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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0586.PDF
564 FLIGHT International, 18 April 1963 St ight and Level 'Are You All Right?" No 18 WISE words from Mr G. F. Fiennes, chief operating officer, British Rail ways, in his lecture (published in the Institute of Transport Journal) "Co-operation in Transport":— "What is surprising, and indeed incred ible, is that there is virtually no voluntary association between parallel forms of trans port ... As a railwayman or a transport man or a citizen I see no greater fundamen tal difficulty, but much advantage, in setting up, for instance, an air/rail/road/sea con ference for traffic within this country." • "The captain of the aircraft jettisoned 10,000 gallons of fuel while the airliner circled for 35 minutes."—Report in The Times. Poor old London Airport residents. After five years of suffering, they petitioned the House of Commons on April 9 that "their sleep is being constantly interrupted" by jet noise. They quote Mr Justice Veale's ruling that "A man is entitled to sleep dur ing the night in his own house." They have complained, too, of the stench of burnt paraffin fumes that are wafted into their homes every time a jet takes off or runs up on test. Now, with their ears and their nostrils so rudely assailed by Progress, they have to suffer their washing and gardens being drenched in the stuff. It can't be much of a life, particularly for the elderly, the sick, and the children. And every day and every night it gets worse. May I be frivolous for a moment about this singularly unfunny subject? At least the paraffin was not dyed, as was the fuel of a manufacturer's prototype which one Monday morning was exercising its jettison ing system for the benefit of the air-to-air photographer. The whole of a neighbour's washing, out drying on the line, was dyed bright red. It cost the aircraft company con cerned—I think it was de Havilland, Hat field—quite a lot of money. Some aviation people take responsibility for their social solecisms. • "Dear Sirs: We hereby acknowledge receipt of your letter of February 14, which by a mistake unfortunately had been filed before answer.'"—Letter from an airline. As a connoisseur of apologies for neglec ted correspondence I am all admiration for this one. It gives the impression that the company, far from being inefficient, is too efficient to answer letters promptly. Actually, I think I can improve on it. How about this:— "We hereby acknowledge receipt of your letter of February 14, which by a mistake unfortunately had been micro filmed, punchcard-indexed, dipped in for maldehyde, tape-recorded and transferred to our City of London central filing vaults before answer. Yours faithfully, etc. "P.S. The information you require is not at the moment to hand anyway." • From a poem by Harry H. Kemp, published in America in 1908:— And liners useless at the docks will stand Like dead Leviathans washed up to land, While steamship companies through bribed law Will seek the winged fleets to overawe. • BEA reckon that if British United are going to operate new international routes then they themselves should have a right to bid for BUA's trooping. They have now applied for the necessary licences. Commenting on this latest move in the corporation v. independent cold war, British United say that BEA are "screaming before they are hurt." There's nothing wrong in screaming before you are hurt. In fact I think it is a very sensible thing to do. I always scream —before, during and after being hurt. Mind you, my adversary never runs away, nor does anybody ever take any notice, and certainly nobody ever comes rushing to my help. But it makes me feel so much better. • "If the proposals of an American com pany are accepted, Doncaster municipal airport may soon become an automatic golf course."—Press report. ROGER BACON No, on further thoughts let's put this one back where it was and shove the piano into the sea
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