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Aviation History
1970
1970 - 0638.PDF
586 AIR TRANSPORT, in the 747 the airline would add $10 (£4 4s) to the fare for first-class and $5 (£2 2s) for tourist-class passengers on trans continental routes. Surcharges on the Chicago-Los Angeles route would be $7 (£2 18s), first class, and $4 (£1 13s), tourist. Those on the Chicago-New York run would be respectively $5 (£2 2s) and $3 (£1 5s). "The fare differentials not only reflect the increased costs, luxury and superior service of the big aircraft,'' said TWA in its application to the CAB, "but should also help offset the poor earnings of the recent past and the prospects of similar adverse financial results in the near future." The airline said that, because alternative services would be available with out surcharge, the scheme would not force higher fares on the public. Losses suffered by TWA in the first two months of this year totalled $27.4 million (£11.4 million). American Airlines, the only other carrier which will be operating the 747 on US internal services by June 1. has yet to announce whether it will be applying for similar surcharges. Its losses for the first two months of 1970 were $2.6 million (£1.08 million). The TWA proposal that there should be a summer fare differential on domestic flights could have an equally significant effect if allowed by the CAB. Tt would put US domestic fares on a similar basis to certain international ones which are subject to a summer surcharge. Counterbalancing the proposed increases, TWA has suggested a group inclusive-tour fare reduction of 25 per cent from New York to Las Vegas in the high season and 35 per cent in the low season. AIRMISS FIGURES-AT LAST THE Board of Trade, yielding to sustained pressure from both inside Parliament and out. has given details of the number of airmisses reported during the last seven years, showing in each case the degree of danger as assessed by the airmiss working group (as briefly reported in Flight last week, page 543). It is the board's intention to publish such figures annually in future, but there is no intention of publishing amplifying information on particular incidents, which the board still feels would prejudice the deliberations of the group. The present system of airmiss reporting and analysis was adopted in 1962 with the object of encouraging pilots to report sightings of other aircraft which they believe to be dangerously close. The investigation process includes identifying the reported aircraft and obtaining a statement from the captain, obtaining statements from appropriate air traffic control authorities and giving consideration to the weather conditions, particularly visibility, obtaining at the time. The available evidence is then considered by the joint military/civil airmiss working group, who make their own assessment of the degree of risk attached to the incident. Incidents are graded in three categories, varying from A, in which there was a serious risk of collision, to C, in which the aircraft may have been closer than normally desirable but in which there was no significant risk of collision. Airmiss reporting is as simple as practicable, but even so it is necessary for the captain to make an immediate radio report fUGHT International, 9 April 1970 followed by a written report (UK Air Pilot RAC 35 and 36A refer). There is a natural and understandable reluctance on the part of captains to occupy a busy airways frequency, with the result that sightings which would probably be assessed as Category C are in some oases not reported. Other factors which tend to make airmiss figures artificially low include the widely held, though erroneous, impression that one more report would not make any difference, and the extent to which pilots become familiar with local air-traffic conditions. As an example of the latter, there has developed over the years an acceptance by the "regulars" that the airspace around Buntingford is dangerous, but. because of local knowledge of the type of traffic using the airspace, very few airmisses are reported. When looking at the Board of Trade figures (see the table), some caution is necessary with regard to the Category C data, which may be regarded more as a measure of the conscientious approach of a proportion of aircraft captains than as a measure of the number of potential near- collisions. Conversely it is important that public concern at the risk of mid-air collisions should not be stimulated by the Category C figures. These tend to be widely quoted, even out of context, as a measure of risk, but if the airmiss reporting procedure is to achieve the object of highlighting possible conflicts of air traffic then there ought to be more, rather than less, reports which fall into this category. Airline Survey Correction Mr H. G. Dawson asks us to state that, contrary to the impression given by our World Airline Survey (Flight for March 26, page 505), he is no longer a director of. and has no connection with. Trans Meridian (London) Ltd. First Hamble Captain The first graduate of the College of Air Training at Hamble to achieve command is Captain Victor Gunton, 28, who last week became a Heron captain on BEA's Scottish services. He went to Hamble in 1960 and joined BEA in 1962. New Inverness Link Inverness is to get a non-stop link with London under BEA's new summer schedules. Previously services were operated via Aberdeen. There will be one round trip a day except Sunday. Frequency on the Aberdeen-London service will be increased by one. making three flights each way on weekdays. Not Managing Director Mr. J. D. Watkins, author of the article on the development needs of the domestic air-service network (Flight for February 26, page 297) was inadvertently described as managing director of Hedley S. Crabtree & Co. Mr Watkins is a member of the company's staff; the managing director is in fact Mr Hedley S. Crabtree. More Interjet This month sees increases in the frequency of British United Airways' "Interjet" domestic trunk services. London-Edinburgh services are up from ten to 17 round trips a week; London-Belfast from 12 to 17 a week; and London- Glasgow from 22 to 23 a week. Interjet passengers totalled 181,266 last year, 28 per cent up on 1968. The airline expects to carry about 210,000 this year. AIRMISS REPORTS INVOLVING CIVIL AIRCRAFT Year 1963 1964 Public Public Class of aircraft trans- Other trans- Other port civil port civil 1965 Public trans- Other port civil 1966 Public trans- Other port civil 1967 Public trans- Other port civil 1968 Public trans- Other port civil 1969 Public trans- Other port civil Number of reports Category A Category B Category C Totals 2 16 45 63 4 15 38 57 7 20 57 84 4 12 35 51 3 11 35 49 6 20 43 69 9 9 40 58 4 17 36 57 5 14 37 56 15 26 51 92 6 19 51 76 3 24 53 80 4 29 48 81 13 29 38 80 Aircraft movements (thousands)*: Total, civil/military 4,540 Total, public transport .. 495 4,590 522 4,950 544 4,830 605 5,590 617 5,760 612 5,590 639 * Numbers of aircraft movements exclude movements at some aerodromes, and are estimated where actual Information is not available.
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