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Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0018.PDF
18 \FL 195 H^ — Arrival scene at Lod Airport, Tel-Aviv, on December 20. Being interviewed on the right are, from ItH Ut right. Brig.-Gen. E Ben-Arzi El Al's managing director; Capt. Z. Tohar. chief pilot and captain tor the record flight; and Mr. Yoel Palgi, deputy managing director. 6,000 MILES IN AN EL AL BRITANNIA (continued from page 15) fares between Tel-Aviv and Europe, nor were they prepared tomeet the time-consuming expense of a change to thrift seating and amenities at their European terminals. In other words, El Alwanted to offer thrift fares right through to Tel-Aviv. But I.A.T.A. resisted this as discriminating against the other MiddleEast carriers. El Al sought to offer tourist accommodation at thrift fares, their justification for this argument being that, aloneamong Atlantic operators, their tourist layout had six-abreast seats. They argued in terms of passenger volume, rather thanT.34 passenger pitch, which they maintained does not fully define passenger comfort, since this depends on the design of the seat.In the end El Al won their point. They would offer tourist accommodation for thrift fares—and Britannia travel for goodmeasure. My guess is that they will have a decisive competitive advantage. As generally agreed, free sandwiches and non-alcoholic drinks will be served to thrift-class travellers. Mr. Palgi explained El Al's choice of American Hardman six-abreast tourist seats rather than British types. It was their conclusion that Hardman offered the most comfortable tripletovttUt ch>ii'- It cost "quite a lot of dollars," and it was heavier. He reckoned that the total weight penalty of installing Americanchairs ir the Britannias amounted to 600 lb, but that this was worth it "for the remarkable difference in tourist-class comfort."I must say I had flown tourist by El Al Britannia to New York without complaint—an Hi hi trip of which seven were spentsleeping without a stir. There are 12 tourist rows in all, set at 36in pitch on standard-track rails. Some chairs arc upholsteredin turquoise, others in grey with turquoise arms. The deep-pile aisle carpet is mushroom, the cabin walls are grey, and the linenwindow-curtains are patterned in greens and yellows. The general effect is most pleasant, though, with great respectfor El Al's taste, it was my personal opinion that the brown "wood-veneer" bulkheads didn't quite strike the right note. Theypresent a real opportunity for what the Americans are calling jet-age decor, and providing an effect can be achieved which doesnot make the cabin too "busy," and which is serviceable, con- temporary styling of the bulkheads would probably make all thedifference to El Al's Britannias. El Al have not yet finalized their first-class configuration,pending discussions with the A.R.B. about the quick-release mechanism of the two emergency exit doors at the extreme aftend. This is one of those matters which can, if the authorities insist that chairs must not be in front of exit doors (as they are infront of window exits), mean loss of revenue—and four first-class passengers without sleeping berths or sleeperette-type chairs. I was particularly interested to learn how El Al had organizedthemselves for the introduction of their new aeroplane. This is a problem which many airlines are now having to tackle. El Alhad to decide whether to create a new Britannia group, or to adapt their existing departments to handle Britannia development.They finally compromised, forming in September 1956 a "planning and development group" (under J. E. D. Williams) tohandle operations and performance, adapting existing departments to handle cemparatively straightforward matters such as trainingand spares. Though shortage of manpower is El Al's big problem (payroll is 1,300) this has its own advantages—the most importantbeing "speed of communication." Major problems can be settled quickly without resort to ponderous administrative machinery:in the event, El Al's compromise has worked. Gradually, the planning and development group will be allowed to drift backinto the existing administrative system. I asked Capt. Tohar about training. I gathered that everypilot has about 160 Britannia hours before he carries passengers— 15 hr conversion-flying and 30 hr flight familiarization atTel-Aviv, followed by 75 hr of route-proving and a final 30 hr :of check-flying. Expense of the first two items would have been cut had El Al had the Redifon Britannia simulator, but this isnot due for delivery until June. Three captains were trained at Bristol, including Capt. Tom Jones, the British flight superin-tendent. Of El Al's 16 captains, all are Israeli except for three Americans and Capt. Tom Jones. (The airline has no particularpolicy about the nationality of its staff.) About 120 Israeli engineers have taken aircraft or engine courses (or both) at theBristol school, or at the new El Al school—"of which we are very proud"—at Tel-Aviv. The number of Bristol-trained instructorsat the airline's school has varied between five and ten. I paid a last visit to the flight deck just before the descent. Someof the crew had, I believe, been on continuous duty for 36 hours, but their jubilation was unconcealed. In progress, in fact, wasa light-hearted dispute in Hebrew about the ownership of a banana. Incidentally, there had been no snags. We had mack it, with 4,500 lb fuel reserves intact—sufficientfor another hour and ten minutes cruising. We had flown a distance of 6,100 miles in 14 hr 57 min, at an average speed of408 m.p.h. (of which about 50 m.p.h. was tailwind). At Lod Airport, as we taxied up to the wailing crowds, the floodlightsand the cameras, I heard someone remark that El Al had done well for the Britannia. RETURN OF B.M.W. 'X'HE Bayerische Motorenwerke in Miinchen-Allach, whose•*• B.M.W. engines powered many German aircraft in the Second World War, announced on December 18 that it hadGovernment permission to build all types of aircraft engines again. At present the company's engine division has DefenceMinistry contracts for maintaining foreign engines and construct- ing them under licence. M. ROBERT ESNAULT-PELTERIE TT is with regret we record that M. Robert Esnault-Pelterie,••• whose pioneer work and inventiveness had made him one of the outstanding figures in French aviation, died at Nice onDecember 6 at the age of 78. He learned to fly in 1906, having two years earlier built aglider; and in 1907 he won the Grand Prix de la Societe des Ingenieurs Civils for constructing an aircraft which was revolu-tionary in three aspects—a monoplane, with a radial engine mounted in the front. Among other pioneer achievements by M. Esnault-Pelterie werehis design of the first oleo-type undercarriage and the "stick" type of control column; setting-up in 1908 of the first aircraftfactory and his interest in astronautics from as early as 1913. He was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences in 1936and in recent years had lived in Switzerland. By sad chance, his death occurred before an exhibition at Le Bourget commemorat-ing the fiftieth anniversary of the achievements of 1907. E.P.9 FOR AFRICA T~)ELIVERY flight of the first Edgar Percival EP.9 to be supplied••-' to Africa is being made by Beverley Snook. The aircraft, registered ZS-CHZ, was leaving Stapleford just after Christmas,and is being flown to Durban by way of Lyons, Marseilles, Cagliari, Tripoli, Marble Arch, Benghazi, Tobruk, Mersa Matruh, Cairo,Luxor, Wadi Halfar, Atbara, Khartoum, Malakal, Juba, Kisumu, Nairobi, Tabora, Mbeya, Kasana, Ndola, Salisbury, Bulawayo,Pietersburg and Johannesburg. Purchasers of the machine are Lush Products (Pty.), Ltd., a crop-spraying and top-dressing com-pany based at Durban. Demonstration flights are being made at various aerodromes.en route. The aircraft is fitted with combined spraying and top- dressing equipment, and also with passenger seats.
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