FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0930.PDF
30 CIVIL AVIATION . . . C.A.A. AND BRITANNIA'S UNDERCARRIAGET HE A.R.B.'s annual report (summarized on page 12) onlylightly hints at differences of outlook between the A.R.B. and the Civil Aeronautics Administration. Typical of these seems tobe the modification required by the C.A.A. to the main under- carriage gear of the Britannia 305s ordered by Northeast Airlines.The American publication, Aviation Daily, reports that the development of new and strengthened gear as required by theC.A.A. is taking slightly longer than expected, so that North- east's first Britannia—to be used for crew-training only—islikely to be delivered (around November 1) with the standard undercarriage. Two more Britannias would be delivered laterthat month with modified gears for passenger service. The American report states that Northeast had asked C.A.A.to allow Britannias to be used with the standard undercarriage for passenger-carrying duties for a short period, but permission hadbeen refused. The Britannia's undercarriage is, of course, the first bogie gearto have come up for C.A.A. approval, and it appears that the "differences" relate to the requirements for short-radius turns. RECORD MAY FOR B.E.A. THE two hundred millionth Viscount 700 passenger wascarried during May by B.E.A., who have achieved this figure in just over four years of operation. During that month alsoanother "important landmark" (as Lord Douglas puts it) was passed with the carriage, for the first time in B.E.A.'s history,of two-and-a-half million passengers within a year. Discussing the May results, Lord Douglas announces thatB.E.A. will operate all its Channel Islands services through Gat- wick as from April 1958, when the airport is due to be re-opened.The Corporation in the meantime looks forward to the opening of the new Air Terminal in Cromwell Road on October 6. AVRO'S JET PROJECT FOR B.E.A. Airworthiness certification of the AW.650 Freighter-Coach was the topic for discussion during a recent visit to Baginton by A.R.B. and C.A.A. officials. They are seen here with senior A.W.A. engineers. the functions of the airfield control tower, airfield approach, con-trol centre, and any number of flight information regions. He is a very busy man, as he monitors also all the aircraft's radio(duplicated V.H.F.s, M.F., H.F., I.L.S., D.M.E., and so on). The instructors can "fail" any facility to test emergency drills." A DETERMINED attempt to enter the civil airliner markets" A very high standard of operational efficiency can, and is, reached.•**• is referred to by Sir Roy Dobson, managing director of The workload applied is, of course, " .... A. V. Roe and Co., Ltd., in the current issue of Avro News.The company's projects design team has, he says, developed a design for a jet airliner to B.E.A.'s specification. It would bean aeroplane designed to cruise at 600 m.p.h. over ranges of up to 1,500 miles. "There are," he says, "other aircraft companiesin tnis design competition and we cannot afford to underestimate the opposition. It will be keen—very keen." Sir Roy expressesconfidence in the firm's ability and production facilities and the tremendous fund of research knowledge available to it. "Animportant fact to remember," say Sir Roy, "is that we are risking many millions of our own money in this venture, so it had betterbe successful.. .." WHISPERING SIMULATOR CO expensive has airborne training become that elaborate and^* expensive flight simulators quickly pay for themselves. A spate of orders for such units has been placed by airlines duringthe past year. B.O.A.C's simulator for the Britannia 102, manu- factured by Redifon, Ltd., of Crawley, is one of the most elabo-rate in use. Accommodated on the fourth floor of the B.O.A.C. building at London Airport, it provides a 30 hr introductorytraining course for new Britannia crews, and it is used also for refresher training. Flight examined it on a recent Sunday, thesimulator's day off. In the cockpit, an almost exact reproduction of the real thing,the pilot, co-pilot and engineer under training are super- vised by a pilot-instructor and an engineering-instruc-tor with extensive Britannia flight experience. Pilots are first given a spell in the separate one-man flight-trainer—a simplified device for instructing the pilot in his own particular task before subjecting him to thefull workload of Britannia operation. Aft of the cockpit of the simulator is a radio-aidscompartment controlled by an instructor who fulfils likely to exceed anything that :the crew will meet down the route (see Capt. Houston's account of Britannia training in our February 1 issue).The Britannia simulator is realistic enough for crews to forget that they are not airborne. The engine-sound is reproduced, thecontrol feel is representative, and the nosewheel rumbles during take-off and taxying. The simulator even smells like a Britannia, jTwo similar units have been ordered from Redifon by C.P.A.L. THOSE ELUSIVE TARGET-DATES NOTHING is more perishable than the testing and deliveryprogramme of a new aeroplane, and manufacturers have ' reason to be reticent about publishing target-dates. This seems ;a pity, because to put a target-date on view to the world is a stimulus towards achieving it. There are exceptions in the British industry. Mr. Peter Masefieldis on record as having said of Britannia production: "As long as you have a date on everything you know where you are going andcan take action before it is too late." The policy of the programme-conscious Americans is to publishall target-dates. These can be regarded with amusement, scepti- cism, or confidence, depending upon one's views: but they atleast convey a sense of purpose. The present target-dates for each major stage in the development of the Boeing 707, Convair 880,Douglas DC-8 and Lockheed Electra, as they stand today, are as follows: — Boeing 707-120 Convair 880 ... Douglas DC-8 Lockheed Electra Roll-out Oct. 1957 Nov. 1958 Feb. 1958 Dec 1,1957 Firstflight Dec. 1957 Jan.1959 Mar. 1958 Jan. 31, 1958 Start ofC.A.A. flight tests Feb. 1958 Aug. 1959 Feb. 1959 Apr. 1, 1959 C.A.A.Certifica- tion Dec. 1, 1958 May 1, 1960 Aug. 1959 Aug. 31, 1958 Firstdelivery Dec. 1958 Nov. 1959» June 1959* Oct. 1958 • Aircraft for crew training. This is the ex-Capital Viscount 745D which was re-registered G-APBH and used by Vickers tor a demonstration visit to the U.S.A. last month. As a result, strong interest appears to have /been shown by T.Y/.A. in the 15 ex-Capital off-the-shelf Viscounts.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
