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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0385.PDF
240 FLIGHT International, 13 February 1964 Straight and Level WHEN I quoted the paragraph fromThe Pick of Punch about theemployment of cats as flying aids (January 16), I unwittingly omitted to acknowledge the author—none other than Mr P. G. Wodehouse. Bewailing my lapse to a colleague, he recalled Webster, another of Mr Wode- house's feline creations. Webster, I deplore to relate, would have been rather a liability on the modern flight deck. He accidentally .fell victim to alcohol, and "his days started early and finished late, and were a mere welter of brawling and loose gallantry." I do like that. • From an advertisement in The Times, January 20:— "The largest Casino in Great Britain will open shortly in Glasgow and the Directors invite applications for two key positions, namely Casino Manager, fully experienced, salary up to £9,000 p.a. plus commission; Head Croupier, fully experienced, salary up to £7,000 p.a. plus commission." How much do we pay our top people to run a major national aviation undertaking like, let us say, BEA? I find that the chair- man receives £8,500 and the chief executive £7,500. Interesting scale of values. • Thinks, following the above. Why does BO AC'S chairman get £15,000 and BEA's chairman only £8,500? • From a BEA advertisement in The New Yorker, January 11, 1964:— " You travel fast on BEA, with Europe's largest jet-powered fleet—including the triple jet Trident, world's newest jet air- craft in service ..." "NC707I to tower, NC707I to tower—are you receiving me?" [Stunt pilot Don Vogue doing his stuff at St Louis County Fair, Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, January 1939] • The liability of an airline to a passenger is limited to £3,000 by the Warsaw Conven- tion, or to £6,000 if the country concerned has ratified the so-called Hague Protocol of 1955. To get more than this a passenger has to prove "wilful misconduct" by the airline. In order to get anything at all in some countries it is necessary to prove "negli- gence." Is it wilful misconduct or negligence to use JP.4 instead of kerosine? In 1962 the British Ministry of Aviation issued a report, which IATA's safety people have read, declaring JP.4 a less safe jet fuel in most circumstances. British jet airlines do not use JP.4, and never have, even though it is cheaper. Now the American authorities appear to be endorsing the British view. If they do endorse it, I think JP.4 airline lawyers may have to be prepared to defend charges of wilful misconduct, or negligence, by airlines who use JP.4 when they can use kerosine. I would so much like to see IATA taking a stand on this issue instead of pretending that it doesn't exist. Meanwhile, as Lord Brabazon suggested three years ago, passengers should specify kerosine when buying jet tickets. • On a VC10 flight deck recently a collea- gue overheard a senior captain ask his navigator to confirm that the magnetic variation was 11°. The navigator replied, respectfully: "No sir, it hasn't been thai since 1933." To which another captain on the flight deck remarked: "I always remem- ber the 1941 figure for Europe." You can always tell a pilot's age by his magnetic variations. What an interest- ing looking VTOL test vehicle. Does it fly?— Well, not yet, but it will. When?—Oh, second half of 1966 possibly. But that's not for another 60 years! Isn't that rather a long time to wait?— Certainly, which is precisely why we have made it so comfy • From an American Airline's press release on air freight:— "They illustrate for the customer a wide variety of potential opportunity for utiliza- tion. The customer may use our Astro-Pacs, his own containers, a drum, a palletized load of strapped cartons, or any device meeting suitable dimensions which serves to unitize the load.'" I sometimes wonder which is the harder to keep up with—the progress of aviation or the progress of our English language. • From an advertisement for the Buick Riviera:— *7f's a bit like sitting in a small plane' I'm still waiting for the British small plane about which you could say the reverse. ROGER BACON
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