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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1518.PDF
29 May 1959 735 Our flight to Moscow made it clear that, for B.E.A. crewssteeped in Western procedures, three basic operational differences exist: (1) Airways are compulsory corridors; (2) height separationsare not prescribed according to the familiar quadrantal rule; and (3) let-down procedures—and at the moment I.L.S. equipment—are different. Corridors. The corridors shown on the map are 20 km wideand are located by powerful NDBs and, at en route control points, by VHF/DF fixer services. The difference in meaning between"corridor" and "airway" is important: the corridors to and from Moscow, and those to the alternates, are absolutely compulsory.There are no advisory routes as we know them: "controlled airspace" in Russia really is controlled airspace, and it seemsreasonable to suppose that—as is the eventual aim in respect of U.K. airways—comprehensive radar surveillance is in force. The initial report of one's intention to enter Russian airspace—namely, the boundary of the Riga Flight Information Region, which extends to a line about 12 km west of Ventspils—has to begiven 100-150 km away. The procedure is to call up Riga FIC (Russian abbreviation is RDS, meaning regional control service),reporting one's registration, height, speed, course, and E.T.A. over the next reporting point in Moscow time, i.e., G.M.T. + 3. Thusthe rule about not communicating with one F.I.R. whilst in con- tact with another does not hold good when about to enter Russianairspace. Constant radio communication with Riga must then be maintained—i.e., the crew must listen out all the time. The sameprocedure holds good when, with the call-sign "Dunay," you call up Moscow on entering the F.I.R. east of Velikiye Luki. In the corridors the primary aids to navigation are the veryhigh-powered NDB route beacons, the majority of which are MF (though some, we noted, are of higher frequency than the300-500 kc/s of the western MF band—one being as high as 1,005 kc/s). The next NDB always comes in loud and clearbefore the last one fades. (Distances between beacons, which are said to have a minimum range of abour 100 n.m. at Viscount height,are shown on the map.) A useful belt-and-braces track-guide is provided by the Swedish Decca chain, which on our flight wasstill being received on the log over Moscow—albeit on a blank chart. One of the first things we heard after our arrival was thatAeroflot are likely to buy Decca—so that, as a picture on the next page suggests, charts for the Moscow region may not be blank forlong. Moscow-Vnukovo terminal-area patterns require inbound flights(see map) to steer for Klementyevo NDB at prescribed altitudes varying from 4-8,000ft. Thence to Ivanovskaye NDB, finallyturning on to the duty-runway locator at Vnukovo. Outbound procedures are via Opalikha NDB and away westbound throughthe beacons at Ivanovskaye and Ostashevo. Height Separations. The Russians do not fly according tothe quadrantal height rules in force in the West. Their system, to give it their title, is the "semi-circular cruising-level system,"and it is simply illustrated thus: — m6OO 1 2OO18OO 24OO3OOO 36OO42OO 48OO5 4OO 6OOOBOOO 1OOOO12OOO 14000 9OO15OO 21 OO27OO 33OO39OO 45OO51 OO 57OO7OOO 9OOO11 OOO 13OOO 15OOO 180 These height rules are simple and logical enough. The problemis that they offer a limited choice of cruising height, which can be important to the economy of B.E.A.'s operations. As thediagram shows, separations eastbound are 600 m up to 6,000 m (19,685ft), thereafter being no less than 2,000 m (6,560ft) at atime. The Viscount 806, which has a typical average cruising height of about 22,000ft (say 6,700 m) can in fact select nothingbetween 6,000 m and 8,000 m—i.e., it is either 19,600ft or 26,200ft. Inauguration of B.E.A.'s new service—on Thursday, May 14, 1959 We selected the latter height, as will most B.E.A. flights, as beingthe "more optimum" of die two available. On the warmer days 26,200ft may not be possible—with consequent limitations ofpayload in order to maintain the diversion-reserves. Only in low outside-air temperatures of the winter, and at relatively lightcruising weights, will it be possible to ascend to the 10,000 m (32,800ft) level. This is unlikely—though it was done, to themomentary incredulity of the Russian A.T.C. service, on a proving flight early in 1958. The standard altimeter setting for flights over Russia is based op760 mm of mercury, corresponding with our 1013.2 mb. For alti- meter settings for landing the Russians use QFE and not QNH.Their Q-code, incidentally, corresponds exactly with ours. ZONE1 OUTER MARKER ZONE 3 OUTER MARKER ZONE 3 INNER MARKER-1 RUNWAY O16/196 6 56O ft x i6Oft RUNWAY O62/242 9,84Oft « 26OU /[ ZONE 2 /9-INNER MARKER ZONE Z<HDUTER MARKER Vnukovo's let-down I HOLDING pattern is practically ZONE 2 standard throughout Russia. The holding zones are a variation of the racetrack pattern Let-down Procedures. Holding, approach and landing pro-cedures in Russia conform to a standard pattern—so far as we were able to ascertain—at all civil airfields. They call it the"square beacon landing system" and, as the diagram of the Vnukovo pattern shows, there is a holding zone (actually rectangu-lar rather than square) for each runway. This rectangle is based on the outer NDB of two runway markers; you turn on this, withthe long legs parallel to the runway, until the time comes to make
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