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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1863.PDF
48 FLIGHT, 21 August 1959 Straight and ve I DO yon recall that last week I men-tioned the problem of how tokeep up with one's aviation reading? Within a few hours of pub- lication I had a telephone call from Sir Harold Digit-Smith, president of Thinx Electronics Ltd., makers of the bril- liantly successful Meeting Simulator (this column, December 12, 1958). "We have just the thing for you, old boy," he told me in his imposing custom-styled office. "Not only for you, but for every aircraft industry executive who can't keep pace with his reading. It's called the Reading Simulator. We expect a huge market for it." He pressed a button, and upon the instant a panelled wall slid back to reveal a big black box covered with dials, switches and levers. To it were attached what appeared to be a cold compress and a green eyeshade. "Just shovel all your reading in here," explained Sir Harold, "and though you won't feel a thing all the contents of interest to you will be automatically and indelibly imprinted on your memory. Furthermore, the Reading Simulator puts marginal notes in your handwriting on every page of every document, just to impress people that you've read it, and it automatically crosses your mine off the office circulation list. Good, eh?" As it was just what I needed, I asked Sir Harold for further details. "Here's our sales brochure—'Let Thinx Speed Your Reading.' It is 200 pages long, and you simply must read every word of it." • Guaranteed genuine letter received in Flight's office last week in reply to our request for information about accessory exhibits at the forthcoming S.B.A.C. Display: — Dear Sirs, Thank you for your letter regardingthe S.B.A.C. Display and Exhibition. We regret that for a variety of reasons we areunable ro help you with material on this occasion. Yours faithfully. • One of the more unpleasant duties of an airline captain is to have to tell passengers, just when they are nicely settled for take-off, that they've all got to get out again. What particularly interested a col- league during a recent journey to the Far East, when there were two mechani- cal delays, was the captain's estimate of the length of the delay. On the first occasion he said: "I am sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but we have a small technical fault which will take about two hours to put right." In Forty years ago (see p. 59) passengers flew one- abreast. Now they fly six-abreast—even eight abreast in the Tu-114. Is this — extrapolating the trend—a glimpse of the future ? (Short's Type 210 R.A.F. Britan- nia seats awaiting des- patch from the factory) fact the repair took less than an hour. On the second occasion he again said he was sorry, but we had a technical fault which would take about 24 hours to put right. In fact the fault took three days to repair. Both apologies were made in a crisp"captain's-decision-is-final" voice. And that was that—back to the terminalagain, feeling rather cross. From these experiences it is possible to insert in the Captains' Passenger- Relations Manual the following clause: When a big fault arises, give passengers no estimate of the delay. When a small fault arises, over-estimate the delay so as to keep plenty of passenger-goodwill in hand. • What is the best way to record flight test results? In America magnetic tape techniques arc used, and the results fed into a computer. In this way their flight test departments can get about 3m readings from a two-hour flight. I should guess that this is slightly overdoing things. It would take 50 men three months to reduce that amount of data. Ninety per cent of it must remain on the tape. Vickers—who use photographic and Forthcoming Events August 24. Worshipful Company of Brochuremongers and Mock-up Makers: Annual Dinner, Buttonholers' Hall, London E.C., 7.30 p.m. August 25 Ministry of Planes: Presen- tation of the Silver Begging Bowl to Sir John Blackout-Jones, chairman. Super Scruggsdyne Grouponics Ltd., 11 a.m. August 26. Friends of the Turboprop League: Annual Jet Hating Champion- ships, London Airport, 10 a.m. August 27. British Air Power Club: Fred Joystick Memorial Lecture, "The Economics of Prestige," by Sir Charles Boost, 6.30 p.m. August 27. Society of Aeronautics: Film Show, "I Was A Teenage Airline Captain,"starring Chuck Thunderhead and Daphne Dormouse, 7.30 p.m. trace-recording techniques—probably get 30,000 readings from a two-hour Vanguard test flight. Yet the Vanguard will complete its trials in about the same elapsed time as the Electra, and prob- ably with fewer flight-test staff allo- cated to the project. Of course, mag. tape recording is extremely thorough. But the Vickers method seems to produce the result that really matters—an airworthiness certifi- cate in the same number of flying hours. • A table that appeared in Flight two years ago, on July 5, 1957, page 30, dis- played the published programme of each of the new American turbine air- liners—707, DC-8, 880, Electra—under the headings: Roll-out, First Flight, Start C.A.A. Tests, C.A.A. Certification, Delivery. If you care to check the record you will see that every one of the 20 target- dates under these headings has so far been achieved or bettered, by each type, with only two exceptions. The DC-8 was rolled out in April instead of February 1958, and it flew in May instead of March 1958. (Subsequently it has caught up, having been delivered on schedule.) The firms concerned have hit then-targets. I do not suggest that we marvel at this: after all, targets are there tobe met. What I think is impressive is that these targets have been met havingbeen put on view to the world. Are firms which do not do this (or who evasively quote schedules like "the latter half of 1960," as one did the other day) doubtful of their own capabilities? And if they are, will not their customers be doubtful, too? And will not the dates slip by—and with them the customers? • Rumours of another airline merger, this time between Plummet Air Lines and Frill Airways, were last week denied by a Plummet spokesman. "We are just good friends," he said. ROGER BACON
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