement thatevery international aircraft should maintain a journey log book. A background note on the meeting observes tactfully that itis being held in the Far East "in order to stimulate interest in the subject of facilitation among the public authorities in thatregion." An I.A.T.A. paper presented to the conference points out that some Far Eastern countries impose documentary re-quirements considerably in excess of the standard practices laid down by I.C.A.O.—e.g., continued visa requirements for transitpassengers; requirements for manifests of transit passengers and cargo; excessive numbers of copies of manifests required byvarious authorities; unduly complicated passenger baggage de- clarations; and requirements that stamps must be purchased andaffixed to documents filled in by airlines and passengers. I.C.A.O. NAVIGATION CONFERENCE SOME of the conclusions of I.C.A.O.'s second Air NavigationConference, which was attended by representatives of 29 nations and five industrial organizations, have been summarizedby the Organization as follows. The conference ran in Montreal for four weeks, concluding on September 28th. Near-miss reports: The conference requested member-states toset up a system of reporting "near-misses" between aircraft in flight. The purpose of this is not to enforce existing rules of theair by taking disciplinary action against the pilots concerned but, by a systematic analysis of these near-misses and the determina-tion of their causes, to find a way of avoiding them in the future. Anti-collision lights: Flashing high-intensity lights, which con-siderably increase chances of recognition under night flying or dull-weather conditions, will shortly become mandatory forheavier aircraft in at least one I.C.A.O. member state. Research is now being carried on in this field, and the conference recom-mended that member states forward information to I.C.A.O. on the results of their trials and experiments.Night flying: The conference recommended that I.C.A.O. re- vise its international standards to prohibit all flights in controlledairspace between sunset and sunrise unless these flights are carried out under air traffic control from the ground. This would pre-vent any night flights being carried out under V.F.R. in controlled airspace unless specific permission is granted by the appropriateauthorities. Non-controlled flights: Because of the traffic complicationswhich result from aircraft flying V.F.R. in controlled airspace, the conference proposed an amendment to the internationalstandards on rules of the air which would bring under traffic control a number of flights now being made under V.F.R. Inaddition, it suggested a vigorous educational programme to per- suade pilots not to fly V.F.R. wherever there is doubt about thepracticability of completing the flight under V.F.R.; other sug- gestions included increasing when necessary the controlled
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