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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0082.PDF
82 FLIGHT International, 18 January 1962 AIR COMMERCE... COMMUNICATING ON COMMUNICATIONS THE month-long meeting of the 1CAO Communications Division began in Montreal on January 9. Among the assortment of topics to be discussed are better use of the VHF communications fre quency band, HF single side-band and airborne teleprinters, the last-named having been under test by Britain and Canada for some time. BOAC aircraft have carried teleprinters and airborne re ceivers for the automatic reception of HF weather broadcasts from Britain and Canada. On the navaid side, the meeting will "review" 1LS and secondary radar, probably producing a tighter accuracy specification for the former and discussing height coding for the latter. VOR and DME are to be discussed because "a shortage of available frequencies has made installation of VOR/DME difficult in some areas." The division will consider cutting VOR channel widths in half—bringing 50kc/s spacing into the nav band—and changing channel require ments for DME. Reducing VOR channel spacing from lOOkc/s to 50kc/s would be relatively simple because modern airborne radios already include the closer spacing. There might be some problems in frequency allocation to the beacons themselves. Halving channel-spacing in the DMET band can similarly be accepted in due course. Airborne teleprinters and single side-band HF radio will probably not pro duce any new projects. Improvement in the VHF, rather than the HF band, seems to offer better prospects technically. Most impor tant change, because of automatic landing and precision approach problems in general, will be a tightening of the present ICAO accuracy tolerances on ILS. LIFE OF A BRISTOL FREIGHTER FROM Bristol Aircraft comes information about the safe life of the Freighter, following a note on this subject in Flight International for January 4, page 13 ("Channel Air Bridge"). Bristol inform us that the Freighter is not "no longer airworthy" after a total of 28,000 landings, and that the spar modification can be done more than twice, this modification depending on the state of the associ ated structure. The front lower boom was the most critical on early production aircraft, and this had to be replaced (and has been replaced) after 4,500 landings. Later aircraft had a basic life of 9,000 landings. The only other lifed wing member is the lower rear bottom boom which has a basic life in the case of all aircraft of 10,000 landings. Bristol have made available two standards of modification to meet varying operational requirements: (I) on Freighters operating at a low landing rate per hour flown, replacement booms can be fitted giving a life extension of 9,000 landings on the front lower boom; (2) when the landing rate flown per hour is high, comple mentary modifications to the wing skins, in addition to boom re placement, increase the 9,000 figure to a total of 25.000. Thus, taking a typical short-haul operation, it would be possible with two boom changes and the wing skinning modification to achieve a total of 59,000 landings, equivalent to about 26 years of operation—with one boom change in hand. THE COMET STAYS IN PRODUCTION... ARTICLES from foreign sources have been appearing in the Press in certain parts of the world proclaiming that the history of the Comet appears to be nearing an end. In fact, de Havilland pointed out last week, of the 66 Comet 4,4B and 4C aircraft so far ordered, seven are being completed for delivery in 1962, further Comets are being built for sale with early delivery, and production will be extended as additional sales are made. What de Havilland describe as "a persistent interest" in the Comet 4C is shown by airlines in different parts of the world. Several sales negotiations are, the company say. proceeding and some are at '"an advanced stage." ...AND IT IS STILL THE RIGHT SIZE A COMPARISON between the operating cost of the Boeing 707 and the Comet 4 in BOAC service is made by de Havilland in a sales note recently published, entitled "On Filling Those Seats." The managing director being hailed is Air Cdre Nur Khan of Pakistan international Airlines (holding hat). The occasion is described in a note on page 84 According to BOAC's annual report, operating cost per revenue flying hour is £504 for the Boeing 707 and £284 for the Comet 4. • For the purpose of fair comparison, in order to reduce the Boeing western route costs to the levels experienced on the eastern routev I the 707 cost of £504 has been reduced by 10 per cent to £454. Over a mean stage distance of 1,250 miles these costs would amount to £1,270 for the Boeing 707 and £878 for the Comet 4 At a mean average achieved passenger fare of 5.85d per mile, the number of passengers required to break even on BOAC operating costs would be 42 for the 707 and 29 for the Comet 4. These costs. de Havilland point out. differ from the more commonly used ATA costs in that the BOAC method includes (1) the cost of engineering overheads, amounting to an additional 60-70 per cent of the direct engineering costs; (2) it normally includes landing fees. If a represen tative allowance for other indirect costs is added to the BOAC figures the Comet would require about 20 passengers fewer than the Boeing 707 to break even. These figures, which are based on actual airline operating costs. show the Comet "to be the most suitable aircraft for the great majority of the world's medium-stage routes where, as events have shown, traffic is limited and the rate of increase is only moderate." FRANCO-PORTUGUESE ENTENTE THE proposed agreement between the Portuguese flag carrier TAP and the French independent UAT ma> result in TAP operating a Lisbon - New York route using UAT DC-8s. The French carrier may receive some share of rights on this route, for which TAP currently holds a permit but does not operate. According to Interavia, UAT's financial participation in TAP may amount to about 20m escudos (£250.000). At a recent Extraordinary General Meeting the TAP board asked shareholders to approve a change in the company statutes to reduce the authorized foreign shareholding from 49 per cent to 20 per cent An increase in capital from 150m escudos (£1.87m) to 250m escudos (£3.12m) in one or more phases was authorized, but new share holders must be airlines who could help TAP expand its activities and route network with new jet equipment. UAT's association with the Portuguese carrier began last year when it leased three DC-6Bs to TAP. The new TAP board will number five to nine members, of whom the majority must be Portuguese nationals. TAP's contract for three Caravelles is expected to be signed shortly, and a Nord Aviation team has been demonstrating the Super Broussard to TAP for possible use on the Porto Santo- Funchal sector of the Lisbon - Madeira route; services on thi' sector are currently operated by a small ferry boat. Other pros pective Super Broussard customers are DTA of Angola and SATA. which operates an inter-island Dove service in the Azores. Portugual has resisted better than most other countries the wasteful nationalism represented by the operation of jet service* on routes where traffic is insufficient to support them. Instead of burdening its finances with the cost of jet re-equipment, TAP has entered an alliance with BEA whereby the latter's Comets operate to Oporto, Lisbon and Porto Santo as TAP flights; DC-6Bs ha e been leased from UAT, and with Panair do Brasil TAP operates
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