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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 2434.PDF
678 FLIGHT, 28 Ocrofcer I960 4 twin-engined conversion of the Beech Bonanza, this Super-V was produced iy Bay Aviation Services of Oakland, Ca/i". fornia, and is currently being piloted on a worldwide demonstration flight by Chuck Banfe. It is here pictured at San Francisco before the official start of the world tour at Honolulu. A degree of advertising support had apparently been enlisted Sport and Business RECOMMENDATIONS made in the Air League of the British Empire's report on British general aviation (see page 628 last week) have to commend them that, in the main, they are an endorsement of the best of a rising tide of other people's recent ideas. But it is reasonable to ask now if the League is able to produce arguments to support in detail the general recommendations that it advances. Suppose that the official interest and blessing for which private flying has been striving so hard was suddenly granted? After battering at the doors of this bastion for so long, would be know which way to turn once we were inside? It is proposed here to examine some of the League's recom- mendations (in italics, below) and to advance some proposals for the next stage of detailed examination. Of course, these essential next steps cannot be accomplished without some really hard work, and it is here that private and business pilots must look to the Royal Aero Club and to the ABAC to continue the really valuable work that the Aviation Committee and the Standing Joint Com- mittee and Private and Club Flying and Gliding have done in the past year. Flight, too, hopes from time to time to weigh in with detailed proposals, such as those set out, for example, in the issue of March 25, 1960, for a Private Pilots' Air Pilot. Freer use of RAF airfields., e.g., at weekends when they are normally closed and greater use of disused airfields. To be decided here is the necessity for providing reasonable safeguards. A case which must be considered is where an accident occurs at a disused airfield. If a very low probability of accident or fire can be accepted, no standing airport watch should be necessary. Perhaps all that is needed is a telephone near the airfield perimeter and occasional MoA inspection of disused aero- dromes to see that they remain unobstructed. Provision of three of four common radio frequencies for private fliers. Encouragement to manufacturers to provide a cheap, lightweight radio suitable for small aircraft. Considerable MoA sympathy for this view—which has been strongly argued within the Joint Committee on Private and Club Flying and Gliding—is believed to exist. Adequate radio navigational aids appropriate for General Aviation. We know what these aids should be: VDF and VOR. Speedy installation of more VORs would be welcomed by all airspace users but, in the meantime, the VDF coverage should be made as wide as possible on the common frequencies available to club pilots. Procedures to give the private pilot access to control zones in IMC through an extension of the Free hones system coupled perhaps with an improved method of identifying them; a unified Government air traffic control service; arid airways minimum height to be kept as high as practicable. Free air space below 1,500ft in control zones except near big airports, provided that R/T contact is maintained with area control or airport approach control. This is the greatest unresolved issue of all, and the next big step to be tackled for the advance of general aviation. Here is a splendid opportunity for an experienced and imaginative air traffic control officer to devise for Great Britain a new system of controlled air- space that would serve—and safeguard—both commercial and general aviation. This is not a matter initially to be decided in committee; before that stage is reached a new airways blueprint is needed on which committee and user arguments can be based. Also, to some extent, the first and last of the League's recom- mendations are in conflict; with free airspace below 1,500ft except in the vicinity of major airports the necessity for free lane access to aerodromes in control zones would largely disappear. The "free lower airspace" suggestion is one of Mr Peter Masefield's six fundamental points of policy for general aviation (see Flight, September 30); close examination of its practicability might bea useful first step in determining a new controlled airspace pattern for the United Kingdom. Pilots and flying organizations should within a reasonable period accept R/T as a minimum requirement to be carried and become proficient in its use. What is a reasonable period? Perhaps January 1, 1962, might be set as a target date for all aircraft flying in (or under) control zones to be radio equipped, and by January 1, 1964, it might be necessary that all aircraft on cross-country flights Should carry radio. These dates will obviously be tied-in with the "grand- slam" air traffic control plan. All interests in General Aviation should combine to create their own recognized organization which can speak with one voice for them all. The recent work of the Royal Aero Club's Aviation Committee under the chairmanship of Mr Peter Masefield, and the club's contribution to the Standing Joint Committee on Private and Club Flying and Gliding, have done much in the past year to enhance its claim (Flight, March 25, 1960, page 418) to represent—by membership and affiliations—all aspects of general aviation. The ABAC have also been most energetic in support of the clubs, but it seems fair to ask if the latter's declaration that "It neither requires nor permits anyone else to speak for it, nor does it desire to speak for anyone else" is, in the context of the supposition in paragraph two, now a sufficiently flexible approach? RETROSPECT From "Flight" of October 29, 1910 Town Planning and Aeroplane Stations: One of the speakers at theclosing meeting of the Town Planning Conference held at the Guild- hall, waxing enthusiastic on the use of armoured concrete in con-structing dwellings, pointed out how easy it would be to arrange roof gardens and terraces, and said that they could later on be used aslanding-stages for aeroplanes. When flying machines had been further developed, he said, aviators would be able to fly from one terrace toanother, starting and landing as they pleased. He concluded by saying that in the cities of the future would be erected magnificent towers tocall the flying giants from all points of the horizon, and possibly ere long the great capitals would erect higher and higher their loftybeacons to attack the stormy clouds themselves. INSTALLING A HIGH-COMPRESSION Gipsy Major 1C of 140 h.p. in an Auster JIN caused the London School of Flying at Elstree considerable difficulties in obtaining type certification. The trouble was mainly that an extra 100 r.p.m. is available on the climb of this aircraft, which was converted for the School by Auster Aircraft Ltd, and this gave rise to suspicions that cylinder-head cooling might not be all that was desired. However, limits were found to be within the tolerance and the aircraft has now been cleared. The initial rate of climb of over l,000ft/min, says David Ogilvy, manager of the School, "comes as something of a shock to those accustomed to a Cirrus Minor." The annual dinner of Elstree Flying Club is this year to be held at the Sparrow Hawk, Glengall Road, Edgware, on Friday, November 18. MORANE-SAULNIER'S Rallye demonstrator which was shown in Great Britain during August has recently completed a tour of Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany. One hundred and eighty-two flights were made and 195 pilots sampled this French 2-3-seater. At the factory at Tarbes tooling-up is now well under way and production of the first aircraft should be complete early next spring. A VISCOUNT DELIVERED to Mrs Herbert A. May of Wash- ington, DC, has been convened to an executive interior by the AiResearch Aviation Service division of the Garrett Corporation. Accommodating 22 passengers with a crew of five, the interior has been completely remodelled with fabric coverings for the furniture copied "from the furnishings of an old French chateau." THIRD ANNUAL EXHIBITION and competition of aviation paintings and drawings at the Kronfeld Club, London, will be held during November 2-9. Details are obtainable from Mrs. J. R. Bonham, 44 Belsize Square, London NW3. The competition judging will be by Roy Nocko'ds, who will officially open the exhibition at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, November 2. &.
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