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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0072.PDF
72 FLIGHT International, 11 January 7S$2 AIR COM M ERCE . . . less than ten minutes. The captain underwent a medical check and was found to be unaffected, while the readings were not considered to indicate that the danger limit had been reached by crew or pas sengers. The Sahara readings were higher than those over the Pole, but the highest Polar reading (1. lmr/hour) was taken five days after the 50-megaton explosion and 1 I days after the smaller explosion, whereas the Sahara readings were taken much sooner after the French explosion. It cannot, therefore, be assumed that the air craft which recorded 1.lmr/hour necessarily passed through the most heavily contaminated air mass. AIR SERVICE TO ANTARCTICA? AN intriguing foretaste of future airline routes over the South Pole was provided by the recent flight of two Russian turboprop trans ports from Moscow to Antarctica. An 11-18 and an An-10 flew 15,500 miles to the Soviet Antarctic observatory at Mirny in December, making refuelling stops at Delhi, Rangoon, Djarkarta, Darwin. Sydney, Christchurch and the American Antarctic base at McMurdo on Ross Island, 1,500 miles from Mirny. The An-10 left Moscow on December 15 and reached Mirny on Christmas Day; its flight time was 48hr 7min. The 11-18 left Moscow on the same day as the Antonov and arrived on December 27 after 44hr 36min in the air. Both aircraft flew mostly at about 26,000ft and at an average speed of 34H m.p.h. It is not known whether the Russians intend to repeat these flights to Antarctica; but they may well decide it is cheaper to keep Mirny in touch with the outside world by aeroplane than by ship. ROMAN SCANDAL ANOTHER public scandal has blown up over Rome's Fiumicino airport, which was inaugurated on January 15, 1961, amidst harsh recriminations over its inadequacies, as related in Flight for January 20 last year. These resulted in a parliamentary commission of enquiry, and its report makes some severe criticisms. The usually moderate Rome newspaper // Messagero described the report's findings as a perfect example of administrative and political mis conduct. Faults cited include disagreements and interference among the departments concerned; lack of co-ordination; insufficient esti mates; the slow and piecemeal provision of resources, and inertia in carrying out work. Many of these—in particular the last two—are no strangers to British airport users, but the sort of criticism unlikely to be found in a Select Committee report is of the former Defence Minister, Signor Pacciardi (a Republican) for allowing his wife to buy a flat from the head of a building firm involved in work at Fiumicino. The present Defence Minister, Signor Giulio Andreotti (a Christian Democrat) is blamed for having •'whitewashed" an Air Force officer. Colonel Amici, although the commission had evidence Pilots M. Stupishin (left) and A. Polyakov (right) are seen here at Shere- metyevo airport before flying their 11-18 from Moscow to the Antarctic continent. Furthir details of this flight appear in col. I of irregular activities by this officer. It was strange, the report remarks, that Colonel Amici should have been recalled in H60 after seven years of prosperous building activities to be gi\en exceptional powers over the work at Fiumicino. Signor Togni, the former Minister of Public Works, was praised for the energy with which he pushed on with Fiumicino's construc tion but criticized for having allowed "extraordinary and irregular" administrative procedures. In addition, the report recommends tf at three colonels of the Air Ministry should suffer administrative aid. disciplinary sanctions. Underneath the layer of scandal is one criticism that seem to be endemic to modern airport construction: that Fiumicino has cost too much (£35m) and taken too long to complete; it was supposed to have been ready for the Olymic Gane$ in the summer of 1960. Works to the value of 4,000m lire (£2.3ir!) * had been carried out in 1960 with no legislative authority to meet the expenditure, and in the choice of site had been paid insufficient consideration to the suitability of the ground. SWISSAIR-SAS 990 DELIVERIES SWISSAIR, which has been operating two Convair 880 Mode] 22Ms leased from the manufacturers, is to take delivery of four Convair 990 Coronados this month, and a fifth in July. Two more ordered by Swissair are, after all, to be leased to SAS for four years; it is not yet clear whether SAS has cancelled the two 990s ordered direct. Swissair will introduce the Coronado on to its South American. Far East and Middle East routes in the early spring with an interior seating 74 economy and 24 first-class passengers. "PROJECT B;E;ACON" AND COMPATIBILITY US AIRLINE and equipment manufacturers' representatives have been invited by the FAA to a conference in Washington on Feb ruary 27 to review future airborne equipment requirements fore cast as a result of the Project Beacon report. That report, ordered by the President, sets the pattern for a five-year US air traffic control system improvement programme. The report was accepted by Mr Kennedy in November. Although it is too early to state firm operational requirements arising from Project Beacon, the FAA will be able to outline future mandatory requirements in such areas as radio frequencies, secon dary radars and DME. The conference will aim at specifying equip ment to be required on all classes of aircraft. Mr N. E. Halaby, the FAA's Administrator, had some interesting things to say about Project Beacon in a luncheon speech to the Wings Club in New York on December 20. America's big task in 1962, said Mr Halaby, was to relate domestic traffic control systems to international requirements; to relate efforts to design a common system of traffic control both to the domestic budget and to military requirements; to relate the costs of the airspace ut il ization programme to their benefits. Another problem was how to relate the pattern of ATC for the US—the Beacon system—to the pattern of air traffic control in the rest of the world; ATC systems in various parts of the world having any appreciable traffic must be compatible and must b e planned in a co-ordinated manner. During his recent trip to Europe it became very clear to Mr Halab> that without considerably closer working together of the US Govern ment and its European allies, there was a very substantial risk that Central Europe would design a traffic control and navigation system which would not be compatible with the Beacon system and would make it difficult to control effectively a good deal of the civil and military air traffic over Europe. An FAA task force is at present designing a navigation and control system for the North Atlantic which, it is hoped, will allow reduced separation standards. The use of DME procedures on a nationwide basis to provide ATC services for the entire fleet of civil jets began this year, said Mr Halaby, and all carriers were expected to complete the installa tion of DME in their jets within the next three months. Reaction to Project Beacon in almost all parts of the aviation community had been very favourable. A Systems Design Team had been organized in the FAA which is taking the concepts and plan of Project Beacon and designing it into an actual system, with full USAF co-operation. The work of this Team will be reviewed and guided by a Technical Advisory Board consisting of exceptionally qualified US industry executives. This Board is headed by Mr Richard Hough of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co.
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