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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0115.PDF
115 FLIGHT,27 January 1961 eH, Elizabethan (Ambassador) interior, looking aft. Right, Viscount 802 interior. Transverse Strip lighting enhances the impression of width Furnishing and Finishing... BEA's Aircraft Interiors R. C. MORGAN, OBE, FRAOS Chief Project and Development Engineer, British European Airways THE production of a good interior calls for the most carefulintegration of the requirements of the airline with the skillof the industrial designer, and the best possible application of detail design and manufacturing techniques.What is a "Good" Interior? It is certainly not a flashy colour scheme in line with some currently fashionable trend. Nor is itthe application of paints, fabrics and gimmicks to bulkheads, ducts and wall panels already designed. It must be a co-ordinatedwhole, in which every detail aspect, the background engineering and the styling, the lighting and the finishes are all visualizedas the design proceeds. It must be pleasing and acceptable to a lot of different peoplefor different reasons at different times. It must conform to the general trend of style and presentation, by which, in all its aspects,the particular airline is known to the public. It must not date readily, as the aircraft must remain in service for many yearswithout substantial interior alterations. It must be easy to main- tain, not readily lose its new pristine appearance, and not gettatty; yet material and replacement must not be expensive. It must provide all the complex of services, from individualpassenger air supply to fire extinguishers, from emergency exits to pantries, from room for coats and hand baggage to the maximumnumber of seats in relation to fares; yet all this must be done unobtrusively and with the maximum comfort. Mr James Gardner, consultant industrial designer to BEA I know of no other part of the airline business—or for thatmatter any other business—in which the requirements are so stringent, so varied and so often conflicting and the hidden faci-lities so complex; yet the result must be pleasing, comfortable, practical, light in weight and, most difficult of all, be able to standcritical scrutiny at close quarters by those travelling in it. There is no short definition of a "good interior." Flexibility This seems a curious word to use in a note oninterior design, yet it is one of the most important and conceals a multitude of problems.It is relatively easy to design and build an interior with one standard seating arrangement, and very many aircraft (althoughdifferent for each customer) are built to this simple requirement. In BEA we have made a speciality of "flexibility," and this hasbrought with it a whole host of problems in interior design. The sort of flexibility we build into our interiors includes such mattersas the ability to (1) Change the seating layout from, say, mixed first-class and tourist to all-tourist. (2) Vary the ratio between first-class and tourist. (3) Run some services with full meals and bar service and others withno meals (and in the latter case to remove the pantries and carry more passengers instead). (4) Vary the standards of the service during the life of the aeroplanewithout modification. (5) Alter the seat pitch as commercial requirements demand. (6) Sometimes remove seats and pantries and carry freight. (7) Carry suitable freight, e.g., meals and newspapers, on the out- ward journey without removing seats, so that passengers can be carried on the return journey. (8) Remove seats and carry stretcher cases. This sort of flexibility demands accurate detail specificationwork when the aeroplane is first ordered, and subsequently the most detailed control, to ensure that the final product fully satisfiesthe requirements of flexibility at the same time as meeting all the other desiderata of a "good" interior. Integration of Effort It will thus be seen that the most carefulco-ordination of all aspects of the work on a new interior is essential, otherwise some requirement will dominate, or othersbe overlooked, and expensive failure will result. In BEA we have, since 1948, tackled this problem in the follow-ing simple, straightforward way. In the development engineering branch we continuously study and obtain the requirements of theairline from all other departments. We employ, as consultant industrial designer, Mr James Gardner, who has now worked withus on every BEA aircraft from the Ambassador. After the speci- fication stage we work in detail with the firm's designers, usingthe mock-ups and supplying styling designs which are so integrated with the structural and engineering requirements (such as air-
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