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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0985.PDF
FLIGHT, 20 July 1956 131 Day oft from Westminster: the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee called on Hand ley Page, Radlett, on July II. Subject for discussion here is the Herald—of which, incidentally, we shall be printing new details and a report of progress next week. CIVIL AVIATION I.C.A.O.'s TASK FORCE THE most significant resolution adopted by the I.C.A.O.•*- Assembly, which has been in session in Caracas since June 19 (there have been 250 delegates from 48 governments) was the pro-posal for an international "task force" to tackle the urgent problem of improving the world's air navigation facilities. As might beinferred, the proposal was moved by the U.S. delegate, General Wilson. Acting under the authority of I.C.A.O., the task forcewould be composed of six or seven experts, as yet unnamed, with a $100,000 budget and an "end-of-1957" target date for comple-tion of studies. A similar resolution, it is hoped, will be adopted to tackle theno-less-urgent matter of airports and runways. A data-gather- ing working group has been appointed by the I.C.A.O. technicalmission. There will, no doubt, be close liaison here—as well as in the above field of navigation requirements—with I.A.T.A.(which recently concluded its ninth Technical Conference at Cannes) to avoid duplication of effort in getting the necessaryrequirements formulated and implemented. An equally crucial problem before I.C.A.O. has been thequestion of financing improved technical facilities. The amount required in many cases is likely to be well beyond the means of thesmaller countries, and ways of expanding the I.C.A.O. joint- financing system are being considered. A PILOT'S POINT OF VIEW ""THE July issue of the Journal of the British Air Line Pilots'-•- Association The Log—a platform for the airing of pilot- opinion, mainly in matters affecting technical aspects of the profes-sion—contains an article by Captain Howard Fry of B.O.A.C. In it he criticizes the Corporation's equipment policy, apportion-ing some of the "blame" for the "muddle" to Sir Miles Thomas, the former chairman. Sir Miles, now chairman of Monsanto Chemicals, is reportedto have commented that, rather than reply, he preferred to let the financial results during his period of office tell the story. HOW TO RUN AN AIRLINE THE growth of airlines from "an airplane or two, a few•*• mechanics, a few pilots, and possibly a promoter and manager" to a complex structure of technical, operational and cost account-ancy departments has resulted in the inevitable specialization of airline employees. A new book* sets out to examine, stage by stage,the particular function of the individual department upon whose efficiency as a whole the commercial success of an operator willdepend, and to explain by definition and example the factors that constitute operational efficiency. This is a major task, even when the references are confined tooperations by American carriers, so that each of the sixteen chap- ters proceeds quite rapidly from an outline of a particular special-ized field to detailed figures of tables and worked examples. Occasionally condensing is carried to extremes: "theory of flight,"couched very much in layman's terms—"Many examples of this (lift) force exist, as in sticking a hand out of a moving car andwatching it go up when tilted or feeling a tug on a kite string"— might well have been omitted.Such condensing, useful for crammers, can be irritating; but in general a very even standard of presentation has been adopted.Through each chapter runs a cost-control thread (there is also a chapter on operating costs and revenues) constantly acting as areminder of the commercial necessity of improved passenger ser- vice, loading technique or meteorological study. In choice of subject matter the author has made few_ mistakes,and every aspect of technical management is covered in a quite comprehensive way. The many explanations given for the deter-mination of operating factors such as take-off weights, pay and fuel * "Technical Aspects of Air Transport Management," by R. Dixon Speas. McGraw-Hill Book Company. Price 64s. Major effort: It seems no time since we saw the first Viscount 800 Major as a wingless shell in the Vickers factory at Hum. Here it is as photographed last week, almost ready for flight trials. loads, fuelling stops, power settings or utilization, are backed upby a great many charts and figures illustrating actual operations. The final chapter provides an explanation of the functioning ofturbojet and turboprop engines, and deals (a little cautiously as perhaps is warranted) with the economic and operational impactthat modern gas turbine-powered aircraft will make upon air- lines attuned to the operation of piston aircraft. In providing a detailed picture of the technical aspects of air-line operations for the airline departmental specialist or for the lay- man with some knowledge of aircraft engineering, this book suc-ceeds very well, and could form a sound basis for further reading on the various aspects covered. A considerable number of illus-trations of aircraft and aircraft handling methods—some of which are already familiar—have been included, and an index and briefconversion table arc provided. MAINTAINING THE STANDARD T'HE proposal, shortly to be discussed by I.C.A.O., that the•*• system of issuing licences to aircraft maintenance engineers should be curtailed in favour of "approved organizations" hasevoked sharp protest from the International Federation of Air- line Pilots' Associations. The present licensing regulations areregarded by I.CA.O. as being inconsistent with the degree of specialization nowadays required. The pilot's objections, based on grounds of safety, are largelyconcerned with the loss of the personal responsibility that the holding of an engineer's licence involves. It is suggested that:"The engineer will eventually adopt the attitude that respon- sibility for his work rests with his employers. Furthermore,as time goes by, his employer will be more in a position to dictate what he must do in relation to servicing of aircraft . . . whereasunder the present system he may refuse to certify work if he believes this work to fall below acceptable standards." It is recognized, of course, that "approved organizations"already exist—the aircraft manufacturers for example—though these are cited as a special case: "The aircraft factory is a closelyknit organization with a staff stably domiciled. [A reference to the high changeover rate of engineers at airline outstations.] . . .A further difference between the position of the aircraft manu- facturer and that of the operator is that the former has hisreputation directly at stake; if he sells a faulty product to the operator it is highly likely that the mistake will be discoveredand its rectification charged directly to him. There is thus a safeguard against inferior products by means of a self-correctingeconomic relationship. In the case of the operator . . . the simple laws of contract do not afford the same guarantee of standards. Inso far as the operator is selling anything it is 'safety' but, even here, he is selling it to a largely inexpert clientele whose judgment willtake time to mature." The Federation will be able to place their objections before theI.C.A.O. Third Air Navigation Conference in October. Mean- while, proposals for an alternative scheme are being discussed.
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