FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0304.PDF
304 FLIGHT, 4 March I960 Trek operate two sparklingjy clean DC-4s which had for- merly flown for eleven yea?s with Northwest Airlines. Their history was noted in "Flight" for August 14,1959 The Price Pioneers . . . and who are returning to visit their fatherland. A final importantcharacteristic of the traffic is that well over 90 per cent of the passengers are flying for the first time. Although an outsider would be tempted to believe that thisairline's long waiting lists are the result of low fares, the com- pany's own investigations have shown that a surprisingly largeproportion of people—perhaps as much as 50 per cent—are attracted primarily by the type of service offered. The mostcharacteristic feature of this service is the night-stopping, in each case at places which have considerable touristic value. Flightspassing through East Africa have night-stops at Entebbe, Cairo, and—as alternate points in Europe—Malta, Zurich or Vienna.On the West African route, overnight stops are effected at Leopoldville, Kano, and Palma, Majorca. All services originate at Jan Smuts and terminate at Dusseldorfor, less frequently, Luxembourg. Each round flight is pro- grammed to take nine days; although this gives the aircrafta fairly lazy time, a faster schedule would either require a slip crew to be placed along the line or a third pilot to be carried onboard. In any case there are two further reasons why a more strenuous schedule should be avoided. The first is that a littleelasticity in the system is a good thing when one is operating five 12,000-mile flights a month with two aircraft. But mostimportant of all is the passengers' decided preference for leisurely travel. Although there are only a few hours available at eachnight-stop for sight-seeing, each of these hours is precious when it can be spent at interesting places which may never be visitedagain. Also, accommodation is provided at the very best hotels —the Phoenicia at Malta, the Bahia Palace at Palma, and theNile Hilton at Cairo for instance. To many tourists a short sojourn at such hostelries is itself of real value. Passengers also enjoy the excellent in-flight service offered.Unlike many so-called "coach" services, Trek aircraft are fitted with fully reclining seats—"fully" in this case being completelyjustified for the seats can be lowered to a nearly horizontal position. Equally important, there is none of this 34in nonsenseabout seat pitch: on these aircraft there is a generous 40in between each row of seatSj a pitch equivalent to most first-Glassservices. Neither is there anything coach-class about the catering, for first-class meals are the order of the day. In addition to these purely material considerations, there isanother ingredient of Trek service which has made the airline many friends: they really succeed in striking a human note.When things go wrong—as inevitably they must on occasion— the captain or senior stewardess will take passengers completelyinto the airline's confidence. At the other extreme, such occasions as crossing the equator are taken as an opportunityfor some harmless horse-play. But some of the tricks which the crew keep up their sleeves to brighten the journey for passengersare so novel that to describe them in the pages of Flight would be like deliberately infringing the patent law. There is no doubt thata conscious effort to create a friendly atmosphere on board can be very successful—and the measure of success is the number ofpeople who by the end of the 3J-day journey find themselves sitting in seats other than those in which their journey began. To the hardened air traveller, accustomed to selecting onlythe latest types of aircraft, the DC-4 might seem an uncomfortable proposition. Yet the writer must honestly record that Viscounttravel in South Africa and in Europe, in each case after some 30hr in the DC-4, proved only slightly better in terms of vibrationand, curiously enough, slightly inferior in terms of cabin noise. Of course, the main objection usually levelled at non-pressurizedaircraft is inability to over-fly rough weather. This is a weakness which cannot be denied: flying conditions over the Sahara inthe northern summer and over the Rhodesias about Christmas time can bs pretty turbulent. It is possible, however, to alleviatethis difficulty or avoid it altogether by starting early in the morning and thus completing the day's flying before bumpiness sets in; bythrottling well back whenever conditions get rough; and by being prepared to make considerable detours to dodge any troublespots. But there is another side to this particular coin: by flyingrelatively low one is certainly given a view of the countryside which is denied to the person" travelling at 20,000ft-plus. Flyingthis way, the world below is not a cloud-specked grey-green carpet but a place of infinite interest and variety. The experienceof seeing with one's own eyes the variation of landscape which lies between Windhoek, Kano and the Mediterranean—evenwithin the barren confines of the Sahara Desert—is something of rare value. On the East Coast route, the Nile temples, nativevillages, and the occasional herd of elephant are all things which more than compensate for the occasional threat of turbulence. Asand when Trek replace their DC-4s with more modern aircraft it will not be through a desire to fly their passengers higher butrather to permit night-stops to be reached earlier by dint of greater speed. Perhaps it should be added that the company's two aircraftare no ordinary DC-4s. In the first place, these machines are unusual in than they are not converted C-54s but are among Entertaining the children the few that were built immediately after the war specificallyas civil airliners. Secondly, they were finished to the specifica- tions of one of the world's most selective airlines—NorthwestOrient. And after ten years with this carrier they probably emerged as about the best maintained of any DC-4s anywhere.Thirdly, they were built for long-distance, overwater operations; instead of the normal tankage of 3,000gal they take 3,600gal.This allows the avoidance of costly, and sometimes uncomfort- able, landings for refuelling. And finally, Trek have main-tained the aircraft in immaculate condition since they took them over. This attention is superficially apparent from theoutside appearance of each of these aircraft: the exterior literally sparkles like a jewel in the sun, while the interior is alwaysspotlessly cleaned and laundered. But of greater significance is the thorough manner in whichthe DC-4s are maintained technically. There are two over- powering reasons why the management places the highest priorityon first-class engineering. Following the dubious record of many of the company's predecessors, Trek realized that public—andofficial—support would not be easily forthcoming until the airline was established firmly as a reliable and safe operator. Forthis reason the company is proud of an unblemished safety record now stretching over more than six years. The otherfactor which necessitates the highest engineering standards is the type of operation involved. Purely from a cost point of view,the company cannot afford to see one of their aircraft go unserviceable en route. Testimony to their success at eliminatingmechanical breakdowns is the fact that in over two years' opera- tion with DC-4s the airline has had only one case of a prematureengine removal—and that was subsequently found to have been caused by a false alarm. An important factor in achieving this high standard wascertainly the original selection of aircraft. The first step in making a choice was to eliminate all types which were not fully proved,particularly in long-distance flying under extreme conditions. The second was to discard those types which were not alreadyin widespread operation throughout Africa and Europe; to the small airline, ready availability of spares and of trained engineersis of the utmost importance. The type having been chosen, the final step was to comb the world to find really top-notch models.After an extensive tour, the technical director and the chief engineer finished up in Minnesota, headquarters of Northwest
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
