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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1874.PDF
988 FLIGHT, 28 December 1961 Straight and Level I AM sorry that Mr Peter Brooks isleaving BEA, although I am surethat air transport's loss will be general aviation's gain. Soon he will be taking up his new appointment as Mr Peter Masefield's deputy at Beagle. One reason why BEA is a successful airline, I believe, is that it has been fortunate enough to enjoy, for half a generation now, the services of a team (an overworked word, but exactly right in this context) of enthusiasts and professionals like Mr Brooks. One thing that all the members of this team appear to have in common is a real regard for the man who has run the show since 1949. An explanation of this remarkable situation is, I think, to be found in the "personal note" struck by Lord Douglas at the end of a recent lecture, and which is summarized on page 1000 of this issue. • "There is too great a tendency to think of mergers as cure-alls. Two sick men don't necessarily make one well man."—Mr Charles Tilling hast, president of TWA. • The manufacturers of automatic landing systems admit that one of their main problems is to convince pilots that they can and should use them. But the "climate of pilot opinion," rightly or wrongly, could not be less favourable. Ask any airline pilot whether he uses his approach coupler: the answer you get on the great majority of occasions is downright unfavourable. Coupled approach, which involves considerable automation, but relatively little risk compared with actual auto- matic landing, is almost universally disliked, distrusted, ignored, or just wired off. Not only British couplers, There you are, I told you—there's your trouble, Ted. Just hand me your No 4 grelving fredder, would you1. Thanks. Now mind your backs, everyone . . . Mmm, that's funny. Let's try the No 5, Ted. Right—stood clear everybody. Oh, crikey. Oh dear, oh dear. Better get the Scruggs rep, Howard. Sorry about your grelving fredder, Ted but the latest American systems, too, come in for sharp comment. Whatever the truth about coupled approach, it has earned itself a bad name. It isn't going to be easy to persuade airline crews with this experience to trust the new automatic landing systems, however carefully and scientifically they have been designed and tested. Plummet Slashes Fares • London, Eng, Dec 19. What airline fares experts nail as "a brilliant new concept, a tool to prise open the mass air travel markets" was revealed today by Plummet Airlines, Britain's foremost airline. A 5 per cent reduction will be available on all Plummet routes, when- ever the full moon falls on a Friday the 13th, Sagittarius is at the time in con- junction with Virgo, and Totterham Hotspurs are playing the Harlequins. "The limited validity," said a Plummet spokesman, "is so as not to undermine the established IATA fare structure. This new really creative fare is also subject to Governmentapproval." • Britain's two leading aircraft groups, BAC and HSA, are said to be wondering when the Minister is going to let them eat the merger-encouraging carrot that his predecessor dangled before them two years ago. You remember—"no more Government orders unless you merge, you naughty heterogeneous donkeys." But the carrot has not been entirely withheld. The Government is contribu- ting, in one way or another, to civil air- craft like the VC10, Trident, Argosy, Herald, Avro748, BAC One-Eleven, and to other civil products. The precise sums of money—which overall are not small —have never been revealed. Why not ? MPs who have been nosey enough to ask have been told, in so many words, to mind their own business. So how can Parliament and the public judge whether the industry is right to complain—if this is indeed what it is doing—that there has been a breach of promise? Why can't we be told, for example, Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip Joubert, gallant airman and great planner, is extending his gallantry and planning into the kitchen. He loves cooking, and for some years has been doing a time-and-motion study to help reduce the housewife's work. He has embodied his research into a book to be published next year how much public money is being inves- ted in the Trident or VC10, and their engines, and on what terms? Or how much money the Viscount, on the other side of the coin, has earned for the Government? These are civil projects, so there can be no "national defence" hedge to hide behind. The answer is that the whole thing is secret. Why, you may ask, is it secret? That, I am afraid, is a secret, too. Receivers! Receivers! Receivers!I S YOUR airline in the hands of aReceiver? Are your creditors getting difficult? Are you havingtrouble satisfying the Air Transport Licensing Board about your financialresources ? Write TODAY for FREE pamphlet, enabling you to select theReceiver of your choice from our wide and varied range. Call any time forFREE demonstrations. Many satisfied customers! E.g., F.Knocking, Potters Bar, writes: "We have been in the hands of one of yourReceivers for two years and are so satisfied with him that we wish toplace a repeat order for two and to have an option for a further two." REMEMBER—no self-respectingairline today can afford to be without a Receiver. Write TODAY to theGuild of Air Line Receivers and Creditors, Nurkby Works, ChorleyWood, Dept SL.l. All enquiries jn confidence, all pamphlets mailed inbrown paper wrapping. Credit terms by arrangement. • Mr J. T. Lidbury, chairman of Hawker Aircraft: "Today we make feasibility studies of feasibility studies to see if they are feasible." ROGER BACON
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