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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1023.PDF
FLIGHT, 27 July 1961 125 One of the three LOT IL-I8s at Warsaw/Okecie, ready to fly a scheduled service to Moscow. Later, they will fly to the Far East LOT's internal route network covers 2,721km with six year-roundroutes from Warsaw to Kracow, Wroclaw, Poznan, Szczecin, Gdansk and Rzeszow. In summer direct services between Kracowand Gdansk and between Wroclaw and Gdansk are added. Load factors average 80 per cent over the year and 100 per cent insummer. The routes are served by eight 22-seat Li-2s and cost of fares is between that of railway 1st class and 2nd class with sleeper.On internal routes, LOT carried 109,611 passengers during 1960, making 37,376,000 passenger-kilometres. The eight Li-2s flew7,564hr during the year, a figure considered reasonable in view of the overhaul schedules and other factors. Average flying timeper day per aircraft was three hours, but aircraft often flew as many as nine hours. The passenger aircraft are also used, with seating removed, forfreight duties. Some 85 metric tons of strawberries were flown abroad, reaching the wholesalers within 24hr of being picked inPoland; five metric tons of elvers were flown out in June for restocking eel fisheries; and sweet-water crabs have been exportedand cargoes of monkeys flown in from India. LOT is responsible for its own operation and maintenance andemploys 1,500 people, but there is a separate organization respon- sible for airfield maintenance and construction, provision ofnavigation aids and similar services. Runways at Warsaw/Okecie are being extended and a new terminal is being built. For aircraftre-equipment, the airline prepares a specification stating the required range and capacity and indicates which of the aircraft onthe market would fulfil the requirement. The suggestion is then forwarded to the Ministry of Communications and the PlanningCommission and a decision is taken, in the light of all the circum- stances, to buy one type. The Ministry of Foreign Trade is theninstructed to make the purchase. I was also taken on a rapid tour of inspection of the maintenancebase at Okecie. A modern building houses the engine overhaul department dealing with Ash 62s for Li-2s, Ash 82s for Il-14s andP & W R-28OOs for Convair 240s. The 11-18 turboprops are now also coming through the shops. Overhaul life of the R-2800 isl,500hr, and the engine sometimes achieves l,600hr. The Russian engines are much more conservatively lifed, the Ash 82T nowbeing prepared for an increase from 700hr to l.OOOhr life. But, says the company, they more often reach their full life because ofthis conservatism. The shops are fully equipped for stripping and assembling,treating and repairing components and engines and complete records are kept for each individual engine. A twin-bay test cell for Ash 62 and 82 engines is nearing completion and one cell is tobe equipped with a British-made (John Curran) test stand for 11-18 engines. Every tenth Ash 82 is bench-run for five hours andthen stripped again and checked before being finally tested and installed. Propellers are also overhauled. Overhaul life of the11-18 engine has just been raised from 200hr to 500hr, the lower life having apparently been imposed following the accident lastyear at Kiev. Instrument and autopilot test rooms are also available, thecomplete stand for testing the Russian hydraulic autopilot of the 11-14 having been designed and produced by the aeronauticalsection of the Warsaw Polytechnic. Test equipment for the elec- tronic autopilot of the 11-18 is to be prepared. Radio maintenancepresents some problems, because Russian, English and American equipment has to be handled for the various aircraft. Multipletest benches have been specially made by LOT to test all makes of similar equipment on one bench. Five different types of VHFradio are in use—two Russian, one British and two American. Most interesting among the Russian radio equipment, I thought,was a 500 channel VHF radio which, complete with its power supply and shock mount, measured about Kin along its sides andappeared to weigh between 20 and 401b. It is partly transistorized, contains only 11 crystals, has lOOkc/s channel-spacing and givesan output demonstrated to be 25W with a sensitivity of three microvolts. The power pack contains a dynamotor and conversioncircuitry producing 115V, 400c s, and cooling air is accepted through the main carrying handle from an aircraft supply. Anyone of the 500 channels can be immediately selected on a very small digital tuning selecter separately mounted. Finish andconstruction seemed to me to be well up to the best standards of workmanship anywhere. Finally, LOT allowed me a brief inspection of an 11-18. Picturesof an engine with cowlings open and of a propeller with spinner removed appear here. The five-man flight deck was neat and wasmainly painted pale grey. The engines normally constant-speed at 96 per cent r.p.m., giving 12.300 turbine and 1,060 propellerr.p.m. Torque gauges indicate power output when the single control levers are moved, and autofeather is provided. The weatherand navigation radar has two scopes for the pilots, apparently intended to provide stand-by in case of failure of one tube. Thereis a third scope for the navigator. The LOT cockpit layout on this aircraft was virtually identical with those already seen inAeroflot aircraft and the passenger cabin had accommodation for 14 first-class and 70 second-class passengers. "Flight" photographs Close-ups of an IL-18 propeller and the port side of No 2 engine. Both were taken at the LOT maintenance base
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