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Aviation History
1965
1965 - 2233.PDF
ftlGKT Interootiono/. 22 April 1965 629 SHIPPING COMPANY BUYS AUTAIR A NEW move by shipping interests to diversify into the expanding business of air transport was announced on April 15. Court Line, the £4m London shipping firm with a fleet of tankers and bulk carriers, has bought the entire share capital of Autair International Airways, following negotiations that have been under way for about a year. The price was £215,000. This move will enable Autair to expand and, in particular, to buy new aircraft. The three Vikings will be retired in 1966 and 1967, and the company is at present negotiating with both Hawker Siddeley and Handley Page for 748s or Heralds for operation in the summer of 1966. The choice has not yet been made, said Mr G. H. G. Threlfall of Autair last week. Two will be bought for a start. Viscounts are also still on Autair's shopping list, though the airline seems inclined to favour the 748 or the Herald. Autair already have experience of the Herald, having chartered one from Handley Page for the 1963 summer season. There are, says Mr Threlfall, no immediate plans for the purchase of new long-haul aircraft. The three Ambassadors continue to give good service, having noticeably stimulated traffic on the airline's London - Blackpool scheduled service when they took over from Vikings. Two of these Ambassadors—according to the refreshingly full information released last week—are leased for £38,810 a year until June 1967, when Autair has the right to continue the lease at a nominal rent of £30 a year. Autair is ARB-approved for major engineering work on aircraft up to Viscount size and rents its Luton Airport base from the local authority for £1,614 a year. Autair's management and operational independence, say Court Line, remain unaffected. BALPA AND BEA REACH AGREEMENT A SETTLEMENT of the BEA pilots pay and productivity dispute was reached on April 13 and the 24-hour strike called for by BALPA was withdrawn. Nearly all the 55 points of grievance from the pilots were settled and pay increases agreed; in return BALPA has accepted a number of proposals designed to increase pilot productivity. Earlier, Mr Anthony H. Milward, chairman of BEA, had sent a personal message to the homes of each of the corporation's 1,100 pilots, appealing to them to reconsider strike action. There were, Mr Milward said, "the famous 55 points of grievances—some considerable ones and some rather petty ones—which at your representatives' urgent request have been practically demolished ..." On the matter of pay, he wrote: "We have told BALPA that we are willing to grant a five per cent pay rise dating back to last October on the understanding that talks on productivity continue." On the "most difficult of all" the three issues—the pilots' workload and productivity—he wrote that BEA's pay offer "should be coupled with certain adjustments to the Ruffell-Smith points system which would enable you to put in an extra effort, particularly in the summer months. ..." The settlement includes an arrangement whereby BALPA agrees to defer the productivity issue to arbitration by Dr H. P. Ruffell Smith—an independent aviation medicine consultant who, three years ago (see Flight of April 8, page 518), produced a report which proposed a points system for measuring flight-time limitations. There will be an immediate pay increase of 8.2 per cent, back-dated to last October, and others of 4J per cent next year and of 4 per cent in 1967. 727s for JDA Two Boeing 727s have been ordered by Japan Domestic Airlines for delivery in March and April 1966. Another DC-8F for Capitol A second DC-8F Jet Trader has been ordered by Capitol Airways, which has also taken an option on a third. Delivery is scheduled for December this year. Northwest Airlines has ordered six more Boeing 727s for delivery in May-December, 1966, and one 707-32OC cargo jet. Northwest has six 727s in service out of. a total now of 26. Avianca Buys 727 The Colombian airline Avianca has'ordered a Boeing 727 for delivery in March next year and taken an option on a second for delivery at the end of 1966. The Pan American Strike The ten-day strike by Pan American pilots ended on April 11 when normal schedules were resumed. The terms of the settlement will not be disclosed until negotiation of a new agreement has been completed. The US Flight Safety foundation, under FAA contract, has been making practical studies of passenger-evacuation problems and timing with the aid of the wreckage of the two aircraft which were deliberately crashed by the FAA last year at Deer Valley Airport, Phoenix, Ariz. The tests, by day and by night, have used a typical mixed group of volunteer passengers —including over-60-year-olds and children under 12 years, with dolls to represent infants New ATLB Offices Early next month the offices of the Air Transport Licensing Board will be moved to Gaywood House, Great Peter Street, London SW1 (ABBey 7231). The change from Therese House will, it is expected, be made on May 7. Pakistan DC-3 Crash A Pakistan International Airlines DC-3 crashed on March 26 near the 11,000ft Laweari Pass, in northern West Pakistan, while on a scheduled flight from Peshawar to Chitral. There were only four survivors, three of them children, among the 22 passengers and four crew. Mr Hugh Gordon-Burge has been appointed by BEA as the airline's air safety adviser. Mr Gordon-Burge, who flew as a pilot in the RAF during the war with Coastal Command and was a pilot with Aer Lingus from 1946 to 1955, has since been on the staff of the Ministry of Aviation's Accident Investigation Branch. Jersey Accident On April 14 a British United (CI) Airways DC-3 crashed in conditions of poor visibility during an approach to Jersey Airport. All 22 passengers and three members of the crew of four were killed. The aircraft was on a scheduled flight from Paris Orly and is reported to have been making a second approach to the runway when it struck a tree and crashed into the approach lights a quarter of a mile from the threshold. Crash in Syria An Alia, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Dart Herald 200 crashed on a mountain 13 miles west of Damascus on the night of April 10 15min after take-off on a flight from Beirut, Lebanon, to Cairo. The 50 inclusive-tour passengers and crew of four were killed. At the time of going to press with this issue Handley Page in London had no further information about the circumstances or possible cause of the accident. An Eastern Provincial Herald crashed soon after take-off from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on March 17.
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