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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 2606.PDF
FLIGHT International, 8 November 1962 735 TEN BEA VISCOUNTS SOLD TEN more °f BEA's Viscount 701s have been sold, at an undis closed price, to the Brazilian airline VASP. Delivery of the first aircraft, refurbished and painted in the airline's colours by BEA, is due this month. All ten aircraft are due to be in VASP's hands before the end of February. With four aircraft already sold to Cambrian Airways, this leaves only nine more of BEA's 701s to be disposed of. The first three VASP aircraft are registered PP-SRI, 'RJ and 'RK, having previously been G-AMOB, 'OD and 'OC respectively. These aircraft have about 15,000-16,OOOhr in their log books and have been in service with BEA since the summer of 1953. As discussed in last week's issue ("BEA's Viscount 701 Prices") a recent issue of the Aircraft Exchange's Market Report contained five Viscount 701s quoted at about £110,000 each. It is therefore unlikely that VASP have paid more than this for their ten aircraft; probably BEA have accepted a package offer, equivalent to rather less per unit, in view of the size of the deal. It is not known whether VASP are paying cash or are getting the aircraft on credit. VASP is already a Viscount operator, with a fleet of five Viscount 827s. The Viscount 701 will presumably be used to replace the 15 Scandias, and this deal presumably rules out the possibility of a VASP order for Avro 748s, Heralds or F.27s to replace these aircraft. The airline has, it seems, obtained a fleet of ten well-maintained Viscounts for an outlay of probably not more than £lm. KILLER BIRD STRIKES A BIRD, believed to be a vulture, struck a Sydney-bound Qantas Boeing 707 soon after the aircraft left Karachi for Calcutta on October 14. The pilot continued the flight to Dum Dum with one badly damaged engine. This was the second collision with a vulture to be experienced near Karachi in three months. Although the bird menace through out the Indian sub-continent is particularly acute, never until last July—so far as is known—had a transport pilot actually been killed by a bird. This happened on July 16, when an Indian Airlines Corporation DC-3 (Capt Singh) on a flight from Kabul to Delhi struck a vulture about 50 miles from Lahore. Now a Flight Safety Foundation accident prevention bulletin. No 62-9, records the case of a twin-engined transport on a charter flight in the Middle East that was hit by a 4O-501b vulture at 7,500ft. This may or may not be the same accident; for obvious reasons operators are not identified in FSF bulletins. The vulture hit the aircraft with such force that it broke the vulture guard wire on the windscreen, smashed through the windscreen, hit the pilot on the side of the face, and finally slammed into the bulkhead behind the co-pilot. This officer managed to make a safe landing, but though the pilot was rushed to hospital, he died of his injuries. The Flight Safety Foundation asks operators for details of heavy bird-strike experiences, and particularly for any information concerning the design and installation of windscreen guards. The BOAC Inquiry WHAT can a City of London firm of chartered accountants find out about BOAC's financial situation that is not already known to the Minister of Aviation ? Can any useful purpose be served by the secret inquiry that is being made by this un-named firm, at the request of the Minister, for his guidance? Much publicity was given to the news of the inquiry—inquiries being synonymous in the public mind with culprit-hunting—although it was, in fact, put in hand about a month ago, soon after BOAC's announcement of a £64m accumulated deficit. This is not a culprit hunt, but an investigation by a private firm, at the taxpayers' expense, of BOAC's accounts. Yet one usually well informed newspaper went so far as to suggest that the question of BOAC's enforced choice of British aircraft was "a matter which the investigators must examine," and that they should consider other matters such as the cost to the corporation of having to run unprofitable routes for political purposes, etc., etc. This leading article also suggested that the question of London as a main Euro pean terminal should also be examined by the investigators. Even assuming that such matters were within the inquiry's terms of reference, which is not known, these and a hundred other matters were of course thoroughly examined in public by the monumental Parliamentary select committee report of 1959 (which was followed up by a second progress report earlier this year). Obviously a handful of accountants, however competent they may be at accounting methods, are not qualified to examine BOAC on such matters of broad policy. These are matters which are the raison d'etre of the Minister and his staff in the Ministry of Aviation. What then can this inquiry achieve? Curiously, it was "wel comed" by Sir Matthew Slattery, who said that it would "help us [i.e., BOAC] to evaluate the effectiveness of certain proposals" which he had made to the Minister as well as others he would be making. These proposals, as is well known, include the one that the interest on BOAC's £64m accumulated deficit should be wiped out. But this is a matter of policy, not of accountancy. Sir Matthew is also asking for a subsidy for breaking in the VC10; yet this again is a matter of policy and not of accountancy. It may well be that the Minister wants to know how BOAC ran into the financial mess in which it now finds itself. It may well be, too, that the Minister wants to know about BOAC accounting policies and methods in respect of such matters as depreciation, insurance, the securing of investments in and loans to associates, etc. But all this is to be found in the pages of the select committee report, in BOAC's detailed annual reports and accounts, and of course in the day-to-day private discussions and consultation that go on between BOAC and the permanent staff of the Ministry. If there has to be an inquiry at all, it might well be into the pressing matters discussed in a leading article in this issue. The inquiry's report will, it is believed, be in the Minister's hands before Christmas. It will not be published. Now at work in the Congo, under contract to the United Nations, is this Aviation Tra ders Carvair, N9758F, owned °Y the American-registered Luxembourg-based company 'ntercontmenta/. A second Carvair for a sister company, mteroeean, is due to be de- '•"''e<ed shortly; like this air-cr °fi, it will be painted in white UN markings. A note obout Intercontinental and interocean appeared in last week's issue
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