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Aviation History
1971
1971 - 0094.PDF
FLIGHT International, 21 January 1971 Letters 87 another. They expect their Governments to get tough with lata airlines, so that the only passengers are those in the aeroplanes, and all the others at present on their payrolls are put to work. London SW15 A. J. LUCKING Rubber-stamped Fares SIR,—Consumers will be interested to read Iata's riposte [see Flight, January 7, page 5] and to learn that their Governments are starting, albeit belatedly, to question the fares recommendations made by this ageing cartel. It did many useful jobs in the past, but now it is doing an increasing amount of damage. The reason that lata airlines are not making ample profits at present fare levels is that lack of price competition has had its classical consequence—many of the cartel members are incurring seriously exces sive costs, largely because of gross overstaffing. Staff costs can be up to 50 per cent of cash operating expenses. Some of us who have studied airline staff produc tivity have noted that many of the most productive companies seem to be non-Iata. My list would in clude All Nippon, the Australian domestic carriers, Linjeflyg and Pacific Southwest. But the crucial dilemma is that the dominating American inter national giants, Pan Am and TWA, have to pay such high salaries that we must expect fares to tend towards levels that suit them. In a more competitive environment, high-wage American airlines, like American shipping, would have been driven into bankruptcy already. This may happen yet, but in case not, there is still a lot that can be done. With an average passenger haul twice Pan Am's, BOAC's 1969-70 costs at 20.84d per CTM were 9 per cent higher. Pan Am staff produced 65 per cent more CTMs per head, and each "handled" three times as many passengers (256 v 87). On the other hand, BO AC enjoys excessive profits on the Australian and Far East routes, whereas parallel operations by Qantas produce much less than they should. As Edwards noted, BOAC has improved its staff productivity sharply. Recently there have been signs that BEA has begun to realise it must get to work too. I commend a three-year target of a 50 per cent productivity increase, quite apart from the windfall from larger aircraft; even this is only about half the improvement theoretically possible. It is charter competition that has focused public attention on the generally excessive level of standard lata fares. Often the true contrast is not 100 per cent v 50 per cent load factors, but 90 per cent v 60 per cent. The lata attempt to meet charter com petition by discriminatory discounting has led only to revenue dilution, and the disgraceful financial results about which airlines and their shareholders are complaining. (Every cloud has a silver lining, however: Concorde's financial success might be assured simply by ensuring that each passenger pays the present published fare.) Europe's travelling citizens are in revolt, notably Britons and Scandinavians, who are charged particu larly outrageous tolls for crossing the seas that separate them from the mainland and from one LETTERS for these columns should be addressed to the Editor, "Flight," Dorset House, Stamford Street, London SE1, and must bear the sender's name and address, though the address will not be printed in full unless the nature of the letter requires it. A nom de plume is acceptable only in exceptional circumstances. Brief letters will stand a better chance of publication. The Unrated Pilot in IMC SIR,—"The easiest way to fly from A to B is along the airways, particularly when the weather is bad. All you have to do is fill out a flight plan or, if you don't know what that is, you can have a nice chat with the airways controller when airborne. He will give you the height to fly which is at least 1,000ft above or below other aircraft. This means that you can use 500ft above and below your allocated height. To navigate you should have VOR and ADF fitted. When there is no wind, this equipment is quite easy to use, but when there is a wind you can be blown off the airway; but then the controller, who can see you on his TV set, will help you to navigate. "The controller will give you three tries to guess your time at the next reporting point, then you have to give up, and he will tell you. If you feel lonely you can talk to the controller. The only problem is that when you stop for breath other pilots speaking a different language want to speak to him. When you get to your destination the controller navigates you towards the ILS. Flying the ILS can be difficult, but you should keep the localiser and glideslope needles moving until the aircraft dives out of cloud. If you are a nervous type and this cloud-break technique occasionally frightens you then you should get an instrument rating." There are too many general-aviation pilots whose philosophy is in line with the above. The unrated pilot must be banned from controlled airspace in IMC. The Department of Trade and Industry could apply this ban by demanding that all IFR flight clearance requests are accompanied by the aircraft captain's licence number. Random checks of flight clearances, followed by disciplinary action when neces sary, would eradicate a potential accident situation. Stonesfield, Oxon R. J. CUTLER, Sqn Ldr, RAF (Ret'd) Perpetuation of a Myth? SIR,—It's bad enough that the aviation industry should still have to be involved in military work, but that Britain's leading aviation journal should see fit to romanticise the act of war is completely intolerable. I'm referring, of course, to the article "Night Mission on the Ho Chi Minh Trail" on page 32 of your January 7 issue. It is just possible to argue in favour of spending money and lives on defence as a necessary evil, but it is a necessity we should all be working to try to eliminate; the effect of your article is to perpetuate the myth of the romance of warfare, and it seems to me to be in the worst possible taste to have published it. That you should have reprinted it from a US Government propaganda sheet is even worse, especially since it in no way reflects the real attitude of the soldier in Viet Nam. I have many friends who have been there, and some friends who have been killed there; and, like their civilian counterparts at home, they neither enjoy nor for the most part support what is being done in the undeclared war. You have a duty to report factually what is being done in military aviation, of course, but I should have thought that articles like this one seriously overstep that duty. Please, don't do it again. London Wl ROD ALLEN, Editor, "Television Mail" All Mod Cons? SIR,—Dr Urmston's letter on carburettor icing is appropriate for it is time for this subject to be exploded. Each year we suffer from—and accept— dozens of engine failures through carburettor icing and some of these prove fatal. The American
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