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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0798.PDF
FLIGHT International, 2b March 1964 457 PROGRESS WITH THE DC-9— A REVIEW of progress issued by Douglas and the seven cost- sharing major subcontractors involved in the DC-9 programme states that all areas of engineering, tooling, and manufacture are on schedule following ten months of intensive activity since the decision was made to go ahead with the short-range jet. The com- panies are confident that the first flight will be on schedule in March 1965. More than 85 per cent of all structural detail design drawings has been released, and many of the basic structural tests have been carried out. The latter include tests of the wing shear and compres- sion panels, nose radome, fuselage shear and compression panels, fuel system functioning, and cabin air conditioning. The total manhours per week assigned to the DC-9 at Douglas are now building up rapidly, and the number of personnel engaged on the programme is now over 2,500. An essential part of the tightly scheduled DC-9 programme is the Douglas electronic data processing control system which takes over from the time an original Order Number is assigned to engineering design, and ensures practical control right to the production worker level. The heart of the system is a 7094 IBM Computer and associated equipment. Daily reports are inspected by all executives concerned and are delivered early each morning to 795 separate EDP stations throughout the factory. Each of these stations represents daily work orders to lead men and their respective groups of worker production people. Including Ansett-ANA's intention to buy, there are now firm orders for 30 DC-9s with options on a further 23. The list is as follows: Bonanza, 3 (3 on option); Delta, 15 (15 on option); TCA, 6; Ansett-ANA, 6 (intention to order); Swissair, 5 on option. —AND WITH THE YS-11 ACCORDING to NAMC, the builders of the YS-11 twin Rolls- Royce Dart 10 powered short range airliner, the report in our January 9 issue which stated that design defects would delay the YS-ll's entry into service was based on an "unduly pessimistic" report in the Tokyo newspaper Yomiuri. Although a number of fairly major modifications have been found necessary to meet some airworthiness requirements, the trouble has caused only a few months delay and the type should get its C of A this summer. Low speed directional and lateral stability and control are to be improved by a 2° increase in wing dihedral and a change to a spring assisted rudder balance tab. The engine/undercarriage nacelle has been modified in shape while the main undercarriage legs have been moved aft to improve ground handling. The modifications have shown good results on the second prototype. YS-11 flight trials began in August 1962 and most of the pro- gramme has been conducted with two aircraft—total flying time is nearly 500hr. Two other airframes were built for structural tests —one for static loading and the other for fatigue trials. The former were completed last year, but the latter, started in July 1962, are still in progress to insure a 30,000hr safe life for the structure. In common with other Japanese aircraft manufacturers, NAMC's structural test techniques are particularly thorough (see Capt M. P. Sutton's article on the Mitsubishi MU-2 in Flight International, March 19, 1964), and prior to tests on the complete airframes, numerous partial tests were made on main components and systems. Firm orders for the YS-11 now amount to 28: 20 for All Nippon; five for Japan Air Lines; two for the Japanese Self-Defence Agency; one for the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau. First deliveries are expected to be made this summer. NAMC are planning to send a YS-11 on an intensive sales tour of south-east Asia next January. Countries on the itinerary include India, Pakistan, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Ceylon, Philippines, Hong Kong and Formosa. Price of the YS-11 as offered to All Nippon is reported to be about £440,000 per aircraft. NORTHWEST'S ORDER FOR 727s THE St Paul based trans-US and trans-Pacific carrier Northwest Orient Airlines has ordered 11 Boeing 727s and two more 72OBs. Deliveries of the short range tri-jets will begin next autumn. The airline's present fleet consists of four DC-8s, eight 72OBs, three 7O7-32OBs, 16 Electras, and some 20 piston-engined DC-6s and OC-7s. Twelve airlines have now ordered 727s. WAKE UP ENGLAND! ON page 470, in our Letters column, the Ministry of Aviation takes us to task for our March 12 note under the above heading. The rights of the citizen are at stake here, and the subject is of much importance. Neither Dr Cheng nor our article suggested that denunciation of the old Warsaw Convention is "prohibited," as the MoA puts it. Article XXIV (3) of the Hague Protocol permits a party to the Protocol to de'nounce the old Warsaw Convention without in any way affecting adherence to the Protocol. It dees not cast a duty on a party to the Protocol to take such a step. What we have said is that we think that denunciation of Warsaw is unnecessary. Those who regard it as necessary may have over- looked the effect of Article XVIII of the Protocol, which appears to contemplate simultaneous adherence both to the old Warsaw Convention and the convention as amended by the Hague Protocol. Other Protocol countries evidently share this view, as they have not seen fit to denounce the old Convention. Our article was written BECAUSE all three examples quoted pro- duced the same £3,000 result in a British court. Why should people have to sue overseas to obtain more when Parliament has already authorized ratification ? It seems curious that the Ministry should misapprehend this point. The example quoted of two passengers on the same aircraft— one with and one without a limit of liability—is an example of both being subject to the same rules of liability: i.e., the Warsaw rules. It is precisely because of the Warsaw rules that one passenger has a £3,000 limit and another has no limit if the carrier has failed to deliver a passenger ticket or if the carrier is guilty of wilful mis- conduct. It is true that UK is not alone in waiting to see what the US will do but it is quite wrong to infer that the US is in any sense inhibited because of any dislike for being bound by two allegedly conflicting regimes. The US difficulties arise because in the US even £6,000 is considered inadequate and they are searching for ways of increasing the compensation available to passengers above £6,000. The US has no intention of denouncing the old Convention when it ratifies the Hague Protocol, and the UK is almost alone in the leading countries of Europe in failing to ratify it. When the Ministry refers to a "balance of advantage" does it mean a balance of advantage in favour of the airlines or in favour of the UK citizens who use them ? Who can presume to estimate "the balance of advantage" when at the moment there is a serious imbalance of justice for UK citizens and others who choose to sue British courts ? They can only obtain overseas what Parliament said they could have in 1961, and which first became available elsewhere last August 1. Plain Man's Background The old Warsaw Convention limits the liability of an airline to a passenger to £3,000. Britain has still not ratified the nine-year-old Hague agreement to increase this liability to £6,000. Mr Max Stuart-Shaw, chief executive of Central African Airways, went to Buckingham Palace on March 17 with his wife to receive the C&E awarded for "outstanding services to civil aviation"
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