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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 1446.PDF
FLIGHT International supplement, 24 August 1967 Air-Cushion Vehicle! INTERNATIONAL NEWS (Continued from page 18) BETTER SEASON FOR HOVERLLOYD Better weather so far this summer than last year promises to be reflected in improved results for Hoverlloyd's cross-Channel service with two SR.N6s between Ramsgate and Calais. The company has tailored previously wasteful schedules strictly to fit demand and now operates four cross- Channel services daily, with an extra outward service in the morning and evening return if there is demand. As we closed for press the company had carried 7,300 passengers between the two countries this season. In July can- cellations took place on only seven days, including three full days, against 18 during the same month last year. Extra effort is being devoted to joy- riding this year, at both Ramsgate and Calais, and many more French pas- sengers are being carried (including a substantial number of through pas- sengers to Britain, many of them students travelling for courses at language schools in the Ramsgate area). The company aims to have one N6 available for joy-riding from Calais every Saturday, Sunday and French public holiday. Though sup- ported by only very modest local advertising, Hoverlloyd has found the demand has increased threefold over last year. Fare for the joyrides is NF8. On August 9 a new service began for which the company expects a sub- stantial demand. This is a day-trip service between Ramsgate and the neighbouring resort of Deal, offering a time of only lOmin between the two towns, as against nearly an hour by bus. The fare is 12s 6d day return and 7s Id single, with the craft oper- ating on to the beach at Deal and the tickets sold from a beachside kiosk. Good weather reliability is assured for this service, since it runs down the sheltered strip of water known as the Downs, inshore of the protective Goodwin Sands. On the technical front, the com- pany is encountering better reliability than was experienced; in particular, with the use of a new skirt material developed by Northern Rubber skirt life is much longer and skirt mainten- ance no longer such a time and cash- consuming problem. Another modifi- cation, made by Hoverlloyd in the light of experience and now adopted by BHC, has been to stiffen the support tubes in the plenum chamber, which showed a tendency to collapse. Mr L. R. Colquhoun, Hoverlloyd managing director, says that cross- Channel operations with N6, a fairly stringent environment for such a small craft, have done much to prove, and improve, the type. Next month the re-opening of the public enquiry into Hoverlloyd's application to build a cross-Channel N4 terminal at Pegwell Bay, Rams- gate, takes place—this having been ordered by the Minister of Housing and Local Government after his in- spector's favourable report. The com- pany has thoroughly investigated Dover (where Seaspeed N4 operations will be based) and does not consider it a practical proposition, says Mr Colquhoun, in any wind worse than force five. There are hazards surround- ing the proposed Seaspeed base itself. Despite the frustration caused by the indecision over Pegwell Bay, this terminal (if it is approved) could be ready for trial and training operations in February and for passenger services next July, from an October go-ahead. Everything is being arranged for an immediate start of work if the project is approved, for time will be very short. No indecision comparable to that surrounding Pegwell Bay threatens the Calais terminal, which, under the auspices of the town's vigorous Cham- ber of Commerce and local authority, is already under construction a mile or so outside the main harbour. One recent activity of Hoverlloyd has been to do the development run- ning for a new high-speed lightweight survey echo sounder under develop- ment, for a Ministry contract, by Electronic laboratories Ltd, of Rams- gate. This portable device, claimed to be unique in permitting very accurate sounding at speeds as high as 40kt, married to the high-speed hovercraft, which can go over shallow waters at any state of the tide, will cut survey- ing times to one-quarter or less than those logged by conventional vessels proceeding to the survey area slowly, surveying slowly, and dependent upon tide. The instrument will be in pro- duction in two or three months' time at the low price of £200. Hoverlloyd and the Decca Navigator Co are keenly supporting its development, on the basis that a hovercraft, equipped with the Seascribe and using Decca's Hi-Fix very high accuracy navigation aid, together comprise a most attrac- tive and economic survey system. Legislation: Drafting Not Yet Begun When Mr J. P. Mallalieu, Minister of State, BoT, rose in the House of Commons on July 26 to state that Mr Jay, President of the BoT, intended to introduce legislation in Parliament "at an early date" to clarify the legal position of hovercraft, many people took this to mean early in the new session beginning in October. Apart from the crowding of the Parliamentary timetable, however, and in this regard the intentions of Mr Richard Crossman, Leader of the House, are more relevant than those of Mr Jay—there are other factors which are likely to delay the appear- ance of the draft legislation well into 1968. Chief of these is that formal drafting has not yet begun and neither has "the close consultation with other interests concerned" which Mr Malla- lieu said would take place during the preparation of legislation. Chief among these, one would assume, is the ARB, which will con- tinue to advise the BoT on the issue of Permits to Fly for hovercraft during the ad hoc phase until legisla- tion comes into force. The BoT has said that manufacturers and operators will also be consulted. The Board already has an idea of the main points to be covered, a spokesman told us. Mr Mallalieu said that the purpose of the legislation will be to establish the separate identity of hovercraft as distinct from ships and aircraft. Irish Project Under Way Construction of a 50ft by 35ft freight hovercraft, to carry a maxi- mum payload of 40 tons, is due to start at a factory now being erected at Cork Harbour, in Ireland. The factory is being established by the Cowes, IoW, consultants, Cross and Jackson Ltd., and win be complete by Christmas. The first hovercraft is due to be completed there by the middle of next year. A production rate initially of ten machines a year is foreseen. Sub-contract work on the prototype has already begun. Mr Frederick Cross is a former chief engineer of Cushioncraft Ltd. (then Britten Norman's hovercraft division) and Mr Michael Jackson is a former Plessey executive. Their consultancy has been operating for about three years, during which time they have advanced the design work on their first hovercraft—named the Navair—and run bench tests. No HDL patents are involved in its design and thus HDL licensing is not required. Mr Jackson told Air- Cushion Vehicles that the partners have taken out a number of their own patents. 25
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