FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1962
1962 - 2117.PDF
480 FLIGHT International, 20 September 196: AIR COMMERCE... for each movement to be individually supervised. If a plan of operations could be established in advance and carried out with sufficient precision you could in theory largely dispense with the ATC service. In the real world it is unlikely that you would be able to do so, but I believe there is a very great deal to be said for trying to get as near as possible to this ideal situation. Of course, there would be complaints of regi mentation from people who believe they should by divine right exercise a freedom in the air that could not be tolerated in any ground transport system; but eventually one would expect good sense to prevail. Accurate navigation of aircraft along correctly allocated flight-paths must, I submit, have a direct relationship to the cost of an ATC service. Whether the total cost of providing the navigational capability would be greater than the direct savings in the ATC service is, I concede, debat able, but when the other long-term benefits of more accurate and reliable navigation are taken into account I believe there is an overwhelming case for establishing the capability. There are other ways in which the ATC problems could be reduced, and they also involve easing the controller's burden by the acceptance of more responsibility in the opera tion of the aircraft. First, there is speed control, which on some busy routes is essential if full use of longitudinal separa tion is to be made. It can be shown mathematically that the longitudinal spacing used in ATC is affected by airspeed differences, airspeed variability and route length, and that the only alternative is radar control or very frequent position-reports, both of which entail heavy demands on controller manpower to issue clearance changes when there is an impending conflict. Then there is movement control, which in certain cases would restrain air craft from entering an already crowded area where holding facilities are satiated. Finally (although, as already stated, the problem of an airborne collision avoidance system appears at present insoluble) aircraft could be equipped with a co-opera tive device that would show a pilot the distance other aircraft lATA's DUBLIN MEETING (continued from page 478) The Medical Committee's report included the straightforward statement, which the pilots' representatives will probably want to answer, that: "a review of pilot opinion has indicated that piloting jet aircraft is not more tiring than flying piston-engined aircraft." Enlarging on this, the chairman of the committee, Dr Andr6 Allard (Sabena), said: "Jet flying can be more stressful, but total fatigue is less because flight times are shorter." Mr A. M. Conradie (SAA), chairman of the Legal Committee, said that the USA had not yet ratified the Hague Protocol to the Warsaw Convention (the protocol which, among other things, doubles airlines' liability for passengers up to £6,000), and that the US appeared to be having doubts about the parent Warsaw Convention itself. But 26 States had now ratified the protocol, and he expected that the four others needed for it to become effective would be ratifying it "very soon." It was at Sir William Hildred's final press conference that Lord Brabazon's speech came in for adverse comment. It had been expected that IATA would refrain from adding fuel to the fire of the newspaper headlines; but this was not to be so. Sir William, who was obviously expecting a question on the matter, said that Lord Brabazon's remarks about the safety of big jet landing speeds was "a cheap gibe." He said that Lord Brabazon was "trying to alarm the public," and "beating up headlines." A leading article appears in this issue. BO AC 707s to West Africa From October 12 BO AC and Nigeria Airways are to introduce 707s on to their daily service between Lagos and London. The Boeings will supersede Britannias, which have operated the route for the past three years, and Comet 4s which were introduced earlier this year. A once-weekly express service with one stop—at Kano—will leave London on Wednesday mornings with an elapsed time of 7hr 50min to Lagos, a saving of more than three hours compared with the Britannia schedule. are ahead or astern on the same track, i.e., a separation moni tor. In areas such as the North Atlantic this equipment would have obvious immediate benefit, and also may well prove extremely valuable in or adjacent to terminal areas. To summarize, I venture to question the validity of the popular premise that the long-term objective is for aircraft to be allowed to fly as they choose, with ATC being saddled with the full responsibility of finding ways and means of preventing air-to-air collision. This will, I contend, prove thoroughly un economic and involve an unwarrantable hazard, because of an eventually overloaded ground ATC service. I dombt whether we shall be able to go on increasing the quantity and diversity of air traffic based on the present concept of filing a very approximate flight plan, leaving it to the ATC service to miti gate the consequences of the inevitable divergences. On our roads we are witnessing the consequences of failing to anticipate soon enough all the problems of traffic growth. I suggest that air transport, as a whole major industry, must soon be subjected to system planning, with all participants- controllers, pilots, operators, manufacturers and scientists— contributing to the optimum organization in a rational manner. Sensibly planned aerial highways, by-passes and over-passes must come, and should be flown by all users in a reasonably disciplined manner that marries efficiency to overall economy. If the true ATC requirements are postulated a sufficient num ber of years in advance, technology will undoubtedly find the answer. My fear (I hope it is unfounded) is that scientists and engineers may for too long be asked to expend effort in solving what will eventually turn out to be the wrong problem. Finally, I believe the objectives of ATC ought to be ex pressed in quantitative as well as qualitative terms. The safety level attempted in, for example, aircraft take-off and landing legislation is wisely defined in mathematical terms as a given incident probability. I suggest that there is a very good case for using the same basic method to establish internationally an accepted probability figure of an ATC incident which could be defined as a specified infringement of separation standards. If this were agreed, ATC engineers could then plan system developments and improvements much more objectively. In November, 707s are also to be introduced on the London - Accra service with one non-stop service a week and one calling at Rome and Kano. DC-8 Overshoots at Shannon On September 11 a KLM DC-8 overshot the 10,000ft runway at Shannon. It had landed from Amsterdam with ten crew and 50 passengers and was due to pick up a further 87 passengers before going on to New York. Lufthansa Lower-fares Bid Lufthansa announce that they in tend proposing, at next week's IATA's fares conference, that all North Atlantic special-fare offers be abolished in favour of a lower regular fare. In contrast, the airline is still trying to obtain permis sion for an increase in domestic fares of about 10 per cent, refused in April. Spirited Gesture Two Russian engineers working with Ghana Airways were presented with gifts of whisky by BOAC Captain C. A. Eagleton after they rescued him from drowning while bathing at Labadi Beach near Accra. CAMBRIAN-BEA DEAL AS this issue closes for press BEA and Cambrian Airways and the Isle of Man Airports Board announce that, from April 1 next year, subject to ATLB approval, all BEA services to, through and from the Isle of Man as well as those between Liverpool and Belfast will be operated by the corporation's associated company Cambrian Airways. Cambrian have announced that they will purchase some of BEA's Viscounts to operate these services. For some time BEA have been faced with rising costs on their Irish Sea routes and this solution has a number of important implications, which we hope to review in a later issue. Only last week (see page 484) Cambrian's chairman said that if present negotiations reached a satisfactory conclusion, "Cambrian will be lifted from the realm of a relatively small company to one of some increased stature."
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
