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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 2209.PDF
FLIGHT, 7 October 1960 561 ACCIDENTS LAST WEEK ""HREE fatal accidents to civil airliners occurred last week, andon October 1 another aircraft was involved in a collision over Florida. The Austrian Airlines Viscount which crashed nearMoscow on September 26 was making an approach to Sherernetievo Airport when the accident occurred. The time wasthen 9 p.m. and about ten minutes before the scheduled arrival time of the flight from Vienna. In fog and rain, the aircraft madetwo circuits of the airport and then struck a heavily wooded area about seven miles from Sheremetievo. It caught fire immediately.There were only seven survivors among the 31 passengers and six crew, all the crew losing their lives with the exception of onestewardess. Among the passengers killed was Sqn Ldr John Cooke, assistant air attache at the British Embassy in Moscow. On September 28 a DC-3 of Compania Mexicana de Aviacioncrashed in a field near Juchitepec, Mexico, as a result of an attempted emergency landing. Of the 15 passengers and three crewon board, five were killed and 13 were injured. An accident on the following day, September 29, involved aMisrair Viscount on a flight from Geneva to Rome. Up to the time of going to press no trace of the aircraft had been foundother than some gear, but it was assumed thai the aircraft had been lost in the sea in the area between Elba Island and MountArgentario. The last message, a navigational report, was received when the Viscount was about 120 miles north-west of Rome.Seventeen passengers and six crew were on board. The collision near Orlando Airport, Florida, involved an EasternAir Lines Martin 4-0-4 and a Bonanza. After touching the air- liner's starboard wingtip the light aircraft went into a spin fromwhich it did not recover and the pilot was killed. There were no injuries among the 24 passengers and three crew in the airliner,which landed safely at Orlando. It was on a flight from Jackson- ville to Miami. BRITISH AIRLINES 1960 PROGRESS REPORT THE boom in Britain's air traffic continues. Increases in thecarriage of freight, particularly by the independents, a steady upswing in passenger traffic carried by all operators, a heavyincrease in capacity (with a decline in load factor) on BOAC's western routes, and a vastly greater number of non-scheduledflights operated by both, corporations—these are some of the trends in British air transport over the year ending in June 1960.Mid-year statistics just published by the Ministry of Aviation show that Britain's total scheduled passenger traffic increased bynearly a quarter, freight by a fifth and mail by one-ninth. Traffic just outstripped the extra capacity offered to show an improve-ment in overall load factor from 59.5 to 60.6 per cent. Taking as the criterion percentage change over the year endingin June 1959, BEA's international non-scheduled services—the inclusive tour business—showed the greatest increase in anycategory, available c.t.m.s for this purpose rising by 280 per cent. On the other hand, BEA's non-scheduled domestic capacity, inany case only a twentieth of that offered on overseas services, slightly declined. BOAC, too, had considerably greater capacityavailable for the long-haul charter flights which are now a popular feature of their business. Their non-scheduled offering increasedto one-ninth of the total available capacity, an increase of 114 per cent on the year before. Five years ago it was only one thirtieth. With the introduction of Boeing 707s towards the end of the Pictured at London Airport last Friday, September 30, the day he took over from "Jimmy" Jeffs, who is retiring, is Mr George H. Warcup, new commandant of London Airport period, nearly half as much capacityagain was offered on scheduled services on BOAC's western routes in the twelvemonths under review, but although the number of passengers carried was up by38 per cent and "cargo" (a term used by the MoA to define a combination offreight and mail) increased by over 40 per cent, the overall load factor on the western routes fell from55.4 per cent to 52.5 per cent. Since passenger load factor declined by not more than one and a half percentage points the inferenceis that sufficient freight to fill the big holds of the 707s is not yet being found.June traffic figures show strikingly how, in twelve months, BOAC's emphasis has swung to the transatlantic routes. Twelvemonths before, the year's traffic on eastern routes accounted for 52 per cent of all the corporation's business. The proportions arein process of being reversed; more capacity is now oftered on the western routes than on those to the east, and in June passengertraffic westwards exceeded that carried eastwards by 40 per cent. That western routes loads for the year should still have been lessthan those carried eastwards is a reflection not on the capacity offered but on load factors, which fell short of the 61.9 per centeastern routes' average by 9.4 percentage points. How fared the independents? First to catch the eye among theMinistry's figures is the major increase in freight carried on domestic scheduled services. This was over 109 per cent morethan in the previous twelve months. Viewing this in perspective, though, the total tonnage was still relatively small, amounting toonly about one-thirtieth of the total l.t.m.s performed during the year. So while passenger l.t.m.s increased by 31 per cent, totall.t.m.s rose not much more—by 32.6 per cent. Very little mail was carried by the independent airlines between June 1959 andJune 1960, resulting in a high percentage decrease over the pre- vious year, and the volume of inclusive tour traffic—whichgenerated load factors of an average 87 per cent—continued to decline. This was in spite of June figures which were an improve-ment on last year. This trend is more surprising in view of BEA's breakthrough into the IT market. SCOTLAND'S TRANSPORT COUNCILLORS /~\NE of the two new members of the Scottish Transport Council*-' recently appointed by Mr Ernest Marples, Minister of Trans- port, is Mr Robert McKean, BEA manager for Scotland. Theother newcomer is Col D. H. Cameron of Lochiel, deputy lieutenant of Inverness-shire and a member of the British Trans-port Commission. The terms of reference of the council, which was set up inFebruary 1956, are to "examine questions of common interest to the transport undertakings which are nationalized, controlled by anationalized undertaking or State-aided, for the purpose of assist- ing the persons carrying on those undertakings in the considerationof plans for developing an efficient and co-ordinated system of public transport in Scotland, and to consult as necessary withother transport interests." The secretary of the council is Mr M. M. Stuart and the officesare at 21 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh 1. Below is the scene at New York International when President Nasser of the United Arab Republic arrived to attend the UN General Assembly in a Comet 4C of Misrair, United Arab Airlines. The map on the left shows the airline's current route network. Misrair is the subject of an article on pages 588-589
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