FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0443.PDF
270 FLIGHT International, 20 February 1964 AIR COM MERCE MORE ONE-ELEVENS FOR BRANIFF WITH the announcement that Braniff International Airways have ordered two additional BAC One-Eleven airliners, bringing their total order for this short-haul jet to 14, the total number of One- Elevens on order has risen to 72. Braniff became the first overseas customer for the One-Eleven in October 1961—five months after BAC's decision to go ahead with the project. Its original order was for six aircraft, with an option on a further six which was taken-up in March 1963. The order for a further two aircraft increases the value of Braniff's total purchase to about £14m. Commenting on this encouraging news for the British industry, a BAC spokesman said: "Braniff's decision to increase its One- Eleven commitment from 12 to 14 aircraft is a most heartening indication of confidence in the aeroplane. This is the second time that Braniff has come back to us to increase its order, and there could be no better proof than this of the airline's conviction that it has chosen the best available equipment." Braniff's president, Charles E. Beard, has said the increased purchase order was based on forecasts of high traffic demands and Braniff's "conviction that the One-Eleven is the aircraft best suited for providing jet service between many more cities along our routes." The first aircraft for Braniff is already in final assembly at Hum, and is being closely followed by two further aircraft of the order, the fuselages of which are already completed. Work is now in hand on components and subassemblies for aircraft up to the airline's eighth One-Eleven. Delivery of Braniff's first aeroplane is scheduled for late this year. VC10 ON THE ATLANTIC SIX out-and-return flights from London to Montreal and Toronto were made by BAC VC10 G-ARVF during February 8-15 as part of the l,000hr BO AC programme of route development flying. These were the first transatlantic flights to be made by the VC10, and follow a series of similar proving flights to East and West Africa (see "Triumphantly Swift to Lagos" in last week's issue). G-ARVF has now logged 825hr 50min, of which about 630 have been on route proving flights, and completion of the 1,000hr programme is expected early in March. BOAC will wait until the Super VC10 is available in the spring of next year before introducing the new aircraft into service on the transatlantic route; the main purpose of the Montreal and Toronto flights was to obtain cold- weather operating experience. We hope to print an account of one of the Canadian VC10 proving flights in next week's issue. AIR FAIR NEWS WITH popular air travel once more as the main theme, a repeat of last year's successful Biggin Hill International Air Travel Fair is being planned for next May 7-10. Among the airlines so far to have signified their intention to participate are: BEA, who plan to give helicopter rides in their new Sikorsky S61N; BUA, as the first airline to have ordered the BAC One-Eleven, who hope that an aircraft of the type in their colours will perform fly-pasts; and Caledonian Airways, who will once again have one of their DC-7Cs at the fair. Mr John de la Haye, chairman of Caledonian, is reported to have said that the vast majority of people at the 1963 Fair had never flown and never been abroad for a holiday, yet both during and after the event his airline had received a noticeable increase in the number of inquiries for inclusive-tour holidays. This 2^-ton paint mill being loaded aboard a TCA DC-8F at London Heathrow was operating in Canada within six days of its British manu- facturers—Torrance &. Sons of Bristol—receiving the order As the aircraft passed abeam of the cloud it could be seen that Mount Agung was erupting. Inspection of the aircraft revealed a sandblast type of erosion of the windscreen, parts of the fuselage, and the leading edges of the tailplanes, wings and engine cowlings. Five cockpit windows were changed due to impaired visibility. In view of this incident, another aircraft operating through the area on the same evening was diverted some 90 miles north of Mount Agung. But this aircraft, cruising at 34,000ft, also entered the zone of volcanic dust and remained in it for a distance of 120 miles. Although it was night the crew knew there was something unusual about the cloud, because it was dirty, and also that all four engine intakes were glowing a bright red. Subsequent inspection of the aircraft revealed that two flight deck windscreens had suffered slight dust abrasion and both fixed landing light covers were slightly pitted. The Mount Agung volcano erupts quite frequently and it was considered by the airline concerned that a combination of stronger than usual volcanic activity and a very well developed thunderstorm caused the high concentration of volcanic ash at the aircraft operating heights. DOUGLAS SALES REORGANIZATION A CONSOLIDATION of the Douglas Aircraft Division commercial sales department and an expansion of its services to airlines have been announced by the company's vice-president and general manager, Jackson R. McGowen. Changes in the organization and new personnel assignments were described by McGowen as the first in a planned series of steps to weld commercial sales and mar- keting support organizations into a closer-working and more effective unit. The changes include the elevation of J. B. Edwards, formerly director of international commercial sales, to the post of deputy to J. O. Moxness, vice-president commercial sales; combination of domestic and international sales functions into a single organization headed by H. E. Hjorth, as director of commercial sales; appoint- ment of G. B. Thomas, formerly eastern director of commercial sales, to the newly created position of director of commercial sales development. Mr Thomas will integrate the existing sales engineer- ing and market research functions with added services which will parallel the airline activity of future equipment planning. McGowen said additional changes in the commercial sales department will be announced at a later date. FOCUS ON VOLCANIC DAMAGE ACCORDING to the January issue of the Flight Safety Committee's magazine Focus, a jet transport aircraft was approaching the island of Bali when a large cumulo-nimbus cloud rising to a height of about 60,000ft was seen to the north-east of Mount Agung. A few minutes before reaching Den Pasar, whilst flying in clear air at 37,000ft, hail the colour of slate hit the flight deck windscreens for a period of about 25sec, leaving them with a sandblasted appearance. FRENCH-AUSTRALIAN RECONCILIATION? FRANCE and Australia have agreed to resume the air link between Sydney and New Caledonia. The agreement provides for UTA and Qantas to run weekly Electras, the French airline having now accepted the Australian offer of Electras chartered from Qantas between Sydney and Noumey. It is hoped in Canberra that this will now lead to negotiations for Australian jets to use Tahiti, where rights were terminated by the French on December 31.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
