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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1528.PDF
fllGHT International, 21 May 1964 841 This Piaggio P.I66B Portofino was recently delivered to Queensland Airlines AIR COMMERCE . . . C0NCORD8 FOR AIR-INDIA? THE first airline reaction to follow the announcement, on May 6, of the bigger and better Concord has come from Air-India. The airline's general manager, Mr B. R. Patel, on his way back to repert to his Board following discussions with BAC, states: "The new performance of the Concord should be ideal for both our eastern and transatlantic routes, and it is very likely that we shall decide to place an order." Only two months ago Air-India reserved three delivery places in the queue for the proposed American SST because the Concord at that time had insufficient range for Air-India's needs. In spite of the reported increase in the Concord's selling price from £3.5m to nearer £4.5m there are signs that the increased range and bigger payload capacity have tipped the scales in its favour and that, in view of delay in the American SST programme, many other airlines are having urgent second looks at the Anglo-French aircraft. If, as expected, Air-India orders two Concords, it will bring the total number on order to 45 aircraft. Both Air-India's pool partners, BOAC and Qantas, have ordered Concords. THIRD MAN OUT? THERE now seems every chance that the US Federal Aviation Agency's 15-year rule requiring three flight crewmen on transport aircraft with take-off weights in excess of 80,0001b may be scrapped in the near future. The first real test for the ruling has come with the advent of short-range jets like the BAC One-Eleven and the DC-9 which were designed from the outset for two-crew operations and which, in their developed versions, just exceed the arbitrary weight limit. The Agency has invited comments by July 1 on its draft pro- posal which is to determine the crew compliment from an evalua- tion of the workload imposed upon the crew members by a parti- cular aircraft and its cockpit environment. The FAA's proposal would apply to all airliners certificated after January 1, 1964. The aircraft actually most seriously affected so far has been the Hawker Siddeley Argosy which must have two pilots and a flight engineer, whereas Viscounts are flown by just two pilots. The One-Elevens on order for American, Braniff and Mohawk have gross weights less than 80,0001b. A NEW LOOK AT TURBULENCE AN investigation has been started by the Stanford Research Insti- tute in co-operation with United Air Lines to explore the possibility of a correlation between clear air turbulence and the atmospheric electric field. The US Air Force is funding the work. Initially, ten of United's DC-8s will be fitted with devices to measure the electric field when the pilot encounters mild to moder- ate turbulence. Stanford Research Institute is providing the equipment and will analyse the results of the experiments; United is equipping the air- craft at its San Francisco maintenance base. SRI researchers and United meteorologists believe there may possibly be a change in the electric field either associated with the turbulence or preceding it. If such a correlation does exist, the next step would be to develop a device to warn pilots in advance, allow- ing them to change course to avoid clear air turbulence or alter speed to minimize its effects. The electric field measuring device consists of a sensor mounted in the tail cap of the aircraft's vertical fin, which measures the electric field in the vicinity of the fin. The information is trans- mitted to an electronic recorder located in the aircraft's radio equipment rack, with a tape readout provided by a pen trace. The data also registers on a micro-ammeter on the pilot's control panel. The pilot, or an observer, can monitor the meter at the time turbu- lence is encountered. Results of the tests will be studied when the recorder tape is removed after 400hr of flight. This time interval corresponds to that for removal of the aircraft's flight recorder, at the routine maintenance check. The pen trace of the electric field meter will then be compared with the acceleration trace on the flight recorder which measures "g" at the time turbulence is encountered, hence showing any correlation between the two phenomena. The fifth BAC One-Eleven made its first flight from Hum on May 5. Destined for British United it is the first fully-furnished One-Eleven, complete with Aviation Traders seats and galley
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