FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0461.PDF
Hands up all those who thought the aircraft in these two pictures were Il-I8s l]d A MILE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC ONE hundred and eighteen seats in an L.1049 Constellation isthe formula which The Flying Tiger Line have adopted inorder to offer their summer-season transatlantic group charter flights at return fares of £35 8s per head. This is £125 less than thescheduled-service piston fare. Seat pitch is 30in and elapsed journey- time between New York and London (via Shannon or Gander)is about 12hr; but hot meals are served, seats recline to 50- and each passenger may take 501b of baggage. A great deal of transatlantic-group charter business has beenstimulated during the past two years by the offer of low rates in return for guaranteed load factors, but Flying Tiger claim that theirproposed rate is nearly half that offered by other operators. It is based on revenue of £4,173 per return trip to New York from anyoperationally suitable airport in the United Kingdom or Eire, and it applies as well to group charters from Paris, Brussels and Amster-dam. Revenue rate is §1.80 per aircraft mile—low for a Super Constellation but not so low as some of the contract rates whichhave been offered by US carriers to secure business with MATS. Charges to individual passengers are made pro raia with load factor,so that for a party of 60 the cost per passenger would be just under £70. The significance of these reductions is that they apply to Euro-pean-originating groups only, and are an attempt to generate a westbound traffic flow where, in the main, only a flow of Americangroups visiting Europe has existed before. Westbound traffic has been limited by currency restrictions and by relative differences inthe price of a group charter. At present individual sanction for each flight has to be obtainedfrom the CAB. which requires notice of the rates being charged and the bona fides of the closed group. Generally speaking, membershipmust not exceed 20,000 and passengers must have been members for at least six months. A special dispensation is that members of thechartering organization may be accompanied by their immediate families. Approval has also to be obtained from the foreign govern-ments concerned; for example, the British definition of a closed- group or affinity group must be complied with. Flying Tiger anticipate few objections on this score and severalflights have already been booked for the 1961 season, which lasts from May to September. Capacity has been scheduled for onereturn flight a day, with a reserve for the seasonal peak. CSA 11-18 ACCIDENT— TNVESTIGATORS from Ceskoslovenske Aerolinie, from theJ_ Czech Ministry of Transport and from the West German Air Force have been examining the wreckage of a CSA 11-18 whichcrashed near Forchheim, 18 miles north of Nuremberg, on March 28. There were no survivors among the 44 passengers and eightcrew on board. The aircraft was on a flight from Prague to Zurich, Rabat, Dakar and Conakry, and the accident occurred about 25minutes before it was due to land at Zurich. Last reports from the 11-18 were received shortly before theaccident, in which the aircraft apparently exploded and caught fire before hitting the grotind. One wing and two engines were foundmore than a mile from the remainder of the wreckage. A report that there might be gunshot wounds in some of the bodies was dis-counted after an X-ray examination. This is the second accident to occur to a Chechoslovakian air-liner this year. In January an 11-14 crashed while taking off from Ruzyne Airport, Prague, killing the five passengers and five crew. —AND TCA VANGUARD INCIDENT FOLLOWING a belly landing by a TCA Vanguard at MontrealInternational Airport, Trans-Canada Air Lines' fleet was grounded for one day on April 4 while undercarriages were inspected.For lhr 44min Capt E. T. Marriott, TCA's Vanguard super- visory pilot, attempted to free the port undercarriage, which had At the start of each season, Mr Harold Bamberg, chairman of Cunard Eagle Airways, briefs his pilots about the airline's plans and schedules. Here they are discussing the cockpit layout of the Rritannias which are being acquired from Canadian Pacific hung up with the left wheel jammed against the nacelle door. Hefailed to release it in a series of dives and, after consultations by radio with the Vickers representative at Montreal and TCA engi-neers, made a night belly landing rather than attempt to land on the nosewheel and starboard main wheels. None of the 42 passengersor crew of seven was hurt, and the fleet was flying again after a check had shown that the undercarriages were operating satisfac-torily. BREVITIES Derby Airways received an Air Operator's Certificate on March 29. Alitalia were to introduce DC-7F all cargo services between Londonand Milan and Rome on April 6. All Nippon Airways has placed a repeat order for three F-27 Friend-ships, bringing their total to six. In conjunction with TAP BEA introduced Comet 4Bs on the servicebetween London and Lisbon from April 1. Panair do Brasil took delivery of two DC-8s series 30 on March 30;for the first time on a delivery flight the aircraft carried spare engines in fifth pods. DC-8 deliveries now total 122. TCA Vanguard services to the Caribbean started on April 1. Theaircraft will serve Tampa, Nassau, Montego Bay, Kingston, Bermuda and Antigua, Barbados and Trinidad. The United States has offered to resume the negotiations on directservices between Russia and the US which were postponed following the collapse of the summit conference at Paris in July. United Air Lines plan'lo begin operations on Capital's routes fromJune 1, following CAB approval of the United-Capital merger on April 4. Eight of the 15 Viscounts returned to Vickers have now been resold. The Minister of Aviation has announced that plans for the installa-tion of FIDO at London Airport are to be abandoned. The system could not be in operation before 1965 and would then, he said, have only alimited useful life in view of progress with automatic landing systems. Capital and operating costs would also be very high. In conjunction with AWA, Riddle is reinforcing the fins and ele-vators of its Argosies following skin cracking due to buffeting. New ribs, rivets and stringers are being added to the outboard end of bothelevators and tail boom stub fins, flaps are to be replaced within 200hr, and inspections of modified aircraft will be made after each flight untilthe Argosies have logged at least lOOhr flying. Both Britannias 312s and DC-7Cs are to be chartered to BEA byBOAC during the summer. A daily DC-7C service was to be operated to Frankfurt and Zurich between April 1 and April 14 and Britanniasare to operate services to Copenhagen and to Nice in April and May. DC-7C services to Paris will be flown this summer at a frequency ofup to four a day. The aircraft will operate in BOAC livery and will be flown by BOAC crews.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
