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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1040.PDF
FLIGHT International, 27 June 1963 1009 SUPERSONIC COMMENTS IN recent weeks the supersonic transport files have been bulging with comments and statements by airlines and others, some prompted by Pan American's Concorde order, and some by the approaching American decision. Mr John Stack, vice-president and director of Republic Aviation Corporation, has had more to say on the question of Mach 2 v. Mach 3 than his words reported elsewhere in this issue. Formerly a leading engineer with NASA, Mr Stack contends that aluminium is a marginal metal for supersonic use, and '"if it is suitable marginally for 2.2 it is definitely not usable for Mach 3." "A Mach 2 machine, therefore, has "no growing power." He bases his judgment on the futility of building anything supersonic that cannot be improved with time, and this means titanium or stainless steel, or something superior to aluminium. Mr W. C. Mentzer, senior vice-president, engineering and maintenance of United Air Lines, says that he has made a com parison of the actual cost of carrying a passenger from San Fran cisco to New York on a DC-8 and a BAC-Sud Concorde. "1 found that the cost was about the same," he said, "'if all direct and indirect costs were combined—including full depreciation charges for the DC-8 but no depreciation charges for the Concorde." In other words, comments Mr Mentzer, "if Concordes were made available to airlines at no cost they would operate at a cost per seat-mile just about equal to a DC-8 carrying full depreciation charges." Mr Gordon R. McGregor, president of TCA, predicts a surcharge for supersonic transport. In a recent lecture before the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute, he said that the SST might well go into service in the first half of the 1970s, but he described as "pious wishful thinking" the IATA technical committee's statement that the supersonic transport's seat-mile costs must be equal to or better than those of subsonic jets of comparable size and range operating at the time of the SST's introduction. The supersonic airliner, said Mr McGregor, would be twice as fast but it would have fewer seats, less payload, less range and a higher ratio of fuel weight to payload. Under these circumstances, he said, "it is inconceivable that the unit operating cost will approach that of the good subsonic jet." Mr B. R. Patel, vice-chairman and general manager of Air-India, said at London Heathrow on June 6 that Air-India would eventually operate supersonic aircraft over the North Atlantic, probably in partnership with BOAC and Qantas. He added that "supersonic aircraft such as the Concorde will undoubtedly attract traffic but airlines must be able to write off the value of their present jets before another round of aircraft purchasing."|Mr Patel did not think that, because of noise, it would be possible for Air-India to operate supersonic transports over land and on their eastern routes. Mr R. R. Shaw of Qantas, in a paper at the SAE meeting in Washington last April, described Qantas's attitude as "neutral, being neither for the SST nor against it." Unlike other airlines Qantas saw "a very real commercial potential" in the SST and did not regard 1970 as being a premature date for its introduction. The problems, however, were a "stimulus to positive investigation rather than a cause for despair and opposition to the whole subject." On the subject of SST economics on Qantas routes, Mr Shaw says that Qantas assess the seat-mile cost of the SST as "lying in the band between 95-115 per cent of that of present equipment." They regard it technically feasible to achieve an SST having unit costs comparable with present subsonic jets by 1970. Ultimate Air Bus? "WITHIN ten years, lift engines having a 30 : 1 lift to weight ratio will be available," says Mr Hall L. Hibbard, senior vice-president of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, who adds: "Present jet engines range from 4 : 1 to 7 : 1; the British have reached 17:1; and an American firm is developing a 20 : 1 which will be running this year." Mr Hibbard was addressing the recent Connecticut General's air transport symposium in Hartford, and he had some stimulating comments to make on the "LiftLiner," as he called it. The design of this transport, a 50-60 seater short-hauler, must be approached "with a clean sheet of paper and an open mind. We must be very careful not to clutter this new concept with any of the old ideas we have been using since the Wright Brothers." Mr Hibbard thought that the need for any wings at all should be carefully investigated and that if "we cannot get completely away from the wing, we must use as little wing as possible." All high-lift devices normally needed for getting in and out of airports should be shunned, a wing being used only for the cruise. He thought that the landing gear might be thrown away, and the aircraft might well manage with three or four sponge rubber or inflatable pads. The airbus could even land on its own fuselage. The landing area at the terminal could be a stainless steel grill with silencer and blast absorber surrounded by modern ticketing structures and penthouse- style waiting rooms which could make "an aesthetic addition" to cities or suburbs. Because the LiftLiner would stop frequently there would be much more going in and out, and instead of one door at the front and one at the back there might be as many as four or five doors. Because the lift engines would be used for only seconds at a time it was, said Mr Hibbard, possible that they need never be overhauled perhaps for the entire life of the aeroplane, only routine maintenance being required. The airbus would, he thought, have a complete system for fully automatic flight in all weathers, all take-offs and landings being fully automatic with pilots used for monitoring duties only. In addition to very short hops the airbus would also be useful on flights up to 300 miles and could be made to cruise at 500 m.p.h. The airbus, declared Mr Hibbard, "will become as universal and familiar as the street bus, and it will be even more reliable. It will change the face of cities and of aviation." Preparing for a busy weekend, Southend Airport on Friday, June 14, as photographed by "Flight International." On the apron can be distinguished Bristols and Carvairs of British United Air Ferries, and DC-3s, Vikings and a Bristol of Channel Airways
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