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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0422.PDF
424 FLIGHT Lockheed and Allison are sparing no effort to build up Electro engine flying hours. Here are (left) "Old 1961" —the Constellation prototype—with an Allison 501-D13 outboard and (below) the original Convair Turboliner of 1950, now flying with two 501s. CIVIL AVIATION . . . prudent course to take was to change all of the bolts in the flap-operating mechanism. B.E.A.'s fleet, seven of which had re- sumed service on the Monday following the accident, was againwithdrawn for inspection. In spite of this handicap, the Corpora- tion managed to keep services going with its new Viscount 802sand with Elizabethans and Pionairs. All but two international services and a few domestic flights were affected. Full service wasresumed last week-end, although modification of all 25 Viscount 701s had not been completed. Elsewhere in the Viscount world similar programmes of with-drawal and inspection were pursued: Following advice from Vickers, the flap-mechanism bolts were changed on all aircraftthat had made more than 1,500 landings. Capital s who withdrewtheir Viscounts on March 19, had 90 per cent of their 60-strong fleet back in service the following day (some of their aircraft are,of course, new). T.C.A.'s fleet was also progressively modified during the week,and in Australia the Viscount 756s of T.AA. and 747s of Butler were similarly treated. T.A.A. completed bolt-replacement worklast week-end, when spares for the last five of their fleet of 14 to be modified had been received from England. Air France withdrew their aircraft pending arrival of sparesfrom Vickers and they, too, hoped to have their 11-strong fleet back in service on Wednesday. Aer Lingus resumed full services lastFriday after similar action. A PLEA FOR FAIR FARES 'T'HE I.C.A.O. symposium on airports was addressed on March 14•*• by Mr. Frank Robertson, chief project designer to Short Bros, and Harland. In his paper, Design Trends for Civil TransportAircraft, Jie said there was one main goal for which everybody in the transport industry should work—cheaper world travel forpeople and goods. To illustrate his point Mr. Robertson outlined the characteristicsof three hypothetical short/medium-haul aircraft, each with a capacity payload of at least 20,000 lb and designed with minimumoperating cost as the only object in view; speed was allowed to come at whatever it would for minimum cost. The aircraft hechose were a turboprop, a subsonic turbojet and a supersonic turbojet. (Similar turboprop and subsonic turbojet designs wereanalysed by Mr. Robertson in his article The Medium Range Transport published in Flight of March 8.) Over 1,000 n.m., said Mr. Robertson, the supersonic aircraftwould take off at 216,000 lb gross weight and would carry 105 passengers at 750 kt at a direct operating cost of 3.09 pence perseat-mile. It would need 2,700 yd of runway (assuming jet reversal) and would have an approach speed of 150 kt. Obviously, he said,an expensive luxury—although sheer speed might make it worth- while for longer stages. The subsonic jet, weighing 105,000 lb, would carry 90 pas-sengers over a 1,000 n.m. stage at 510 kt at a direct operating cost of 1.67 pence per seat. The runway length would be 2,000 yd(assuming jet reversal) and approach speed would be about 130 kt. This, he said, looked interesting: the D.O.C. was a shade lowerthan that of the existing Viscount, but the larger percentage of fuel meant that the aircraft was more sensitive to load factor andworld oil prices. The third project, a turbojet, weighed only 97,000 lb but carried100 passengers over 1,000 n.m. at 390 kt at a D.O.C. of 1.2 pence per seat. At even a conservative estimate this would permit ahalfpenny per seat nautical mile to be taken off existing fares. An examination of these aircraft for shorter stages showed thatat 500 n.m. the 510 kt turbojet carried the same payload at the same operating cost as before, but if the fuselage was designed fora greater payload the economics over 1,000 n.m. would be a lot worse. The 100-passenger, 1,000-mile-stage turboprop, on theother hand, cruising at 390 kt, had a fuselage large enough to carry 120 passengers over 500 n.m. at a D.O.C. of 1.08 pence per seatnautical mile. Mr. Robertson concluded that it was a duty of the airlines toprovide fleets of turboprop aircraft operating at differential fares (with a modified international fare structure) if they were not to beaccused of protecting the "selfish interests of a privileged few and obstructing the forward march of world travel facilities." Theturboorop fleets could be backed up by fast, higher-priced jet travel for the man in a hurry. He next applied his minimum cost design technique to thelong-range transport, and once again he studied a turboprop, a subsonic turbojet and a supersonic turbojet. "The last," he said,"ran into a brick wall ... I found that I could just about fly the North Atlantic at 750-800 kt with a hundred or so passengers, butthe aircraft weighed 400,000 lb and needed over 4,000 yd of run- way. With the payload representing but six per cent of the all-upweight and the fuel 52 per cent, I only needed to be a bit out for the payload to be no more than a verbal message delivered a fewhundred miles short of Goose Bay." His subsonic turbojet "came out rather better" than the DC-8or 707, but the turboprop was "really thrilling"—160 passengers carried at 400 kt for a D.O.C. of 1.3 pence per seat nautical mileand needing only a 2,500 yd runway. A turboprop that was ordered now, he said, could carry five per cent more payload thanthe ultimate development of the turbojet, would require the same runway as the Britannia, and would operate at two-thirds of thelowest achievable turbojet cost. The primary objectives for people concerned with air transport,Mr. Robertson concluded, were: for the travelling public to agitate loud and long for cheaper fares and against lavish expendi-ture on runways longer than 3,200 yd; and for aircraft operators to provide greater regularity and frequency, to order aircraft withlower operating costs, and to see that fare differentials were agreed in I.A.T.A. Speeds should be increased only for the smallamount of high-priority traffic; never—unless reduced cost could be shown—for the bulk of traffic. THE MINISTER HITS BACK IN the House of Commons on March 18 the Minister of Trans-port and Civil Aviation, Mr. Harold Watkinson, answered the criticisms of the recent parliamentary select committee whichinquired into the running of Britain's airports. So long as he was responsible, he said, he would put safety above any financialconditions. "I must warn the House that there is a possibility of immense development... A bill of at least £4m will be necessaryin the reasonably near future to face the vast increase in traffic which we expect." The select committee's comments, he said, had got "a little offthe mark." He wanted to put the matter in perspective: a steady decrease in operating cost had been achieved, but this had beenmatched by a "very steep increase" in technical service costs. There had not been, he said, a single word in the Report about thetechnical aspects of aerodrome safety, and in that was to be found the complete answer to the "very considerable misunderstandings,which that Report has played some part in creating, about the finances of aerodrome operation." Nevertheless his Ministry differed from the select committeeonly in matters of interpretation. There would always be a race between trying to reduce operating costs and increasing technicalcosts, but he would try to make the loss as little as he could. MAGIC CARPET ON THE SCREEN FOR three weeks from April 4 there will be shown at theCarlton Theatre in London a new film sponsored by Air India International. Entitled The Magic Carpet, the film lasts for halfan hour and takes the passenger from London to Japan by way of Paris, Rome, Bombay and Bangkok in an Air-India Super-GConstellation. No doubt the intention of the film is to induce those who see itto follow the same route in the care of the same company; and in this it is sure to succeed. Filmed_ in colour, The Magic Carpet wasmade by Connaught Films and is distributed by Exclusive Films.
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