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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0126.PDF
126 FLIGHT, 21 January 1961 (Left) At a recent fork- lift truck ceremony at Miami Airport, Riddle's first Argosy was baptized with orange juice by Mr Arthur Vining Davis, American philanthropist and millionaire. On his left is Mr Robert M. Hewitt, Riddle's presi- dent. (Right) Fuel dump- ing trials before delivery AIR COMMERCE . . . AUSTRALIA PONDERS NAVAIDS AN evaluation of navigation systems for the re-equipment of^ the whole Australian airways system in 1967 is under way, according to an announcement by Sen Paltridge, Minister forCivil Aviation. The contenders are VOR/DMET, Decca Mk 10, Tacan and Canadian Marconi Doppler, although the last-namedcan hardly figure as an independent navaid for traffic control. It is being flown in a Friendship. Not mentioned by Sen Paltridgewas BME (Bearing Measuring Equipment), a bearing element designed for addition to the Australian DME to form a Tacanequivalent. BME has been developed in prototype form by the Radio and Physics division of the Australian CSIRO and flownby the RAAF. Decca is reported to be spending £50,000 in a strong campaignto secure the contract, which would involve 12 or 13 chains. A chain has been set up in the Sydney area with the master atHampton and slaves at Mudgee and Shell Harbour. Flight tests with a Department of Civil Aviation Friendship and an RANSycamore should begin in February and be completed in June. VOR trials have been completed with the VOR beacon installedfor the benefit of foreign operators at Sydney. Tacan tests were completed at Hobart last year with a Tacan beacon imported bythe RAAF some years ago, but not used. The distance measuring portion of the Tacan was used to make an assessment of VOR/DMET. It is very unlikely that the RAAF will adopt Tacan. If one of the point-source aids is adopted between 120 and 130beacons will be required. Whatever aid is chosen, six VOR/DMET beacons will be installed at Sydney, Darwin, Perth, Cocos andother points (probably including Melbourne) in order to satisfy international requirements. Orders should be placed in the 1962-1963 financial year for the network to become operational by 1968. All VAR ranges are to be withdrawn, but NDBs and DMEwill be retained as auxiliary aids. THE PILOTS REPORT /CONTINUING concern by airline pilots with every aspect of^ safety was the outstanding feature of the fifteenth conference of IFALPA, the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Asso-ciations, the report of which has just been published. Although the conference took place as long ago as last March, in Istanbul,it is a fair assumption that many of the grievances concerning the state of air traffic control and safety services in some parts of theworld remain unappeased. Air traffic control in Italy and Brazil were particularly heavilycondemned in reports submitted to the conference. Although ATC in Italy had improved, in Brazil it had deteriorated furtherin the year under review. But the world's airline pilots meeting in conference are not merely knockers-down; all their criticisms werebacked with suggestions for positive improvement. In the report submitted by the IFALPA regional vice-presidentfor the North Atlantic, Captain W. M. Masland, London Airport fared quite well when compared with other major terminal airportsin the region. (Perhaps it justifies being the world's most expen- sive—who knows?) Its taxiway lighting and identification, theysay "seems to be the best." Provision for jets to absorb delays in clearance at the ramp with dead engines "has been made to adegree at London and Rome and not at all at Idlewild." Circling approaches and right-angled operations [one aircraft landing to thenorth while another takes off to the west across its path] are "indicative of poor airport layout, poor ATC co-ordination, poorlylaid-out navaids, slovenly operations, or a combination of these. Both exercises are common at Idlewild." On noise—"a matter of real concern to any North Atlanticpilot"—-Capt Masland said: "Idlewild and London are currently the most restrictive aerodromes." On meteorology: "terminalforecasting throughout the area is spotty. In the New York area the terminal forecast is, in fact, no more than an area forecast . . .The very shon 'trend' forecast appended to London's spot weather is most useful." On communications: "BOAC trials of radio teletype appear to have been most successful." On navigationaids: "Development of Dian is watched with great interest ., Some of the LF ranges and NDBs are essential elements in someterminal areas. Several are of such low power and of such poor quality signal that they are not adequate for holding fixes. Inthe London area Watford and Epsom are sub-standard." On terminal area ATC—"it is varied. Perhaps the most successfulhas been in the Paris area." Discussion of social and industrial affairs revealed unsatisfactoryconditions affecting airline crews in some parts of the world. In Peru pilots were being denied the right to form an association;their consequent weakness against authority was reflected in over- long flight time and duty time. The conference unanimouslypassed a resolution condemning such deprivation and pledging support to the Peruvian pilots in their attempts "to secure theirjust and rightful objective." The lack of a cohesive pilots' asso- ciation in Brazil, representing pilots employed by all the airlines,was put forward as a contributing factor to the poor safety standards in Brazil. There was no strong pressure group ableto spur, or coerce, the government to action. Rejecting an invitation to hold this year's conference in NewZealand, owing to the difficulties of travel there with airline operators unwilling to offer free transport to delegates, the 79representatives of member and prospective member association attending decided to meet this year in Mexico City, fromMarch 7-14. LIABILITY OF AN AIRLINE rT1HE possible variance between true responsibility and legal -*- liability in aircraft accidents, outlined in Mr Harold Caplan">Royal Aeronautical Society lecture (see last week's issue, pages 79-80) on January 12, was taken up by several speakers in thediscussion period which followed the lecture. In particular, the limitation of an operator's liability to a passenger under the WarsawConvention—125,000 gold francs, or just under £3,000—was criticized. Mr Walter Tye (Air Registration Board) commented that theConvention certainly seemed to offer protection to the operator- generally at the expense of the travelling public. If a rewordingof the Convention were adopted to improve the passenger's position, would this give a better incentive to aircraft safety? Asecond point was that the safety of any aircraft depended on many individuals and groups, and it had been apparent to the speakerat accident inquiries that the aviation fraternity was unclear on its responsibilities, and that these responsibilities should be definedmore precisely. Mr Henry Marking of BEA denied that the Convention liabilitylimitation was purely of benefit to the operator: the onus of proof Arriving passengers at Dublin are helped to help themselves to find their way off the apron by white-striped pathways from the aircraft parking points. This is the sign- post with which the "zebra-crossing" scheme has been introduced
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