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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 2321.PDF
594 FLIGHT International, 11 October 1962 Interception a la Russe . . . It transpired that, having been told to begin his turn too soon, the pilot had come out on a parallel course. Kolobkov was not a novice; he knew his job pretty well. The reason lay in his lack of attention. And Divakov did not fail to bring that up during the appropriate analysis. Discussing the flight, Divakov looked at the time. It was nec essary to go to the interception control centre. "How are we doing?" he asked one of the officers. "Everything is in order," was the reply. "The planned programme is being maintained." CRITICISM of some of Britain's air traffic control officers was expressed by AVM D. C. T. Bennett, the distinguished AOC of Bomber Command's wartime Pathfinder Force, when he addressed the Aerodrome Owners' Association annual conference at the Imperial Hotel, Blackpool, on Friday, September 28. The 110 delegates who attended represented municipal and private aero dromes and projected heliports. In his talk on The Case for Private and Business Aircraft Owners, AVM Bennett commented that air traffic control officers in this country were "the greatest destroyers of British aviation" because of their attitude towards private pilots. We had seen the "absolutely criminal scandal" of private pilots being fined for making a simple, honest mistake. Magistrates had condemned these pilots to fines of up to £150 for doing the equivalent of stepping off the kerb into the road. He added: "We do not want aviation to be a petty persecution ground where the officials and those they serve are at loggerheads." Urging the need for co-operation, he said: "maybe it is too late on the roads, but it is not too late in the air." In subsequent discussion, AVM Bennett said that he did not include all air traffic control officers in his remarks. Earlier, he had commented that it had been estimated that 56,000 regulations had to be applied when a young man jumped into an aeroplane to fly. That gave some idea of the burden of bureaucracy that lay on avia tion today. "In the past," he added, "we became great as a nation because of our leadership in transport. We were the world's carriers. We were still a great nation when before the war we were the leading air power in the world." AVM Bennett said that we had been surpassed and our aviation had gone downhill; and he added: "you people here, with your tremendous influence, can help that aviation power to come back. You can help it right at the bottom by helping the private pilot." He said that there were many people in this country who were fighting against aviation. He quoted as an example Blackbushe, where one or two local individuals had "fought tooth and nail" to destroy the airport. AVM Bennett argued that airports should be free, as were the roads, and he said that airport owners could help by thinking out a long-term policy to provide the lowest possible rates. "With municipal airports I think there is a strong argument for saying: 'We want people to come here. We are prepared to accept a slight burden on the rates'." When the conference opened on Thursday, September 27, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Aviation, Mr Basil de Ferranti, said that the last five years had seen a fivefold increase in the number of movements at non-State-owned aerodromes, partly accounted for by an increase in the number of de-nationalized aerodromes. "Your business is now beginning to 'take off," he told the conference; "you have come of age in no uncertain way. You are handling big business and growing business." Mr de Ferranti stressed that safety was perhaps the most import ant aspect of his Ministry's concern for aviation. It was absolutely essential that safety standards should be maintained at the very high level we had achieved, and improvements must go on. "I am very anxious we should find some help for any equipment Over the air came the muffled voice of a pilot: "I have attacked the target..." "Senior Lieutenant Gursky," observed the timekeeper. "Good man!" tersely approved Divakov. Gursky, like many others, had successfully taken the examination for the first class; but in his flying practice was one episode deserv- ign attention. He made a sortie to intercept. The cloud could be seen through, and it seemed to him that before the interception it would be possible to see the target visually. For only one second he took his eyes off the radar scope, but the whole interception went wrong: he did not see the enemy aircraft, and the trace dis appeared. This was a harsh lesson, but Gursky had convinced himself by his own experience what could result from want of discipline—the failure to observe essential requirements. of a technical and capital nature which may be required at some airports," he added. "I hope you will accept that as an earnest, good intention at this stage and not as a promise." Mr G. R. Scott-Farnie, managing director of International Aeradio Ltd, in a talk on Problems of Airport Operation at Home and Abroad, said that in certain instances there was a tendency to carry economy a little too far as far as technical and essential safety services were concerned. That was absolutely foolhardy. The aids required were expensive, but no airport receiving modern traffic could afford to be without the essential electronic and visual aids for accepting such traffic. Other speakers were Mr W. M. Hargreaves, Divisional Control ler, Northern Division, Ministry of Aviation, on The Ministry of Aviation and Aerodrome Owners, and Mr A. McClements, Chief Engineer, Bristol Division, Westland Aircraft Ltd, on Whither the Helicopter for Passenger Transport ? Mr Hargreaves went into considerable detail on aerodrome owner ship, both as regards the Northern Division of the MoA and its experiences with aerodrome applicants (speaking in this context "mainly for the benefit of potential aerodrome owners"), and on the Ministry's general functions in the sphere of aerodrome owner ship. These he discussed under several headings—the licensing of aerodromes, aerodrome fire and rescue services, air traffic control and air operations certificates. In the course of his opening remarks he gave some advice to potential aerodrome owners, in these terms: "aerodromes are expensive projects to start and run; they have a limited appeal, so first make sure of an adequate traffic area. Secondly, fit the size and organization of the aerodrome to the traffic you can reason ably hope to attract; and finally, ensure that you are not treading on the corns or attempting to poach on an adjacent area of interest which either has an existing aerodrome or aspirations." On the choice of ex-wartime airfields, Mr Hargreaves remarked that where this had been available, arguments of location and accessibility had arisen. He spoke of cases where two or more authorities had been concerned and efforts to build up a consortium had not so far proved successful, except for "the prime example'" of Leeds/Bradford. On licensing, Mr Hargreaves emphasized that the Ministry's prime function was to "advise on the suitability for licensing and to licenss any site submitted, where necessary interpreting the stand ards for aerodrome design and layout." He stressed that the Ministry did not necessarily consider whether the site submitted was the best in relation to all factors involved In the establishment of an aerodrome; that was a burden best borne by the Local Authority, in consultation with others and with the Local Planning Authority—though the MoA had in many cases rendered assistance. In his reference to fire and rescue services, Mr Hargreaves said that the provision and manning of these probably formed "the most difficult hurdle to surmount after provision, etc, of the aerodrome itself." On air traffic control, he commented that its provision had become "an increasingly heavy commitment on some aerodrome owners." Alderman Mrs P. M. Hyde of Coventry, chairman of the AOA presided. AIRPORT-AND AIR TRAFFIC-PROBLEMS AOA Confer at Blackpool
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