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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0460.PDF
PLIGHT, 13 February 1959 231 Photographed last week at Hong Kong, in the shade of Lion Rock, and still bearing its B.O.A.C. name • Athena," is the Argonaut G-ALHT recently bought from the Corporation by Overseas Aviation of Jersey. It was on a charter flight from the U.K. AIR COMMERCE THE NEW YORK TRAGEDY A LOCKHEED Electra of American Airlines crashed intoNew York's East River at midnight on February 3 while attempting to land in fog and rain at La Guardia Airport. Of the73 people on board only eight were rescued alive. These included the co-pilot, who may be able to throw some light on thepuzzling circumstances of the accident. The Electra, which had inaugurated American Airlines' turbo-prop services only 11 days previously, was on a scheduled service from Chicago. Its flight was reportedly routine for two hours,but there seems to be some mysjery as to why its first contact with the La Guardia approach system came three-quarters of anhour after its La Guardia E.T.A. However, at 2354 New York time, the commander, Capt. Albert H. De Witt (who had flownwith American Airlines for 30 years) requested a clearance for an I.L.S. approach. Visibility was reported as two miles with aceiling of 300-400ft. Conditions were subsequently described by a C.A.B. official as "unpleasant though thoroughly safe." Theapproach was reportedly from the north east, which would sug- gest the use of the 5,000ft runway 04/22. This runway isreported to have no glide-path markers for approaches from the north east. It is apparent that the Electra undershot; the pointof impact in the East River was close to Rikers Island, which is to the right of the approach from the north east. BOEING 707 ESCAPE APAN AMERICAN Boeing 707 en route from Paris to NewYork on February 3 experienced what was described by a spokesman for the airline as a "near emergency." As a result, it isreported, of a fault in the automatic pilot, the aircraft—which was carrying 124 passengers—descended from 30,000ft to 6,000ft,experiencing "high-speed buffeting" causing "a small piece of non-structural material used for streamlining" to break away. The incident took place 500 miles east of Gander, whither theaircraft was subsequently flown manually. The passengers—none of whom suffered injury despite some negative g—were trans-ferred to another aircraft. There was no panic during the incident. Skyways and B.O.A.C. are here seen relax- ing for a few moments in the soft sunshine of the Bahamas. On the left is Mr. Eric Rylands of Skyways, on the right Sir George Cribbett of B.O.A.C. They were discussing Bahamas Airways, 80 per cent of which is now owned by Mr. Rylands and by Mr. David Brown, at whose Nassau home this picture was taken. B.O.A.C. were formerly sole owners of Bahamas Airways "Flight" photograph JAPAN'S NEW AIRLINER TN Tokyo last week Flight's representative heard about progress1 with the YS-11, the twin Rolls-Royce Dart RDa.lO-powered airliner first announced a year ago. A full scale mock-up hasbeen built at the Sugita (Yokohama) factory of the Nippon Hikoki K.K., at a cost of about £50,000. "Basic design work"has been completed, under a budget for 1958 of about £300,000. The YS-11, according to the Japanese journal Aireview, is thefinal type to come out of a design committee headed by Dr. Hidemasa Kimura, chief designer of the Yusoki SekkeiKenkyu Kyokai (Transport Aircraft Designing Research Association), which originally announced three versions. Athree-view drawing of the finalized YS-11 will appear in next week's issue. For twin-Dart power (the RDa.10 develops 2,655 e.h.p.) theYS-11 appears likely to be a formidable uplifter of payload: a seating capacity of 60-70 passengers is proposed. (The fuselagediameter is about 10ft.) It is, however, intended for very short ranges, its optimum design stage-length being quoted as 200-600miles. The designers of the YS-11 estimate a demand for 150 air-craft in the period 1960-1966, including an export market for 40. Financing of production will be shared by the government (tothe tune of about £2.5m) and private interests (about £0.75m) which will comprise a consortium known as The NipponRyokakuki Seizo Kaisha (Japan Air Transport Manufacturing Company). The firms participating will be: Mitsubishi HeavyIndustries, Kawasaki Aircraft, Fuji Heavy Industries, Nippon Hikoki (who have built the mock-up), Shin Meiwa Kogyo, andShowa Hikoki. No doubt this formidable combine—who are making an investment in the YS-11 averaging only £12,500apiece—will represent the renascent Japanese aircraft industry, which by the latter sixties could conceivably—if the vigour ofJapanese shipyards is a yardstick—become a strong govern- ment-supported challenger of the British aircraft industry. Thenew combine will be formed this year. The prospect of early orders for the YS-11 (which incidentallywill be the third foreign-built airliner to be Rolls-Royce Dart- powered) is suggested by an "unofficial" statement from theJapanese National Defence Agency to the effect that the aircraft is regarded as a possible C-46 replacement. The NDA has 36C-46s, of which only 15 are said to be serviceable. A recent request for a further 16 for 1959 delivery has been turned down. YS-11. Span, 105ft; length, 88ft; wing area, 1,022 sq ft;aspect ratio, 10.8; take-off weight, 49,600 lb. FOUR MEN IN A COCKPIT PANAM and the Air Line Pilots Association have at lastreached agreement on the vexed subject of pilot remunera- tion. Both sides appear to have compromised in order to settlethis nine-month dispute. A.L.P.A. have agreed that a senior captain flying a PanAm 707 or DC-8 will receive an annualsalary from $29,000 (£10,340). Maximum flying time under the contract will be 80 hr per month. The original PanAm offerstipulated $28,589 and 85 hr. According to the airline, A.L.P.A.'s original demand was for conditions that would bring a senior jetpilot's remuneration to $45,000 annually. The airline has gone much further towards satisfyingA.L.P.A.'s demands in regard to crewing arrangements: a third pilot will now be carried on all jet services, his nominal capacitybeing that of navigator. At one time A.L.P.A. had sought to displace flight engineers, their place being taken by pilotstrained (at PanAm expense) as qualified engineers. The airline pointed out that the flight engineers' contract was not due toexpire until June 1960. When the future of the flight engineers comes up for review PanAm will be in a stronger position toevaluate the technical considerations involved.
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