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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0749.PDF
747 FLIGHT International, 10 May 1962 Mackey Airlines are now lease-purchasing two DC-6&S and operating them on routes from Florida to the Bahamas on scheduled services and charters. Although the airline had a DC-6 on lease three years ago, in recent years their biggest aircraft have been DC-4s. This aircraft, N90960, seen at Nassau, bears the inscription on the fin "US Scheduled Airline Route 112" evidence of the latter. Of the Rhodesian commission's conclusion of pilot error, the UN commission says that although it cannot exclude the possibility of pilot error, it "has found no indication that this was the probable cause of the crash." That no flight plan was filed at Salisbury is attributed to the Katanga hostilities and the activities of a Katanga jet fighter. Dr M. Frei-Sulzer, chief of the scientific department of the Zurich police force, who was appointed by the UN to examine the wreck age, dismisses theories of shooting down and sabotage. All the recognisable fragments proved to belong to the aircraft and its load, 3,1981b of metal from the wreckage was melted down into 142 ingots, and careful and repeated checking showed "no suspect bodies." Sabotage would have left significant traces on the wreck age, but no such evidence was found. THE COMET BLOC GROWS THERE are three obvious candidates for the job of assisting Sudan Airways with the operation, due to start in November, of DH Comet 4Cs. The Sudanese airline confirmed its order for two Comet 4Cs on May 2. British United Airways operate and maintain Sudan Airways' Viscount 831 on the "Blue Nile" service from Khartoum to London via Cairo, Athens and Rome and would be prepared, it is under stood, to continue the arrangement with Comets. An approach to BUA has been made by Sudan Airways. MEA would also be prepared to operate Comets and/or main tain them (at their big Beirut engineering base, formerly known as Masco) on behalf of Sudan Airways; Sheikh Najib Alamuddin of MEA operates four Comet 4Cs, and has made no secret of his aspirations to form Comet consortia with other Middle East opera tors. In London last March the Sheikh said there was a market for six more Comet 4Cs in the Middle East, three for MEA and three for other operators "if the right terms can be found." Asked whether MEA would be associated with Sudan Airways' Comet operation, MEA say: "No agreement has yet been made." United Arab Airlines, a successful and highly satisfied operator of seven Comet 4Cs, would also be a candidate for assisting Sudan Airways, but according to a spokesman last week such an arrange ment is unlikely. Across Sudan's southern border is another Comet operator, East African Airways; and to the east, across the Red Sea, the King of Saudi Arabia has ordered (and paid for) a Comet, though this aircraft remains in storage at Hatfield. Saudi Arabian Airlines are a potential Comet operator—as are Kuwait Airways and Iraqi Airways. The accession of Sudan Airways to an already strong Comet bloc in the Middle East, with all the technical opportunities for co-operation that the bloc confers, could stimulate further sales. Sudan Airways' Comets will be introduced by the operator on the Khartoum - London service and later to Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Beirut, Nicosia, Aden, and possibly Bombay. The Comet order book now stands at 69 aircraft, as follows: BOAC, 19 Comet 4; Aerolineas Argentinas. seven Comet 4; EAAC, three Comet 4; BEA, 14 Comet 4B; Olympic, four Comet 4B; MEA, four Comet 4C; UAA, seven Comet 4C; Mexicana, three Comet 4C; Sudan Airways, two Comet 4C; King Saud, one Comet 4C; RAF, five Comet 4C. THE BIGGEST LOSS AT a time when so much is heard of the "inevitability" of the super sonic airliner, and so little of the markets its makers can expect for it, General Dynamics has suffered the melancholy distinction of losing, on the Convair 880 and 990 medium jet programmes, more money than any company in history has ever lost before on a single product. By the end of 1961, General Dynamics had to write off some S425m (£151.8m) on its jet airliner programme; and if further size able write-offs are necessary this year, General Dynamics may even have to sell its Convair division. The full story of just why. Convair's jet programme lost so badly was, incidentally, told in two fascinat ingly detailed articles by Richard Austin Smith in the January and February issues of Fortune, in which appear many so far unpub lished facts. The market for a medium-range jet was reckoned at 257 aircraft sold over ten years by Convair six years ago, with a possible profit of $250m and, at worst, a loss of $30-50m. So far 880 and 990 firm sales appear to account for 76 aircraft (22 Model 990s and 54 Model 880s and 880 22Ms). At least ten completed aircraft are as yet unsold. The table summarizes the current order and delivery position. Model 880 880 880 later 990 880 later 990 880/22M 990 990 ("Coronado") 990 ("Coronado") 880/22M 880 880/22M 880/22M 880/22M 880/22M 880 990 880/22M Customer TWA Delta Transconti nental REAL-Varig Capital1 American Swissair SAS VIASA' Northeast1' CAT Formosa JAL FAA Alaska Hughes Tool Hughes Tool Cathay Pacific Number Ordered 30, later cut back to 20 17 4 4 880s; later 3 990s 7 15,- originally 25 7; two for lease to SAS 2 2 6 1 5 1 1 4 13 Date of Order 1956 1956 1957 1957 1959 1958 1959 1959 1961 1959 I960 I960 I960 1961 Deliveries Complete 13 Lapsed Doubtful Cancelled 5 Complete Current order; 5 delivered Cancelled 2 Complete Complete 3 Complete Complete Cocooned at Lindbergh Field Cancelled, some com pleted Complete Notes: (I) Capital's aircraft were completed and two were leased to Swissair pending delivery of the 990s; KLM and Pan American interest for two and six of these aircraft respectively is reported. (2) To be returned if speed mods fail; five more to be bought if mods succeed. (3) Original order in 1958 for five 880s changed in 1959 to seven 990s. (4) VIASA first 880 actually ordered by Avensa. (5) North east's aircraft originally built for TWA. INDIA AND THE CARAVELLE EVENTUALLY Indian Airlines Corporation may buy seven or eight Caravelle 6s, although initially the order is expected to be for four aircraft at a cost of Rs90m (£6|m). The repeat order would be placed when India's foreign exchange position improves. Delivery of the first four Caravelles will be made in time to enable IAC to start operations in mid-1963 on the "golden triangle" routes, Bombay - Delhi - Calcutta - Bombay. This will release about a half of the 14 Viscounts to operate regional routes. The presid/nt of Sud-Aviation, M. Georges Hereil, has been in
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