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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 2430.PDF
674 FLIGHT, 28 October I960 Light Aircraft in South America By D. HYDE, MSc(Eng), Die, ACGI, I. S. GARTSHORE, MSc(Eng), Die, B^Sc, and W. H. MELBOURNE, PhD, Die, BE This article is the second of two describing the aeronautical aspectsof the Imperial College Africa and Americas Expedition; the first "Light Aircraft in Africa," appeared in "Flight" of August 19 last. Theexpedition arrived in South America from Africa in Mid-July and covered 8,500 miles overland investigating civil light aircraft activitieswithin the continent. By submitting the plan for this survey, Mr Hyde won the 1959 Johnde Havilland Award administered by the Society of British Aircraft Constructors. The three-member expedition of former aeronauticalstudents from the Imperial College (University of London) was sponsored by the Imperial College Exploration Board.T HE topography of South America is made up of jungles,swamps and vast plains in the east, cut off from the narrow western coastal strip by the Andean chain of mountainsstretching 4,400 miles from the Caribbean Sea to the far south at an average height of 13,000ft. Such natural barriers, combinedwith surface communications that are inadequate and primitive (or in many areas non-existent), present ideal opportunities for thesuccessful operation of aircraft. In the republics investigated—namely, Brazil, Uruguay, Argen-tina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia—over 70 people were consulted, representing directorates of civil aviation; air-taxiand non-scheduled companies; domestic airlines; agricultural organizations; and private interests. Brazil, whose area is greater than that of the continental UnitedStates, contains approximately half the population of South America. Aero Clubs and private aviation are thriving, over 2,500aircraft being currently registered in the latter category alone. Operators of air-taxis, or taxi-aereos as they are known, areclassed as those having equipment with not more than six seats or 600kg capacity; they are free to fly scheduled services and to fixtheir own tariffs, but flying is limited to VFR conditions. Where more than two aircraft are operated, a registered company mustbe formed: some 300 aircraft are used as taxi-aereos, 78 of which are owned by 15 companies. Non-scheduled operations using equipment larger than that inthe air-taxi class are discouraged in order to protect the interests of the regular airlines, which are subsidized both directly andindirectly by the government. Only two minor airlines are not members of one of the six major consortia into which the scheduledairlines are grouped. The non-scheduled companies must use multi-engined aircraft and have good maintenance facilities, andcannot "fly repeatedly between points served by the regular air- lines" or "charge so that competition is made with regular air-lines." Consequently only three organizations have non-scheduled licences and only one of these is operational. It is interesting to note that of the 292 aircraft in service withthe scheduled companies, no fewer than 173 are C-46s, C-47s and DC-3s; these provide almost half of the total seating capacityavailable. Re-equipment is a major problem to these airlines, whose domestic fare structures are falsely low. Extended-creditterms of up to eight years, which British manufacturers have great difficulty in offering, are necessary if new aircraft are to be bought. Uruguay is the smallest of the South American republics, andhere light aircraft and aviation fuel could be obtained at prefer- ential rates of exchange until early this year; thus aircraft effect-ively cost one-fifth of their real price and fuel was reduced to one-third of its actual cost. Even today, with a free rate of exchangebut with high automobile taxes, $12,000 buys a Cessna 180 or a new American car. This very high taxation on motor vehiclesmakes the light aeroplane particularly attractive to many of the estancia or ranch owners—the note that "an airstrip is available"often appears in advertisements for cattle sales. A government grant to the aero clubs was increased two year,ago to nearly £6,000 and is distributed in proportion to th number of pilots trained in the previous year (in this system PPLaccount for one point and commercial licences for two points). 0; the total of 330 civil aircraft with current Cs of A in Uruguay, 63belong to the clubs. Although only 28 machines are at present licensed to carry outair-taxi work, many others enter this market illegally. Even the subsidized clubs do unofficial charter work, providing unfaircompetition for the established taxi firms. Argentina, second largest in size and population of the SouthAmerican countries, is made up of four distinctive regions: the Andes, the North, the Pampas and Patagonia. For many yearsplagues of grasshoppers attacked the rich pastures of the Pampas; now as many as 250 aircraft are used for agricultural work,mainly to counter this menace. Of the 800 private aircraft in the country, a large number are based on the ranches. The Harrietfamily, owners of the largest estancia in Argentina, operate 22 single-engined machines over their two million acres of property. In the Argentine, as in Brazil, the aero clubs are strong withsome 130 clubs owning 500 aircraft. At present a heavy import tax is levied on light aircraft and to avoid this some owners areretaining American registrations. The 182 stands out as the most popular model in the Cessna range, whilst the majority of thePiper products are Super Cubs, owing to this model's suitability for agricultural work. Attempts are being made in Argentina to construct light aircraftsuited to the vast potential market that exists; the immediate advantage of such projects is the avoidance of the heavy taxes onimported aircraft. The Instituto Aerotecnico at Cordoba is pro- ducing the IA-46, a three-seat high-wing aircraft particularly use-ful for agricultural work; power is provided by a 150 h.p. Lycom- ing unit. In addition, the IA-35, a general purpose military twin,is still in production at Cordoba, where the Morane-Saulnier MS-760 Paris and the Beechcraft T-34 Mentor are under licenceproduction. A three-place Macchi MB-308, which uses a 90 h.p. Contin-ental engine, is being built under licence by German Bianco SA at Buenos Aires, but the wooden construction in this aircraft is notpopular. Aero Talleres Boero SRL have designed and built two Aero Boero 95s at Morteros in Cordoba province. Also poweredby a 90 h.p. Continental unit, this high-wing monoplane has a wide speed-range and is said to be ideal for taxi, training andagricultural work as well as for aerobatic flying. It remains to be seen whether a licence for quantity production for this modelwill be granted, as the Aero Boero 95 would be in direct competi- tion with the government sponsored IA-46. Among taxi operations, those of Aerochaco and TAASA areparticularly interesting. Aerochaco's two Beavers operate a "radial" system of routes mainly within 200 miles of Resistenciain the Chaco a great lowland in the north-east of Argentina covered with scrub forest and grassy savannah. The highest summertemperatures in South America have been recorded in the Argen- tine Chaco, and this, combined with the rugged terrain, poor air-strips and heavy winter rains, make the area ideal Beaver country. TAASA—Taxis Aereos Argentinos SA—are operating twoscheduled services, with intermediate stops, from Buenos Aires north to Concordia and Diamonte in the rough Entre Rios Pro-vince. The company has six Rapides, only three of which are in service at present; it is hoped that an increase in the same region toseven routes will employ all six aircraft. In the last year three pilots flew 4,500 passengers on TAASA's services. The eight- Left, TAASA Rapide with "stone-proof" modifications. Right, rotary atomizers on a Piper P.I 8 for banana-spraying in Colombia
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