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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 2278.PDF
FLIGHT, 11 September 1959 AIR COMMERCE ... AMBER ONE DECCA FOR a trial period of six months from September 1, as brieflyreported last week, a special Decca climb-out route from London Airport has been instituted in accordance with the U.K.policy on short-range navigational aids and the declared intention to introduce a Decca climb-out sector. Called Amber One Decca,the new route is 5 n.m. wide and lies parallel and to the west of Amber One leading from London to the north. It will be open tojet and turboprop airliners equipped with Decca Mk 10 and will be under direct radar surveillance from London radar and R.A.F.Hack Green, respectively from London to Daventry and thence to Preston.The object of the new climb-out route is to provide a discrete path on which closer separations can be applied between out-bound, climbing aircraft. The Mk 10 receivers will be tuned to English Chain No. 5 and chart Ref. JKJ is to be used. Verticallimits are 7,000ft to 20,000ft on the southern portion of the route and 11,000ft to 25,000ft on the northern section. Decca reportingpoints Oscar and Lima are designated, with Kilo and Echo on request. Aircraft will be flown along the centreline of the routewith longitudinal separations of 5 min and vertical separation of 1,000ft. Amber One Decca will operate from Mondays to Fridaysbetween 0800 hr and 2000 hr. It is significant that the M.T.C.A. has stated that introductionof this Decca route is a matter of policy. Others may well follow, particularly on airways leading to the continent. At the end ofthe trial period the route will be reviewed. If it proves successful and further routes are laid down, some economic incentive tonon-British airlines to adopt Decca could result. PanAm have already evaluated Dectra (and therefore also Decca) in a DC-7C,and it is reported that they are now to install Decca in a Boeing 707. Several major European carriers have made similar trialsand Aeroflot are preparing to try Decca in two Tu-104s. PILOT AGE IN THE JET AGE " l¥ safety were involved, we would be one of the first to support-•• it. But safety is not involved. It is strictly an industrial rela- tions problem." This extract from a letter sent to the presidentsof all American airlines by C. N. Sayen, president of A.L.P.A., summarizes that association's attitude in fiercely contesting a pro-posed new regulation by the F.A.A. This proposes that all pilots 233 should retire at 60, and pilots of 55 and over would be precludedfrom taking type ratings on jet aircraft even though they might attain all the recognized standards of competency and physicalfitness. A.L.P.A. also deplores the effect that publicity on this issue has had upon the general public by its implication that U.S.airlines are operating their aircraft with some pilots who are too old to perform safely. The A.L.P.A. case is that health and proficiency, not age, deter-mine whether a pilot can fly safely, and that the matter is already fully covered by current regulations, which (as under Britishregulations) require pilots to undergo a six-monthly medical examination, and six-monthly type checks on all aircraft whichthey are qualified to fly professionally as captains. A.L.P.A. recognizes the sincerity of the F.A.A. in wishing toprovide protection against "in-flight incapacitation," but points out that such incapacitation cannot be ruled out by either anage limit or the ordinary six-monthly medical examinations, because it is unpredictable and can and does affect ordinaryhealthy people of all ages. For a considerable time A.L.P.A. has been recommending the concept of the "fail-safe" crew againstsuch an eventuality. The "fail-safe" crew consists of a captain and co-pilot who are both fully qualified, and a third crew-membercapable of taking over in an emergency. F.A.A. regulations do not yet require co-pilots to hold type ratings on the aircraft they fly,although on June 26 this year notice was given of a proposed rule covering the subject. Meanwhile many U.S. airlines (in the faceof strike action) have exceeded the F.A.A. regulation and have ruled that the third member of a jet crew should be a pilot. The adoption of an age limit of 60 would constitute a hardshipfor those pilots whose only career is flying, and who have main- tained their health and competency accordingly. But the effectof excluding pilots of 55 from taking jet type-ratings will be even more severe, and A.L.P.A. would probably insist upon increasedsalary during the shorter working life of pilots approaching 55. All this would impose strains upon the whole airline industry,by depriving operators of fit and competent pilots with an excep- tional wealth of experience, and by throwing an extra financialburden upon the operators. A.L.P.A. produces much interesting evidence in support of itsprotests. Since 1946, according to the C.A.B.'s records, there have been only two fatal airliner accidents involving captain-pilots of50 or older. Of 27 accidents involving pilots of all ages, none has been attributed to the age or physical breakdown of the pilot.Finally, all who fly will be relieved to hear that no pilot over 55 has ever died in flight. HOW GROWS IT? THE graphs below have been prepared by Flight largely fromM.T.C.A. statistics. In the case of B.E.A. and B.O.A.C., the June and July 1959 figures have been supplied direct by the twoCorporations. The "U.K. total" graph is complete to May, the latest month for which M.T.C.A. statistics are available. Thegraphs show how traffic and load factors in 1959 have compared The favourable 1959 growth of British air transport as a whole, and of the two Corporations individually, is evident from these similarly scaled graphs SCHEDULED TRAFFIC JULY LOAD FACTOR 61-3 °/o (1959) 6<6% 0958) MAY JUN JUL AUG CALENDAR YEAR B£A SCHEDULED TRAFFIC (959C-—)V 1958 ( JULY LOAD FACTOR 69OD/o (1959) 62O°/o (1958) APR MAY JUN JUL AUG CALENDAR YEAR with those in 1958. The immediate impression is encouraging:total U.K. traffic up to May, excluding inclusive tours, has shown an overall 14.9 per cent gain on last year, and load factor has beenabout 57.8 per cent compared with about 56.3 per cent—1+ per- centage points up. B.E.A.'s performance has been particularly good. Their trafficto date has shown (up to July) an overall 23per cent gain on 1958, and the all-importantload factor has been about 65.7 per cent—no fewer than 1\ per- centage points up on1958, worth nearly £4m revenue. (Inde-pendent I.T. traffic is shown on the B.E.A.graph to permit assess- ment of that Corpora-tion's strong allegations of traffic diversion.) B.O.A.C.'s perform-ance has been less favourable: thoughoverall traffic gain to July was 11.5 per cent,overall load factor fell, by more than five per-centage points, to about 51.6 per cent—a shortfall in potential revenue of about £4jm.If B.O.A.C. do not achieve better loadfactors during the rest of 1959-60 they willend the year with a heavy loss, even assum-ing big cuts in costs. t
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