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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0139.PDF
FLIGHT, 29 January 1960 139 SYSTEM SURVEY Weather Radar is Compulsory THE American Federal Aviation Agency proposed last July tomake weather radar in working order mandatory on all passenger- carrying American transport aircraft within six months. Immedi-ate strong protests followed from ATA, particularly concerning the short time allowed for installation and the doubtful usefulnessof the equipment because some types of dangerous weather con- ditions could not be detected by such radar. Hawaii and Alaskawere noted to be very little affected by thunderstorm weather and operators complained of the great financial burden involved, bothin procuring and installing the equipment. The result has been a considerably modified regulation whichstates that all pure jet and turboprop airliners used in passenger services are to be fitted with weather radar by July 1 this year.Douglas DC-6 and 7 and Lockheed 1049 and 1649 Constella- tions must be equipped by January 1, 1961. All other affectedtransport category aircraft must be fitted by January 1, 1962. The rule does not apply to the Curtiss C-46, which was clearedfor civil operation under different rules, or to the DC-3 and Lock- heed Lodestar. Neither will it greatly affect the new jet andturboprop transports in which provision for radar is made as a matter of course and most of which are already so equipped. Air-craft operated solely in Alaska or Hawaii are exempted because dangerous weather detectable by radar rarely occurs in these areas.Helicopters are at present excluded, as well as aircraft used for cargo, testing, training or ferry flights. Operators must submit to the FAA a schedule for the installa-tion of weather radar so arranged that at least 40 per cent of the installations shall be complete a given number of monthsbefore the final date. They must also give notice of any aircraft which will no longer be used for passenger transport after thefinal date. From March 31 this year, no aircraft fitted with weather radarmust be dispatched under IFR or night VFR conditions when weather reports indicate a likelihood of dangerous weather unlessthe radar equipment is in working order. If the radar fails during a flight in such conditions the aircraft must be flown in accordancewith operating manual instructions for such a contingency; and the operating manuals must be modified and approved by FAAto cover this case. A technical service order was issued last December 1 givingnew minimum performance standards for weather radar. Any equipment aoproved before that date will be acceptable for opera-tion under the new order. This new group of regulations is another example of the FAA'spurposeful approach to air safety. Although it has shown con- siderable regard for operators' objections to the original wording,the main objective seems to have been achieved. Statistics had shown that a significant number of accidents could have beenavoided if weather radar had been working. All United Airlines aircraft have for some time been equipped with weather radarand the airline claim they have suffered virtually no damage from such weather since then. The measure of the financial burdenimposed on airlines, and particularly its effect on the smaller operators, has yet to be seen. Radar Recording THE A.E.I. Electronic Apparatus Division is producing radarrecording and play-back equipment applicable to training or research in traffic control. The equipment may be used to recorda sequence of actual traffic movement which can then be played back to analyse the traffic flow around an airport. If required,synthetic targets may then be introduced in order to try out alternative control methods and situations. The tape remains asa permanent record; and the related R/T conversations may also be recorded on another unit housed within the equipment. Conversely, an unlimited number of synthetic targets can berecorded and superimposed on a raw radar picture for future study. The infinite number of targets can be achieved by record-ing, say, 12 simulated targets and then turnirsg back the recorder and repeating the process until the required number of targetshas been obtained. Raw radar may first be recorded to form a background for the simulated targets. Characteristic presenta-tions at specific sites can be recorded with a mobile equipment and taken back to headquarters for detailed study so that bothinvestigation and training can be carried out at a central location. Another Doppler Order THE South American airline VARIG have ordered a number ofCMA-623 Doppler radars from the Canadian Marconi Co. The equipment, which will be in Arinc form, is to be installed in theBoeing 707s which VARIG will put into service during the summer. The CMA-623 has already completed more than 2,000hrflying in Boeing 707s. particularly with Qantas and PanAm, and its good performance in service was reported on January 15. Decco Radar Training A RADAR training school is to be established by Decca Radar Ltdat their recently acquired site at Cowes Airport, Isle of Wight. This is in addition to the manufacturing organization for whichdie company originally bought the airfield. The school, to be completed inthe spring, will provide technical radar training forthe engineering personnel of those overseas governments and authorities who are installing major civil and military radarsystems manufactured by Decca. Comprehensive courses lasting eight to ten months will be given, as well as shorter courses o?about six weeks for service engineers. The company already oper- ates a technical training unit at its service headquarters in Londonand a separate marine operational school at Blackfriars Pier on the Thames. The new school is being built to meet the heavydemand for training facilities following recent increased sales of large radar systems overseas. W.S. Electronics Orders A swiss order worth about lm Swiss francs has been placed forairborne VHF communications transmitter/receivers with W.S. Electronics Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of K.G. (Holdings)Ltd. Pilot orders have been received from Italy and France. An unnamed British aircraft company has placed a £40,000order for the W.S. Electronics VHF telemetry transmitters which were first exhibited during the SBAC display last year. Theequipment transmits 12 separate channels of intelligence on a single frequency. Above and below are the control panel and indicator of the latest version of the Computing Devices of Canada Position and Homing Indicator which is to be fitted in German and Canadian F-104s and many of the Fiat G.97 versions. The package of push-button-selected destinations can be set up before flight and plugged in by the pilot. He can carry several packages to cover a greater number of destina- tions or reference points. Details of the various installations were given on this page in our issue of November 13 last i
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