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Aviation History
1966
1966 - 0076.PDF
50 FUGHT International, 13 January AIR TRANSPORT... High-altitude US Research Programmes AMERICA'S test vehicle for SST operational problems, theXB-70A, flew at Mach 3 at an altitude of 70,0C0ft for 3min on January 3. Total flight time was 112min, of which 75min were spent at supersonic speeds. The USAF said that the flight was made to test how the stainless steel and titanium skin would withstand the heat generated by air friction at that speed. This was the first flight in a joint US Air Force/ National Aero- nautics and Space Administration research programme to obtain SST operational flight information which is impossible to obtain with ground facilities. The information collected in the joint programme will be more fundamental in nature than the design-configuration data being obtained in the Air Force's flight-evaluation programme. It will include information on aerodynamics, structures and operational factors concerned with the flight of large transport aircraft at speeds up to Mach 3 —skin friction, stability and control, drag, boundary-layer flow, air loads, thermal environment, sonic boom, landing and crew workload. NASA recently installed special equipment to the value of more than $2 million (£700,000) in the two XB-7OAs which will be used in the programme; this included thermocouples, boun- dary-layer rakes, cameras, microphones and accelerometers in addition to data recording and analysis equipmentr The infor- mation is considered so valuable to the American SST pro- gramme that NASA has been allocated S10 million (£3.5 mil- lion) for the work in its current budget. The flights are being made from Edwards AFB, California, and data analysis will be undertaken at the nearby NASA Flight Research Center. Jet Turbulence Two contracts to obtain in-flight data which will help pilots of swept-wing jet aircraft to deal more effec- tively with turbulence have been placed by the FAA. General Dynamics have a $30,100 (£10,750) contract to design a data recorder to be installed in five aircraft types, the Boeing 707, 720 and 727, DC-8 and Convair 880. Pilots' controlling reactions will be recorded when turbulence is met, as well as those of the aircraft. Certain environmental factors present during turbulence will also be recorded, including TAS and Mach number, power setting, attitude, air temperature, auto- pilot settings and the setting of any stability augmentation systems. Eastern Air Lines have been given a 523,700 (£8,500) con- tract to attempt to correlate certain meteorological factors such as atmospheric temperature gradients as well as drift and ground speed with the occurrence and detection of clear-air turbulence. Tht study will include 100 hours of flights above 20,000ft. During this flying the aircraft will carry, in addition to a flight recorder, a scintillometer which will be tested for 20 hours at flight levels above 30,000ft This is a star-tracking device which can be used to detect wind variations in the atmosphere by observing changes occurring in the ray of light from a star. The results of the EAL study will supplement data now being gathered by airlines participating with the FAA on a similar project seeking to determine possible relationships between in-flight temperature changes and CAT. Radiation at SST Altitudes Attempts to define more accu- rately the environment which will be encountered by the SST will be made this summer by NASA, the FAA and the USAF. Radiation-measuring and sensing devices will be carried by an Air Force RB-57F flying between 40,000 and 80,000ft. As many as 12 flights per week are planned over a period of two years to cover the forthcoming cycle of increasing solar activity; sample studies will be made in several geographical areas. AIR HOLDINGS 1964 PROFIT THE third annual (1964) report of Air Holdings, the British United Airways parent company, was published just before Christmas. It showed a group trading profit for the year of £860,000. After disposal of fixed assets and tax relief adjust- ments the profit after taxation was about £1.4 million by com- parison with £1.1 million in 1963. A 20 per cent dividend on issued capital of £611,000 was recommended. As in the case of previous reports the information is limited to that legally required and there is no breakdown of operating results. ATLANTIC RECORDS PROVISIONAL traffic figures show that IATA member airlines carried a record 3.6 million passengers on scheduled services across the North Atlantic during 1965. This is 17 per cent more than the figure for 1964 (3,069,178) and five times the total number of passengers carried in 1955. When non-scheduled traffic is included the association expects that the total will top the 4 million mark. Cargo loads are expected to total about 176,000 short tons, which represents a 45 per cent increase over the previous year's total of 121,284 short tons. Cubana's only Antonov An-12 seen at Shannon Airport at the end of last month on its first flight outside Cuba since delivery about two years ago. The crew consisted of captain, co-pilot, engineer and radio operator!navigator and there were four supernumerary crew members. The An-12 had flown to Shannon from Havana via Gander in an elapsed time of I7hr; after crew-rest and refuelling it continued its journey to Prague i,. 1/ '/ . UT827 _CUB AHA AVI A CIO * € » » r
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