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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0077.PDF
60 FLIGHT International, 9 January 1964 RESPONSIBILITY—AND ITS REWARDS . . . They were convinced that their offer (an increase of approximately 4J per cent), "in the light of the present duties of the class and factors such as the recruitment position, . . . would give ATCOs Grades I, II and III a scale of salaries which would provide due recompense for the important work they performed." The "final and strongest argument" for rejecting the ATCO claim was that it was in direct conflict with the Government's incomes policy. A tribunal which heard the claim awarded an increase of 6 per cent. Mr William McCall, general secretary of the IPCS, considers that the introduction of the UK ATC service forms a "watershed" for air traffic control officers—though it has not, he admits, "quite brought the new Jerusalem." He believes that now is the time for a complete revision of the ATC structure, which, though "drawn up not in the horse-and- carriage era," smacks of it in some ways. If there were to be a revised structure, this would be an appropriate time to revise the pay scale. Following the upward trend in aircrew salaries, the ATCO's complementary responsibilities should be reflected in their financial rewards. Further, a new structure would give more oppor- tunity for promotion. IPCS have drawn up proposals for a revised structure, which were presented to the MoA during December last. Though not linked to a pay scale, the structure's proposal for the creation of additional grades will obviously require some revision of existing pay scales. No one disputes the need for an air traffic control service, although in a few quarters its very existence arouses great heat. With the speeds and heights at which jets fly, positive radar control is essential (as a Southern ATCC officer put it, "aircraft can now no longer take avoiding action; they would hit before they saw each other"); and to operate it needs training, skill and experience. Even though no physical risks are involved as for aircrew, there may be acute mental and moral responsibility for the conscientious man. Of the high calibre of individual ATC officers, and their devotion to their task, there can be no doubt. The problem now is not so much recruitment, which is at present satisfactory, but the fact that disillusionment creeps in because of the unsatisfactory structure— as it currently exists—from the promotion point of view. There are large numbers of the lower posts but very few at the top. This dis- illusionment, created by the "flatness" of the ATC pyramid, can only be dispelled if the incentives and rewards offered are com- mensurate—by contemporary levels—with the skill and sense of responsibility required. CLOVER v THE HEATH THOSE AMERICAN AIRPORT UTILIZATION STATISTICS WHEN airport utilization is being discussed, from time to timea voice will suddenly interject a statistic utterly humiliating to British or European ears. For example: "Omaha, Nebraska, is a minor American field, way down the list in importance. Yet last year it had far more aircraft movements than Paris Orly and Paris Le Bourget combined." Needless to say, these vocal spanners in the works are flung in by Americans, and as likely as not by no less an American than Max Karant, spokesman for AOPA, the American Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. There are 150,000 private pilots in the USA, so that AOPA is big and powerful and pulls no punches. And since few British people visit Omaha, they find a statistic of this sort unanswerable. Recently, however, Max saw fit to grade London Airport on a lower level than Santa Monica, Calif, and at this my hackles rose. Santa Monica airport is but one of over a dozen airfields scattered across greater Los Angeles. Having lived in its circuit I was under the impression that it was rather less busy than White Waltham. It astounded me to read that during 1962 it averaged more than one movement (i.e., a take-off or landing) every three minutes, making it fourth in the USA in terms of itinerant aircraft movements. I went along to see for myself. Clover Field, as they call it locally, lies right in the middle of the suburb of Santa Monica. To the north and east there are moun- tains, while five miles to the south, beyond Hughes Field, lies Los Angeles International, handling up to 900 IFR movements a day. Clover Field boasts several factories, including a large Douglas Aerospace centre, but it has only one runway. This is 5,000ft long, concrete, and stands up proud like the deck of a carrier. When I arrived there at midday on a Tuesday in October one Cessna was droning lazily round the circuit; no other activity was apparent. It was difficult to see how in the most remote sense this could bear comparison with London Airport. First enquiries supported this: no international traffic uses the field, which has no Teal let-down facilities, and which is closed for eight hours each night. Although half the movements are described as "itinerant," this does not always mean that the aircraft land somewhere else; it just means that they leave the control zone. The overwhelming number of movements are training flights by light single-engine aircraft, and the total amount of fuel sold in a year would be just about enough to refuel once BOAC's fleet of 707s at London Airport. At a rough guess more individuals use Heathrow in a day than use Clover Field in a year, and in importance to the community I would rate London as rather more than one thousand times more important than Santa Monica. Despite this, there is another side to the picture, and one which can open the eyes of a British visitor. The day of my visit was a weekday; furthermore, there was complete cloud cover at 2,200ft, which is relatively bad weather for southern California. Two days earlier, on a clear Sunday, there had been 1,100 movements, with a peak of 174 in one hour. Movements at the rate of one every 20 seconds may conjure up a vision of a free-for-all, with aircraft landing wing-tip to wing-tip. Nothing could be further from reality. Although the field is owned by the municipality the tower is opera- ted by the FAA, and to a very high standard of efficiency. VHF communication is mandatory, but natter is kept to the bare mini- mum, as is obviously essential when there are two dozen aircraft in the circuit or on the taxiway. Not all movements are by light aircraft and helicopters; a few twin- and four-engine aircraft come into the field, up to and includ- ing an occasional Globemaster. No fewer than 321 aircraft are based on the field, where tie-down and parking facilities are cheaper than they are for automobiles in Los Angeles itself. Visual approach slope indicators are operative—perhaps surprising for a field of this sort, but useful in view of the fact that it is possible to drop 50ft below runway level on the approach. But what is most remarkable of all to a British visitor is the attitude of mind of the operators, who climb into their aircraft in a matter-of-fact mood, and fly them as easily, as casually, and more safely than many people in Britain operate their cars, despite the quite remarkable rate of landings and take-offs. In comparing Clover Field with London Airport, Max Karant is being about as logical as he would be if he compared the Hustler with the Tiger Moth. The respective functions are so different that comparisons are odious. Santa Monica has just about the best flying weather record in the world; the aircraft using the field have about half the landing speed and about a fortieth part of the weight of the average aircraft using London. The overwhelming propor- tion of pilots landing there will have taken off from that field within the last hour. There is simply, as Max well knows, no basis for comparison at all. Yet in making such comments he greatly benefits the cause o"f aviation in general, and general aviation in particular. It is alarm- ingly easy for professional pilots, ATCOs, and Ministerial officials to become narrow in their outlook, conditioned only to one kind of flying. The more that such people are reminded by AOPA that great-grandmothers and teenagers can fly, and that amateurs can clock up airport utilization at such fantastic rates, the better it will be for the future of the industry. ICARUS
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