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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0081.PDF
64 FLIGHT International, 9 January 1964 Letters Letters for these columns are welcomed, though "Flight Inter- national" does not necessarily endorse the views expressed. Name and address should be given, not necessarily for publication in full. Brief letters will have a better chance of early publication. purposes, and several square feet of fabric have been cut ou of them, so that somebody is presumably adorning either a club house or a bedroom wall with streamers bearing the registrations G/35/11 and EI/AKR and a Piper insignia. British Executive Air Services have in the past been pleased to encourage young, enthusiastic aircraft spotters and have been glad to welcome them on the field. In view of recent happenings as detailed above, we are, of course now unable to give permission to any sight-seeing. This does not apply to properly organized ATC or school parties accom- panied by a responsible person. Kidlington, Oxford J. p. O'HARA, Service Manager, British Executive Air Services Ltd When Are Danger Areas Dangerous? SIR,—May 1 please comment on your remarks under my letter on danger areas Flight International, December 19)? 1 can indeed well imagine the impotent fury of the waiting military pilot while some unidentified small boat wends its way through an over-sea firing range. I have great sympathy for anyone who has to wait and wait. In fact I must have spent as long as anyone at the waiting game, and know how frustrating it can be. However, I am equally delighted that the waiting military pilot's fury is, in fact, impotent, for the boat, identified or not, has a perfect right to be in the area, which for the major part of the 24 hours of any one day is NOT in use and is as safe as anywhere else. The range authority is absolutely responsible for avoiding endangering vessels (or aircraft) in the range area, and if an exercise starts up while a vessel is in the area, she is only supposed to maintain course and speed if possible, or clear the area at the earliest possible moment. Some boats could take many hours to clear one range, and of course some ranges block off the entrances to harbours (see E.I5 and Langstone and Chichester harbours). My complaint is not concerned with the notified areas. It is the so-called permanent ones that it is so difficult to get information about. In this electronic age I fail to see how it is impossible to achieve notification for them, as has been done for their notified neighbours. And I am not confining my remarks to over-sea ranges, but to all of them. I men- tioned the sea ones in order to emphasize the fact that most of the time these "permanent active" areas are permanently inactive, and shipping passes through them in no danger at all. Aircraft could too. Chobham, Surrey J. C. NEILAN "All-Weather Mac" SIR,—The otherwise excellent review of Wg Cdr Mclntosh's book All Weather Mac by your contributor Humphrey Wynn does not mention two aspects of the book which I feel may have an interest value to many of your readers. The earlier chapters are intimately concerned with the commencement of civil aviation at Hounslow, Cricklewood and, in particular, at the original Plough Lane, Croydon, Aerodrome. The chapters contain a wealth of accurate detail about those early formative and exciting days. A couple of chapters, later in the book, describe very fully the operations of air/sea rescue in the Second World War. These chapters, I think, cover a much-needed gap in aviation literature. The detailed account of the development of ASR operations should surely be of interest to those interested in the history of the Royal Air Force. Stamford, Lines j. c. s. SPRY-LEVERTON Airfield Vandalism SIR,—British Executive Air Services Ltd will be pleased to reward anybody who can give information leading to the apprehension of (presumably) an aircraft spotter who, not satisfied with being allowed to visit the field at Kidlington, has recently damaged three aircraft by cutting out the registrations. The aircraft concerned are all stored for sale Going Round in Circles SIR,—A theoretical flight-problem has kept discussions going for several months in the pilots' room and in the bar of Antwerp's airport. Trying to solve this problem, we found opinions of the most important groups literally at a deadlock. There are also pilots with a very personal theory, but they have a very personal way of flying. PROBLEM: An aeroplane flies at a constant airspeed. Wind velocity is constant. The aeroplane flies a circle in relation to the ground. There are four points on the circle. At which of these four points is the banking maximum' At which of these four points is the banking minimum ? WIND As it seems there will be no accordance in the near future, we ask you to try your skill at this problem and give the one-and-only right solution in your magazine. This question is being sent at the same time to the editors of Interavia, Flug Revue, Aviasport and Avia. Hove, Belgium DAN P. J. WANDERS [N.F.G.H., a member of our staff, writes: "When an aero- plane performs a co-ordinated turn, the angle of bank provides a component of lift sufficient to react to the centrifugal force. Centrifugal force is a function of mass, speed and radius of turn. In the problem, mass and radius of turn are constant but groundspeed is varying, therefore centrifugal force is a maximum when groundspeed is greatest, and vice versa. At point B on the circle groundspeed is greatest and this is the point of maximum bank angle; at point D groundspeed is minimum and bank angle least."—Ed] More Thoughts on the Concorde SIR,—It is not surprising that Hugh V. Cowin, as an elec- tronic engineer, seems to underrate such things as fatigue and ageing problems of strength of materials in connection with aircraft (Letters, October 17, 1962). What is surprising, however, is the complete lack of enthusiasm about the possibility of shortening the time lag between inspections which an SST will offer. The majority of aerotechnicians seem to agree that the overwhelming cause of all aircraft accidents is faulty ancillary equipment and electronics. Apart from this, there is the unexpected. How often after a flight do inspectors find some items so deteriorated that they are held by the skin of their teeth, and had the flight lasted longer, conditions for a fatal crash would be created?
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