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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0414.PDF
414 FLIGHT, 25 March I960 Sport and Business What Course for the Private Pilot? . . . Government aid for private flying, it could well be that under-writing development costs of radio and navigational equipment against eventual profits on long-term sales could bring the mostrewarding return in terms of flying safety. i Another worthwhile line of long-term development would beto explore the practical possibilities of developing a pictorial presentation aid for the light-aircraft owner. No type of naviga-tional assistance holds greater potential for the off-airways pilot, because pictorial presentation is the ideal adjunct to the basicnavigational method of contact map-reading. Benevolent Legislation A third course to be steered is inframing new legislation directed to the benefit of the private pilot. In the private-flying void of the 1940s and 'fifties the amateurpilot found himself increasingly out of step with regulations formed to assist and control his professional counterpart.Although seeking to guide, the massive legislation of Air Pilot is out of sympathy with those who need a more simple directive. The obvious course is to separate, as other authorities havedone already, the regulations controlling off-airways flying from those affecting aviation as a whole. If more responsibility is to bedemanded of the private pilot his present responsibilities should be clarified. An informed belief is that the attitude of the Ministryof Aviation to private flying (whatever lip-service may be paid to its encouragement) is "not unhelpful." For it to becomeactively helpful a clear case needs to be argued for a positive form that new legislation could take. A private pilot's Air Pilot is such a course. An excellent pre-cedent is to be found in Australian legislation, where three years ago the Department of Civil Aviation extended just such assistancein the form of a Private Pilots' Handbook. Here is a quotation from its enlightened directives: — "FLIGHT NOTIFICATION: Be practical in prescribing themethod and time by which arrival will be reported. Inevitably this arrival reporting time is not the same as the destination ETA, in that itis made much later by such time-consuming factors as ... (a) delays en route, particularly at intermediate stops (b) pegging down aircraft(c) arranging transport to the communication point (d) refuelling arrangements (e) greeting friends and arranging accommodation . . .etc." Again, in the section outlining the powers of the Australian Air Safety Officer: — "This officer has the power to demand statements, documents or com-ponents and there are severe penalties for non-compliance with such demands. In practice these powers are very rarely used, since in theaviation industry we are all equally concerned with safety in operations, and there is usually a joint effort by all the persons involved . . ." Now these examples arc nor in any way iiitended to slightthose who compile Air Pilot. The Australian Handbook was published in response to a demand (the idea was in fact proposedat a private pilots' symposium, much on the lines of the one held under the aegis of the RAeC in 1957); and although a similar UKpublication would have been valuable in the past, the press of a similar British demand has yet to be fully felt. What subjects should such a simplified manual cover? Toanswer this question we might draw freely on Australian practice and relate it to our own particular needs. The first precept shouldbe a recognition of the very amateur status of many British private pilots. The man who flies for sport and occasionally on businessmay well be airborne for fewer than 20 hours a year, and without a compact and simple source of frequent reference cannot beexpected to keep au fait with the regulations governing his flying. Apart from the regulatory function of what might be called thePilots' Guide, there is a real need for readily assimilable informa- tion on the course of action to follow in conditions of uncertainty—obtaining weather information, the possibilities of diverting to other airfields, procedures to follow to obtain a fix, what to do iflost or in more serious distress, a reminder about aerodrome signals, and so on. The amount of real assistance that can quitesimply be obtained is insufficiently appreciated by many who fly, and radio stage-fright is responsible for many of those facilitiesthat are well known being insufficiently used._ It is altogether reasonable to assume in framing a manual for theprivate pilot that airborne radio will be available with at least a limited number of channels. Acceptance of the need to installVHF radio for anything other than local flying is a necessary expression of the private pilot's willingness to assume a greaterdegree of responsibility. This implies that our Pilots Guide will «mbody the information at present included in the useful AeradFlight Guide or Radio Facilities Charts, United Kingdom (see Flight, January 15, 1960), an MoA publication already extractedfrom Air Pilot and an indication of the course that pressure should be brought upon the Ministry to pursue. There is also a strong case (at the risk of confusing the issue) for introducing not one new publication but two: a Pilots' Guideabbreviation of Air Pilot carrying similar legal force for referent e on the ground, and a handbook small enough, compact enough androbust enough to become a cockpit companion. Into the ktfor volume would be included only that information that a piiutrequires in the air; a simply phrased aide-memoire extracted from the more detailed information of Pilots' Guide. Here is a ready opportunity for all pilots to suggest to theMinistry the type of manual for which they feel there is a practical need. Essential inclusions, it is tentatively suggested, might be: — (a) A page devoted to actions in emergency: definition of Distress(Mayday) and Urgency (Pan) states and the radio phraseology and information to be given in declaring them. (b) A page describing what action to take in any state of uncertaintywhom to call and on what frequency, and information as essentially basic as what to say. This section should include details of how to obtainweather information, frequencies and times at which regular weather broadcasts are given, how to pass on information about deviations inflight plan and how to obtain a homing or a fix if position is uncertain. Brief details should also be given of how to initiate a controlled descent(QGH let-down) or obtain a GCA. (c) Radio maps and charts. Ideally, radio facilities information shouldbe overprinted on 1:500,000 maps, because of the need for a cross- reference by the off-airways pilot flying contact. Failing this, RadioFacilities Charts might be adapted by (1) reducing the prominence given to delineation of the airways' system; (2) including only those aids ofinterest to the off-airways pilot, i.e., NDBs, VDFs, VORs, broadcast stations and aerodromes with GCA (fan markers, responder beacons,Decca airways, Loran, etc., are not required); and (3) omitting com- munication coverage charts and paring to the bone all necessary explana-tions. The list of aerodromes with their radio facilities is one of the most useful features and should be continued, but with a note added tomake it clear whether prior permission is required. At the risk of introducing increased complexity, landing fees are also of more thanpassing interest. (d) A page giving altimeter setting procedures and explanations as tothe implications of QNH, QFE, etc. (e) A table of aerodrome, marker, light and pyrotechnic symbols. To cover these points in a handbook would give amateur private pilots considerably greater confidence that they are complyingwith the few legal requirements that are really of moment when flying. Most of the rest of the points that concern off-airwaysflying could well be incorporated into Pilots' Guide. But it must be very strongly urged that this publication should not be merelya collection of "relevant extracts from Air Pilot"; a much more Ten years of British private flying. The number of pilots (top) has increased slowly but the growth rate has recently fallen almost to zero. Numbers of light aircraft registered have remained practically static while their average age has steadily increased
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