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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1373.PDF
FLIGHT International, 9 August 1962 International interview with Mr Frank Beswick soon after the report was published, was asked whether IATA would review its ^pinions about the two fuels. Sir William said: "I am going to ask the technical director to write me a memorandum on this new report." He stressed that the "opinions formed by IATA [that there was nothing to choose between the relative safety of the two fuels] were on the basis of studies by our technical committee of 20 of die top technical people in the airlines of the world." Sir William said: "Let us not forget that both fuels are a damn sight safer than the stuff you put under the bonnet of your car." The Ministry of Aviation's report has, it is understood, been drawn to the notice of the International Civil Aviation Organization. CORPORATION CHARTER CHALLENGE? A REPORT in the Sunday Times for July 29 suggested that BEA are going to start a "war" with the independents by competing for inclusive-tour charter work. Lord Douglas, chairman of BEA, is quoted as having said—as Mr Milward, his chief executive, has also said: "The private operators say they want competition, and they will jolly well get it." The independent airline figuring most promi nently in the context was British United Airways. There has never actually been a "gentleman's agreement" that BO AC and BEA would keep out of the charter market; ten years ago the Minister told them not to maintain aircraft for charter work. In recent years, as the corporations' business as a whole has expanded, so have their charter hours. In 1961-62 BEA flew nearly 3,5O0hr on charter work; although this was an 18 per cent drop on the previous year's figure, it compares with the 2,000hr flown five years ago. BOAC's charter hours have shot up in the same period from 5,000hr to getting on for 42,000hr last year. Clearly, the ten-year-old decree has gone by default; both corporations, and particularly BOAC, are very active in the charter market, and both have surplus capacity available for charter work— DC-7Cs and DC-7Fs, Britannia 312s and 102s in the case of BOAC, and a score of Viscount 701s in the case of BEA. When, in 1960, the new Act gave the independents equal rights with the corporations to apply for scheduled services it was only reasonable that the corporations should have, eventually at any rate, an equal right to keep aircraft specifically for charter work if they wished to. As noted in these pages last week there has been a decline in the number of independent applications to the Air Transport Licensing Board for inclusive-tour charter flights in 1963 compared with the current season. One reason is that many of the older aircraft, like the DC-3. Viking and Hermes, are becoming less acceptable to tour organizers. The decreasing popularity of these aircraft is inevitable anyway, but it will be accentuated by the tighter performance requirements envisaged by the Ministry. A completely new situation would arise if BEA's surplus Viscount 701s and BOAC's surplus Britannia 102s were to be deliberately concentrated on the charter market. Obviously BEA and BOAC would be feeding the hand that bites them by selling these aircraft off to the independents. There seems to be an opportunity for both corporations to form properly organized charter divisions—even separate companies, as has been done by other major European airlines—treating charter work as a specialist product rather than a by-product of scheduled services. An intriguing situation could arise if, for instance, BOAC were to just opened is BEA's new import cargo office at London Heathrow. Situated opposite the existing import warehouse in the central area, the new building will house 150 staff and will enable the corporation to give a much improved and more personal service to its clients. The building was completed in six months This flight information display is now in use by Western Air Lines at Los Angeles International Airport. Informction on arrivals and departures is electronically posted to the board, which was made by Ferranti-Packard Electric Ltd, the Canadian subsidiary of Ferranti Ltd bid for European inclusive-tour charters with their Britannias; while it is not too certain that this market is big enough to accom modate BOAC, because of increasing participation by foreign carriers and also the IT trend towards scheduled services, there is nevertheless no reason why both BOAC and BEA should not now launch an all-out attack on the charter market. At any rate, the independents have no need to worry about BEA competing in the summer 1963 inclusive-tour market, applica tion deadlines for which have now expired. Footnote Commenting on reports of BEA's interest in charter work, Mr F. A. Laker is reported by the Sunday Times to have said: "I am amazed that BEA should appear to be so hysterical at a problem they don't yet know the extent of. I don't think that BEA will lose any traffic at all if we are given these new scheduled services. We do believe in a spirit of co-operation between British airlines. There is little point in us driving each other into the ground for the benefit of foreign airlines." PILOT MEDICAL STANDARDS REFORTS of experienced pilots losing their licences due to hearing or visual standards falling below the ICAO minima prompts the thought expressed in this month's IFALPA monthly News Bulletin that not all licensing authorities may be fully aware of the flexibility that has been deliberately "built in" to ICAO requirements. The first chapter of the annex to the ICAO Convention on per sonnel licensing establishes the important general principle that even though the standards specified are not met, a licence may nevertheless be issued provided that "accredited medical conclusions'' indicate that the condition of the applicant introduces no risk to perform his duties safely and that failure to attain the required standard is "capable of being compensated." The compensation envisaged is that which would result from "already acquired and demonstrated skill and experience" as a pilot. In the case of hearing, the normal requirement of the annex may be waived provided the candidate achieves a normal hearing performance in each ear separately against a background noise equivalent to that encountered on a flight deck and is able to hear average conversations in a quiet room with both ears at 2.5m with his back to the speaker. It was made clear by the ICAO Secretariat when the last amend ments to hearing requirements were introduced that the more stringent standard of pure tone audiometry then laid down should be balanced by provision for practical tests under actual service conditions. It is understood, therefore, that in all borderline cases where the licence of an experienced pilot is in jeopardy, he should be able to claim a practical test in the air or on a simulator in order to deter mine whether he can safely perform the function of piloting; and that in such cases the "approved medical conclusion" referred to in the annex will normally be a joint conclusion made not only by the medical examiners but also by a check-pilot.
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