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Aviation History
1970
1970 - 0380.PDF
338 FLIGHT International, 5 March 1970 PRIVATE FLYING 1970 Light aviation: which way now? DARROL STINTON MBE, CEng, MIMechE, AFRAeS, RAF (Ret), the author of the following article, is surveyor, light aircraft, at the Air Registration Board. The article con sists of extracts from a paper which Mr Stinton is to present at the Loughborough Light Aircraft Weekend on April 11 and 12. I N MANY WAYS light aviation in Britain stands at a crossroads. The islands are too small for light aeroplanes to be used with quite the same measure of economy and productivity one finds overseas, where they may be vital to the developing infrastructure of a country. From Manchester, for example, a range of 300 n.m. (say 500km) encompasses every main centre of population. Congestion of roads and scarcity of aerodromes makes travelling any distance less than, say, 100 n.m. not really worth the use of an aeroplane. When one takes into account the inter-city service of British Rail, the range over which it becomes really economical to use an aeroplane is nearer 200 n.m. One is faced too with congestion in the air; not that the British sky is all that crowded when it comes down to it. There is a very subtle appearance of congestion, caused by looking at the areas of controlled airspace throughout the country. Something like one-third or more of the country south of the Tees is covered by controlled and restricted airspace of all kinds—though not all over the same heights, of course. This means that, in order to use a light aeroplane fully cost effectively, that is for getting from one place to another, one must carry expensive radio navigation aids. When one considers that the basic aids, a ViHF radio and VOR or at least an additional ADF, may cost at least half as much again as the price of the basic aeroplane plus engine and probably as much again, one is appalled at the magnitude of the economic problem involved in simply flying, as an individual, from A to B. If flying and training are so expensive, and the cost of getting from A to B is only worthwhile when one has to travel much more than 100 n.m., why bother? The question is not as irrelevant as it looks, because that is precisely what is wrong with much that can be seen on the light avia tion scene in Britain at this time. There is a lassitude that is infectious, causing us to compare unfavourably with, for example, the French. The healthiest corner of the field for real expansion appears to be that of business aviation but if we are to compete with foreigners for the business aircraft market we must produce machines which combine pleasing lines with a motor-car finish, adding that hidden suggestion of sexuality one unconsciously responds to in motor adverts. Where the British can compete is in the combination of these properties with the good handling qualities we in the ARB are so strict about. In private and club flying there is a case for a good light training aircraft, adaptable to nose or tailwheel layout, with nav-com equipment, which costs no more than £5,000 IFR- equipped. The home market might be small, say 100 at the most, but there are very large markets to be tapped overseas with such aeroplanes, of which the French, for example, have already taken note. There are signs that radio costs may be falling. Cheaper radio equipment is appearing from Japan, and there are possibilities already being investigated in this country for making a new British VOR and communications radio cheaply—the aim being to make an aeroplane with nav-com aids for the same as the present basic empty price, say £5/lb. Labour costs are more than half the total, but can be eliminated by home-building. It should not be thought that home-built aircraft need 'be amateurish. On the contrary, with
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