FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0411.PDF
FLIGHT, 30 March 1961 419 range of the JT4-powered DC-8 Series 40 was then given as 5,430st miles and the range of the Series 50 as 5,930 st miles, an improve- ment of only 7 per cent. Douglas now say that their calibratedflight-test results mean that the modified-wing Series 50 will have a full-payload range of 5,960 st miles with normal reserves. Unmodi-fied aircraft will be able to carry full payload for 5,500 st miles with normal reserves. Two aircraft have been involved in the test programme; aproduction aircraft joined in 30 days after the first flight of the JT3D prototype. DC-8 Series 50s are on order for KLM, Iberiaand United. DON'T TRY IT AOPA's 180° rating, • eferred to on page 367 of Flight last week,has received publicity from an unexpected quarter. TheMoA's Aeronautical Information Service at Pinner, which is responsible for re-promulgating overseas aeronautical informationcirculars, has recently received from the Directorate of Civil Aviation, East Africa, Circular No 4/1961 dealing with non-instru-ment-rated pilots. "There have been a number of reported incidents of recent months," the preamble runs, "where pilots who have hadno instrument-flying training and have not been instrument-rated have got themselves into situations from which they would nothave been able to extricate themselves without some knowledge of instrument flying." The circular takes the unusual form of quoting extensively froman article in Air Facts of Africa which "it is hoped may serve as a discouragement to those pilots who are not instrument-rated and . . .also as an encouragement to such pilots to obtain an instrument rating." The article refers to the experiences of the University ofIllinois in assessing the capabilities of non-instrument pilots in instrument weather. The moral is clear: it can't be done. DC-8s AND CONVAIR 880s FOR VIASA VI AS A is a new airline formed at the instigation of the Vene-zuelan Government to take over international services from Aerovias Venezolanas SA (AVENSA) and Linea AeropostalVenezolana (LAV). The former Venezuelan overseas carriers will now operate solely domestic services. Many of their personnelhave been absorbed by the new operator, which has recently joined IATA. First president of VIASA is Mr R. van den Branden. Capital of the new company is owned jointly by the VenezuelanGovernment, which holds 55 per cent of the shares, and the balance is held by private interests, including AVENSA and LAV. KLMhas an operational agreement with VIASA, and will train technical, flight and commercial staff. In addition, KLM will operate AtlanticDC-8 services on VIASA's behalf until a DC-8 ordered by the new carrier is delivered. The Venezuelan airline will serve, on a weeklybasis, Paris, London and Amsterdam, and Lisbon, Madrid and Rome. Services to London are to start on April 6. Other VIASA services will connect Caracas with Lima, Peru,and services to New York, Miami and New Orleans are planned. The latter will be operated with two Convair 880-Ms, the secondhaving been ordered recently (see last week's issue). WERE THE AIRLINES SO MAD ? IN our recent review of Peter Brooks' new book The Origins ofthe Modern Airliner we remarked on the significance of oneparticular passage. This suggested, in as many words, that the jets are not—in the light of actual operating experience—increasing thecost of air transport. Now a BEA colleague of Mr Brooks, Mr K. G. Wilkinson of thecorporation's engineering department, has written a paper which will further shake the diehard turboprop protagonists—those whohave always maintained that, design for design, the turboprop will always offer a lower operating cost. Soon, it seems, these die-hards must concede defeat, because it looks as though history is going to show that they were wrong. "There has been a school of thought," says Mr Wilkinson (whosepaper appears in the Hawker Siddeley Technical Journal), "that propeller turbine aircraft could produce cheaper airline fares thanthe jets, and at one time the most careful and objective analysis seemed to indicate that a margin of some 10 per cent existed inpotential seat-mile costs between the two species." The objective analysis to which Mr Wilkinson refers was The Economics of Speed,the Brancker memorial lecture presented by Lord Douglas of BEA in 1958. Recent analysis of the actual performance of aircrafttypes, as compared with the generalized Brancker lecture study, seems to indicate, says the author, "that the difference is turningout to be less than expected, even on relatively short hauls." The paper includes the exceptionally interesting picture repro- BEA "formula" operating costs for various types are shown here. Assumptions include a 100-seat tourist (34in) configuration, 1,000 st mile design stage, and 1959 price levels for prime cost (see this page) Up on to a SOft roof at Luton Airport goes this identification beacon, the "crane" being an Agusta Bell 47C of Helicopter Services Ltd. The beacon is part of a £35,000 GEC airfield lighting system being installed by C. Maurice Contractors Ltd, who fin/shed the job last week duced below. Of course, BEA's cost formula is not everyone's cupof tea, keyed as it is to an unusual type of route network. Neverthe- less, it is revealing for the reader of this paper to compare theaeroplanes that BEA use, will use, or might have used. The aircraft eligible for the comparison are, jets: Comet 4B,Caravelle 3, Caravelle 8, D.H.121 Trident; turboprops: Viscount 701, Viscount 802, Electra, Vanguard 951, Vanguard 953. Thecheapest jet appears to be the Caravelle 8, a project—now can- celled—designed around two Rolls-Royce RB.141/11 As. Whetheror not the projected turbofan developments of the Caravelle will match the estimates for the Caravelle 8 is a matter for speculation;in the meantime the lowest-cost short-haul jet in this study appears to be the D.H.121. This aircraft is as cheap to operate as the earlyVanguard over 500 miles and, at ljd per seat-mile, cheaper over 1,000 miles. At this stage length it is even marginally cheaper thanthe Vanguard 953, though this Vanguard has the edge on cost over the 121 on the shorter stages. The edge is narrow, but it hasto be remembered that there is a "technology time-scale" difference of about three years between the two aircraft. The Caravelle 3 isonly a few decimal points of a penny more expensive to operate than the D.H.121; this is remarkable for a jet that is in service. TheD.H.121 shows a considerable improvement in operating cost over the Comet 4B, which appears to show the highest operating costof all the jets considered. Surprisingly, the Vanguard is not cheaper to operate than the Viscounts it is replacing on BEA's routes,although of course the estimate is on the basis of Viscounts that have been written down. Reverting to Mr Wilkinson's text, we are reminded of the RandCorporation's report presented at the SAE meeting at Los Angeles in 1960. This lent further support to the view that "the modernjet aircraft may provide as cheap air transport (except perhaps on very short hauls) as the turboprop." This was a reversal of theRand Corporation's findings seven years previously, due to con- siderable improvements in jet engine performance since that date. The author recalls the widespread criticism of the jet buyingspree, criticisms made on the grounds that the airlines' self-interest OPERATING STAGE 1000 S00 2S0st»tute mile OS 8 UJ 3 pence
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
