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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 1703.PDF
i fLIGHT International, 24 August 1967 293 ISLANDER INTO SERVICE Papa Westrayj Westray miles ORKNEY ISLANDER By NEIL HARRISON Above, B-N's development Islander flying over the Orkneys on route-proving trials for the Loganair ser- vice. Above left, the intra- island routes to be flown on behalf of the Orkney is/and Shipping Company ILLUSTRATED WITH "FLIGHT" PHOTOGRAPHS WITH intuitive scepticism typical of practical people,Orcadians last week welcomed the attempt (" . . . if itever gets under way") to set up an air link for the communities on a handful of the outlying islands in the j Orkneys. And with a stoicism born of making a hard living, they accepted with smiling fortitude the news that the oper- l ators, the Board of Trade, the ARB and the manufacturers i had yet to finish their planning, and that the services could not . begin—for the time being, at any rate. The revelation was made at a ceremony at Kirkwall Airport on August 15 to mark the handing over to Loganair of the first Britten-Norman Islander for a customer. A few days : earlier, on August 10, the type had received its public transport Certificate of Airworthiness, and it was hoped to start straight away with scheduled services on the intra-Orkney Island routes. For the islanders it would have been the first air service for 20 years—in fact, since the time BEA failed to carry on with the pioneering routes established by Capt Fresson's Highland f Airways. Loganair's first Islander is named after the pioneer. The latest disappointment arose because the newly marked- : out grass runways on each of the five outlying islands of the network were too short for the fully factored scheduled-landing I performance of the Islander as laid down in the official owner's manual of the aircraft. The ARB is still formulating its STOL requirements, and so, meanwhile, this short-field bush aircraft is bound by the factors and allowances that have been evolved for the most advanced of transport aircraft. Drawing up the STOL standards is not simply a matter of approving a set of rules that are fine for the Islander—they must cater for several other exist- ; mg STOL aircraft. Mr Jo Grimond, MP for Orkney and Shetland,was at the handing over and said in his speech: "Perhaps we are once again the victims of regulations made for circumstances quite different from those in Orkney. This is a matter for inquiry. But it does seem extraordinary that the Government should have allowed these arrangements to get so far forward if there was any question of the service not starting tomorrow." In view of the political implications of the hold-up the problem will undoubtedly receive quick and close scrutiny--it was said that pilots from the ARB and BoT would be flying the aircraft Into the airfields concerned within a fortnight. For the Islander the affair is only mildly embarrassing, as the majority of the sales made are to customers overseas where American STOL requirements are usually the norm. The offending runways vary in length between 1,100ft and 1,600ft, with no field having a run of less than 1,400ft, while most have a choice of three runways to profit by the inevitable strong wind. The Islander's fully factored landing distance from 50ft at gross weight on to a level grass runway in ISA, sea level and nil wind conditions, is 2,230ft. That the aircraft is amply capable of operating within about half the distances available has been consistently demonstrated. The service which Loganair are attempting to set up is to be operated on behalf of the Orkney Island Shipping Company Ltd which, by virtue of an agreement with the Secretary of State for Scotland, is committed to providing intra-island services whether by air or sea or both. The Islander has pro- vided the first chance for an economic scheduled air service as an alternative to the steamship since the present system of safety standards for twin-engined aircraft was introduced. In fact, if plans do materialise as hoped, the Islander will eventually replace the boat for the majority of passengers travelling between the islands. Loganair believe ihey will straightaway break-even on the services. The fares are £2 single to the near islands and £2 10s to the distant ones, compared with £1 and £1 10s by boat. The fares were calculated on the basis of a year-round average of five passengers per flight and a total of 12,000 passengers carried (there were 14,950 intra-island passenger journeys made by boat in 1966). An Aberdeen University passenger survey last summer revealed that 20 per cent of travellers would travel more often if an air service was available. Many people thought the fare high, but bearing in mind the speed and improved frequency offered, the service should really open up the islands; so it is considered that the price is reason- able. Loganair charter the aircraft to the OISC at cos', (the only profit included in the price is the interest rate on the capital invested in aircraft and equipment). If revenue exceeds costs then OISC pay a proportion of the profit back to Loganair.
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