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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 0621.PDF
FLIGHT International, 25 April 1963 595 THE ROYAL AERO CLUB ON PILOT TRAINING SINCE when has spreading a ton of fertilizer over a potato crop in ten minutes been like delivering 150 passengers from New York to London in six hours? While the Royal Aero Club does not pre sume to comment on the training and licensing standards for pilots engaged in commercial flying, it has expressed its concern to the Hamilton Committee* in case the highly specialized all-round air crew standards needed to cope with the complicated aircraft used by the front-rank airlines are applied to the training and licensing standards for all the other—and utterly different—kinds of hire- and-reward flying. The RAeC believes that if this is done it will severely restrict the supply of pilots to these operations without usefully contributing to safety standards in any way, and inci dentally making it virtually impossible for a private or ex-Service pilot to graduate to a commercial licence without going on a full- time course. The RAeC also believes that the situation would be aggravated even further by the adoption of the Ministry of Aviation's proposal to restrict all forms of flying for renumeration to commercial licence holders. The club partially opposes this last suggestion which would require pilots performing most test, ferry and executive flying to hold a commercial licence. Therefore, as the principal body re presenting the interests of private pilots in Britain, the RAeC be lieves that the way should not be blocked for these pilots to graduate to a commercial licence by taking an examination designed to * An independent body appointed by the Ministry of Aviation to investigate all forms of pilot licensing as recommended in the White Paper on Aviation Safety. assess their ability to perform safely and efficiently the particular kind of commercial flying operation in which they are interested. To support this kind of individually arranged training for a commercial licence and instrument rating, the RAeC proposes that in addition to the College of Air Training—which in any case is too closely geared to the special requirements of the airline cor porations—the Ministry of Aviation should grant approval to other flying schools having the right equipment and facilities and an adequate standard of instruction. On the subject of facilities and standards for training and examinations, the Club believes that Government financial support should be shared equally between students from the full-time colleges and the part-time flying schools. The RAeC representations have also highlighted the very high cost to the individual pilot of the annual instrument-rating renewal flight test, and have requested that ways be sought for reducing the cost. In this connection it is suggested that consideration be given to the use of flight simulators for renewal checks, or some sys tem for taking into account evidence of recent instrument flying as is the case in some other countries. As the disparity between aircraft used in commercial operations grows larger in terms of size, speed, complexity and operating pat tern, it appears (not only from what the Royal Aero Club and the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators have said, but as a logical conclusion) that the best interests of safety, efficiency and the orderly supply of aircrew personnel to the expanding needs of all kinds of commercial flying would best be served if the pilot licens ing—and hence the associated training syllabi and examinations— were geared more to the requirements of the particular operation. More Money for Early Answers A $400,000 contract has been awarded to the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory by the FAA to conduct investigations into the systems of a supersonic transport as part of the research programme being conducted by industry and the US Government. Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, under this contract, will give intensive support to the Joint Systems Analysis Group, a team of government-industry representatives established within FAA's Supersonic Transport Program Division. By making optimum use of electronic computer programmes, Cornell will support this group in systems analyses on four points: (1) integrate results of existing research in the areas of aerodynamics, materials, struc tures, propulsion, operations, and pilot factors; (2) examine, in the light of research, the inter-relationships among economic, technical, and operational factors in the design of an SST; (3) define systems requirements for an SST in terms of aircraft, sub systems, ground equipment, personnel, operation, maintenance; (4) identify elements of a programme and programme-timetable that would meet requirements for development of an SST. A significant portion of this integration and analysis work is scheduled to be completed by May 1, 1963, as all the basic research findings on the SST are due to go before the White House before the end of the current fiscal year. Viscount Approach Accident One of Icelandair's two Viscount 759s crashed in rain while approaching to land at Fornebu Airport, Oslo, on April 14, while on the regular Copenhagen-Oslo-Bergen - Reykjavik service. The crash occurred two miles west of the field on the island of Nesoy, killing the seven passengers and five crew on board. lATA's 94th Member The Leopoldville-based airline Air Congo has become the 94th member of the International Air Transport Association. The Congolese Republic flag carrier operates scheduled services between Leopoldville and Brussels, Usumbura, Entebbe, ^' "irobi, Lagos and Luanda, in addition to an extensive domestic air network. Good Aeroplanes Cheap The latest Aircraft Exchange listings include ten jets being offered for sale or lease. The only asking price for any of the jets is $5.1m each for a batch of four DC-8 Series 30s. Also listed are two Boeing 720Bs and a Convair 880- 22M for sale or minimum lease of two years. Many kinds of turbo prop and piston-engine transports feature in the lists, including Britannia 302s at $ 1.25m each. Viscount 701s at $310,000, DC-7s from $75,000 to $400,000, DC-6Bs from $275,000 to $750,000, DC-6s from $125,000 to $300,000, DC-4s from $65,000 to $190,000, DC-4M (Argonaut) $30,000, DC-3s from $18,000 to $63,000, and Convair 340/440s from $395,000 to $600,000. The Hunt Trophy, donated by Captain V. A. M. Hunt to the Guild of Air Traffic Control Officers, has been awarded to International Aeradio's School of Air Traffic Control for its outstanding contribution to the field of air traffic control during the past year. The trophy was presented to Mr G. R. Scott-Farnie, managing director of IAL, by Capt Hunt at the annual dinner of the Guild
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