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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 0728.PDF
FLIGHT, 13 March 1959 ' /' About to embark on an "extensive demonstration tour" of India and other Asian countries, as reported last week, is the second Handley Page Dart Herald, G-AODF. The possibility of a large Indian order for this class of aircraft, reported some months ago, is no doubt the primary object of the first tour AIR COMMERCE 363 MANHATTAN ROTODYNES ON March 5 it was announced that New York Airways hadordered five Fairey Rotodynes (Rolls-Royce' Tynes) for delivery in the early spring of 1964, with an option on a further 15.This order is understood to have been backed by the routine deposit. Selection by N.Y.A. of the Rotodyne will probably do for thisaircraft what T.C.A.'s order did for the Viscount. It has been common knowledge for a long time that N.Y.A. were interestedin the Rotodyne (the "dual-thruster," as they call it). The words of the president, Mr. Robert Cummings—recorded on page 337of this issue—were spoken on September 26, 1956; since that date, and since Flight visited the airline (issue of January 18, 1957),N.Y.A. have matured to the point where they are, without doubt, the world's most experienced helicopter operator. They carry4,000 passengers a month, mainly on shuttle services between the four New York airports. About 90 per cent of their passengersconnect with an airline. A private concern, N.Y.A.—like other U.S. helicopter airlines—are heavily subsidized by the Post Office and the Federal Government (to the tune of about three-quarters of their operatingexpenses). They began scheduled passenger operations in July 1953, graduating in 1954 to S-55s (five seats) and in 1957 toS-58s (12 seats). In 1958—still pending the arrival of the two- engined helicopter—they converted to the twin-rotor Vertol 44.Steadily they have reduced their direct operating costs down to a level of about 20-25 cents per seat-mile. The Rotodyne, they reckon, will cut seat-mile d.o.c. to less than4 cents per seat-mile. Then will N.Y.A.'s goal—non-subsidized operation at fares below buses and trains—be in sight. An interim twin-turbine, 20-passenger helicopter—possibly theVertol 107 or the S-61, perhaps the Bristol 192—will probably be acquired to get costs down to around the 12 cent level in themeantime. The N.Y.A. order caused a mild flurry about B.E.A.'s Rotodyneintentions. The situation is that Fairey require £8m to £10m to develop the Tyne-powered Rotodyne. The Government saythat they will contribute, subject to a levy on sales, half the remaining development cost, up to a fixed maximum. Thiscontribution, said Mr. Aubrey Jones, Minister of Supply, last week, "is conditional on a B.E.A. order." Whether or not the Government's condition is met by N.Y.A.'sorder instead of by an order from B.E.A. (who have given Fairey a letter of intent for five) remains to be seen.The following is a summary of the salient facts about the N.Y.A.'s Rotodyne order: (1) The first Rotodyne "Mk 2" will flyin the autumn of 1961. (2) The aircraft will be built by Fairey in the U.K. though Kaman, who hold the manufacturing licencein the U.S.A., "have been closely concerned in the negotiations with N.Y.A." (3) Cost per aircraft will be about £im. (4) N.Y.A.consider noise-level acceptable. B.O.A.CS EFFICIENCYT HIS week the front-page headlined story of the SundayExpress was: "B.O.A.C. SENSATION—REPORT SHOWS MUDDLE AND WASTE." The story was based on "a secret report beforeB.O.A.C. chiefs this week-end." According to the newspaper, the B.O.A.C. efficiency report(which has never been published) included the following items: — (1) B.O.A.C.'s 1958-59 loss will be £4m-plus. (2) The airlines withwhom comparisons were drawn were K.L.M., Pan American and United. (3) B.O.A.C.'s effective week is 37i hr v. 40 in the U.S. and 48 forK.L.M. (4) B.O.A.C. have three times as many staff per aircraft on maintenance compared with the average of the others. (5) B.O.A.C.stores staff is about eight times the average of the others. (6) Adminis- trative staff is three times as great. (7) B.O.A.C. has 20 times moreinspectors per aircraft than K.L.M., ten times more than PanAm and four times more than U.A.L. (8) B.O.A.C.'s design office, employing141 people, has no counterpart in the other companies. (9) B.O.A.C. has to consult with more union panels and shop stewards than any otherairline: there are 17 unions compared with a maximum of three in the other airlines. And foreign inspectors would work as mechanics insteadof standing idle when their duties were completed. (10) B.O.A.C. spares at L.A.P. could be reduced by £ m. When B.O.A.C. were asked whether the report referred to wasnone other than the celebrated B.O.A.C. internal efficiency inves- tigation of a year ago, a spokesman replied in the affirmative. To those who respect the news-consciousness of the SundayExpress this seemed puzzling, doubly so in view of the fact that the Sunday Express was the first newspaper to break the story ofthe B.O.A.C. efficiency report—in its April 13, 1958, issue ("B.O.A.C. Will Sack 3,000"). Why should the newspaper head-line a news-story that it had headlined almost a year ago? The following evidence from the B.O.A.C. strike inquiry (sum-marized in Flight, November 14, 1958) deepens the mystery. Mr. Jim Matthews, for the trades union side of the N.J.C., saidin evidence that the Sunday Express had carried information [in its issue of April 13, 1958] that the Corporation was about todeclare 3,000 men redundant. "No one on the works side knew anything about the engineering committee's report," he said, andit had therefore been assumed that the information could have come only from someone in possession of the report, "and thatwas the management." Obviously the Sunday Express was under no delusions that itsstory last Sunday was about a report that was not new. What was new was the date—Thursday, March 19—given for the meetingwith the unions at which B.O.A.C.'s management will put forward plans for reorganization. According to the Daily Express lastMonday: "Some sackings at London Airport now seem inevitable." It was no doubt with this meeting in mind that B.O.A.C.'smanaging director, Mr. Basil Smallpeice, wrote a letter to the staff last week containing the following remarks: — "Over the years a shop stewards' committee has come into existence.There is, of course, nothing to prevent persons who are shop stewards is is the 54-seat layout of the lengthened-fuselage layout of the Fairey Rotodyne with R.-R. Tynes—the version which New York Airways ' (see Col. 1) have just ordered. Max. seating is 65; max. weight, SOfiOO Ib; rotor diameter, 104ft; length, 64ft 6in
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