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Aviation History
1968
1968 - 0030.PDF
32 LETTERS... said that she did not accept the third—but the implica- tion is that she accepted the first two as fact. As aviation correspondent of The Economist, is Miss Goldring unaware of the high praise which British con- trollers have earned from pilots and other controllers all over the world? And does she regard such praise as consistent with laziness or incompetence? If she does not know the real reasons for the higher movements at some American airports, I would gladly arrange for her to meet some controllers who would be able to explain them. Alternatively, we would accept a public apology for her slur on our professional integrity. London Wl p. D. s. MEALINO, Master, Guild of Air Traffic Control Officers Invited to comment. Miss Goldring says: The Government's White Paper on Stansted said that Heathrow's capacity would be saturated when traffic had built up to a rate of 235,000 aircraft movements a year—which is not much more than hah7 of that using Kennedy now. To believe this really is Heathrow's limit you must also believe either that American airports are dangerous because they handle twice the number or aircraft we do, or that British controllers are inefficient and/or lazy because they handle half the number the Americans do. I don't believe 235,000 is Heathrow's limit, because I don't believe either that Kennedy is dangerous or that British controllers are incompetent; and that is what I said on the programme Mr Mealing did not see.] The RAFA is Grateful From Air Marshal Sir Harold Lydlord, KBE, CB, APC. SIR,—Just before the anniversary of the Battle of Britain, as chairman of the Central Council of the Royal Air Forces Association I appealed to your readers, asking not only for their support during our annual Wings Appeal, but if they could possibly offer their services as collectors for the street collection on September 16. I realise only too well how many charitable calls are made on the public each year, and consequently this makes the wonderful response we again received this year to our annual appeal all the more appreciated. The money received enables our Association to meet the ever-increasing demands on our very extensive wel- fare work for those men and women who have served with the Royal Air Force over the past fifty years, in- cluding the running of our homes for the sick and permanently disabled. Will you please allow me to say how very grateful we all are to your readers for their wonderful response to the appeal, which has earned the warmest appreciation of all members of the Royal Air Forces Association? London W4 H. J. LYDFORD, Chairman of the Council, Royal Air Forces Association Displaying the Moving Map SIR,—In his survey of flight-deck displays (pages 1038-41, December 21), John Bentley says that "the second generation of [moving map] displays . . . have moved away from using actual charts towards the use of film slides, back-projected on to a circular screen." This implies that projection displays now represent a clear advance over the chart-based flight log, whereas in fact the two are to some extent complementary and each has its quota of pros and cons. While the projection display has so far seen relatively little operational service, making it difficult to compare it with the flight log in practical terms, one can say that at the present sitate of the art the flight log is the simpler device and hence less expensive; it is easier to install, particularly because the display head requires only a few inches of depth; its trace of the track flown shows the aircraft's rate of closure with respect to the desired track as well as the position, and also gives an indication FLIGHT International, 4 January 1968 DIARY Jan 9 Jan 10 Jan II Jan II RAeS Management Studies Group: Discussion on Project Management, led by Air Cdre R. E. W. Harland: 4 Hamilton Place, London Wl, 6 p.m. Kronfeld Club: "Do We Need the Kronfeld?"-open discussion; 74 Eccleston Square, London SWI, 8 p.m. RAeS Rotorcraft Section: Annual general meeting, followed by lectures—"Operational Research Aspects of Airline Heli- copters," by Stuart Lennox; "Helicopters on Scheduled Services," by Capt J. A. Cameron; 4 Hamilton Place, London Wl, 12 noon. RAeS Southend Branch: "The Use of Satellites in Meteoro- logical Analysis," by I. J. W. Pothecary; Queen's Hotel, Westcliff, 7.45 p.m. of 'the quaHty of the input data; it lends itself to a closed-loop drive using, for one co-ordinate, digital marks printed on the chart itself; the chart can be written on, making it easy to add last-minute amendments or briefing information; and the digital version of the display forms a convenient means of automatically feeding into the associated computer all the information it needs on the parameters of the selected chart and of the navigational input or aid(s) for which that chart is drawn. However, the chart-rolls required for extensive coverage can amount to a rather bulky consignment, and the flight log—while able to display the information from any suitable navigational input—does not lend itself 10 use as an integrated display handling other types of information. In a projection display the small transparencies can cover a large area (e.g., 2,000 miles square) and the aircraft can thus fly anywhere in that area without previous chart preparation. Non-navigational information such as check-lists can be shown if desired; and in principle—depending on the degree of elaboration—other data can be superimposed. On the other hand, devices based on optical projection have tended to be heavy and of an awkward shape for cockpit installation; present optical projection displays withhold a great deal of valuable information by not tracing the track; the small size of the map frames brings problems in securing accurate registration, especially in the absence of a closed-loop drive to the map material itself; under certain lighting and aspect conditions the display may be difficult to view; and the basic map material is more complex to prepare than a flight log chart, more difficult to amend, and cannot be annotated —although the substitution of individual slides for con- tinuous film may be a step forward here. Our own second-generation pictorial display equipment is of the flight-log type, since this seems to us to be much the more practicable device of the two for general use. What is wanted, of course, is some way of combining the best of both. New Maiden, CLAUD POWELL, Surrey Technical Information Group, Decca Navigator Co Ltd Noblesse Oblige SIR,—What a splendid picture on page 1020 of your December 21 issue! A Captain, RN, on the deck of his own "ship" (albeit a land airfield) yet with the good manners and courtesy to doff his uniform cap while talking to his lady guest. Preston, Lanes J. R. BUSHBY
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