FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0524.PDF
502 FLIGHT International, 11 April 1963 INDUSTRY International Flight Systems Products Company News Great Britain FLIGHT SYSTEMS Decca Developments The Mk 2 Omnitrac and Mk 3 self-setting Flight Log have now reached a stage of development where deliveries of production units could be made in six months. Mk 2 Omnitrac has a core memory and occupies a \ ATR case. With a ghost buoy unit in a i ATR case and the Mk 3 Flight Log, it offers an entirely new navigational capability for airlines and medium-sized business aircraft. The Flight Log is fully self-setting and there are no Decometers. With this part of the equipment the pilot can very rapidly ascertain his position, and aircraft movement will be traced by stipp ling through a typewriter ribbon against the reverse surface of the chart paper. Ghost buoy provides the essential addi tional facility of determining continuously the course and distance to a given point anywhere on the chart. The computation is continuously renewed so that it remains as accurate as the Decca position informa tion. The present ghost buoy indication is a veeder distance counter in half-mile steps up to 1,000 miles, with magnetic bearing on a conventional dial, but Decca are also considering a form of omni-bear- ing selector by which the pilot will be able to select a desired approach bearing and receive steering direction by left/right needle. Autopilot coupling will be available. The ghost buoy locations themselves are pre-cut on keys mounted on a simple turret switch, which now holds 12 keys. Up to 32 could be accommodated, but 18 or 20 should prove adequate. The complete turret can be changed in seconds. Decca state that all BEA's European routes could be included on the 35ft roll of charting in the Mk 3 Flight Log; and additional turrets could be carried to cover all reporting points and diversions for each leg. For unexpected way-points, the chart pen can be "borrowed" and manoeuv red to the desired location, whereupon the location is inserted into store as a ghost buoy. Omnitrac 1A and Mk 3 Flight Log also provide these facilities, at some expense in weight and size, but the Mk 2 has the addi tional capacity to accept navigational co ordinates and fixes from any other existing navaid. The ghost buoy location can be defined on the chart to l/128th of a mile. Within Decca coverage, bearing accuracy is better than 0.1°. Also in production is pictorial presenta tion for Doppler, several units of which have already been delivered for BEA Tri dents. The pilot simply has to set the chart scale and offset angle relative to North before manoeuvring the pen to the fix position. Doppler-sensed movement is stored meanwhile, and the pen catches up when the fix has been set. Up to 50 miles, flight can be stored. Indication accuracy depends on that of the Doppler, the heading- sensing element and up-dating. Another Decca equipment is the Mk 3 computer, an early digital system, which can remove most of the chart dis tortions over relatively restricted chart areas and allow the pen of the Mk 3 Flight Log to set itself within ±4in of the Decca position. No ghost buoy facility is provided. Left, the display of Decca Omnitrac Mk 2, self-setting Flight Lag Mk 3 and ghost buoy faci lity. Note absence of Decometers, chart con trols next to display, and ghost buoy controls be low, next to bearing dial and non-standard digital distance display Underwater Ejection In a report on underwater ejection in these columns on March 21, the compressed-air ejection system was credited to Martin-Baker. It was in fact designed and developed by de Havilland Aircraft. The men were separated from their seats and brought to the surface by equipment made by the Wal ter Kidde Co, who also provided the auto matic dinghy which subsquently lifted the men clear of the water. This type of dinghy is arranged to inflate at the foot end first, thus avoiding any tendency to inflate first along one side and capsize. The head end is inflated afterwards to complete the recovery. Our description of the dinghy sequence as "not very accurate" was based on the mistaken impression that inflation was complete when only the man's legs were clear of the water. PRODUCTS Dunlop in Brazil Dunlop Aviation Divi sion exhibits at the International Aero nautics and Space Fair which opened at Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 15 and con tinues until April 28 include components for some of the aircraft on regular service in South America—Comet, Caravelle, Avro 748 and Viscount. The company state that "in the field of aviation, South America is one of the fastest-developing areas of the world, and the British aircraft industry in general, and the Aviation Division's share in particular, stand to gain much from the rapid expansion of South America's airlines." COMPANY NEWS Charlie Tullett Retires Mr E. H. C. Tullett, depot manager (administration) of Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd at Hum, retired last month after service Continued at foot of column'J opposite Right, Decca Omnitrac Mk 2 in its i ATR case. It has a core memory
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
