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Aviation History
1971
1971 - 0329.PDF
304 AIR TRANSPORT. independent of the public supplies; distribution of power is based throughout on dual ring mains with split supplies to individual systems giving the minimum risk of failure. During the first month of operation of the new LATCC there have inevitably been equipment failures—it would have been remarkable had there not been in such a com plex—but in general the running-in period has been less painful than had been anticipated. One problem requiring urgent action was a loss of gain on the radar displays but a modification to achieve the required brilliance has proved satisfactory and one-third of the displays has been adjusted already. In the air there have been some difficulties with the climbing penetration of the terminal area by north bound departures from Gatwick and southbound depar tures from Luton, the latter being aggravated by the use of the Ongar beacon as an additional terminal holding point. The tendency has been for both types of departure to be held low while in transit through the TMA which has irritated operators and crews alike. This type of birth- pang arises from the use of the new TMA control suites coupled with arrival and departure procedure changes and it was in order to evaluate such difficulties and "work up" the whole operation that the new operations room was commissioned on February 1. Theoretically at least, the learning curve should follow the growth of movements as the summer season approaches and there is little evidence to support the view that it will not do so. Mediator as a whole is unhappily prejudiced by the lack of its flight plan processing and associated automated equipments but it must be acknowledged that a major and useful step forward has been taken. MEA BUYS SIX 720BS SIX refurbished ex-American Airlines Boeing 720Bs have been bought by MEA for introduction over the next 12 months. Standardisation on Boeings will give MEA a total of three 707-320CS and nine 720Bs, once the stop-gap Convair 990As used by the airline for the past 18 months have been returned to American. MEA has also signed an engineering agreement with American Airlines, to over haul and carry out major modifications to a substantial number of the latter's Boeing 720Bs. This work will be done at the MEA engineering base in Beirut. AVIATION BILL NEAR THE Civil Aviation Bill will be published in about a week. This was the indication given by Mr Michael Noble, Minister for Trade, at the annual dinner of the Aerodrome Owners' Association in London on February 24. Referring apparently to the possibility that the Bill will encompass both the Civil Aviation Authority and the air corporations' holding board, Mr Noble said that he hoped for "a single birth and not twins." Speaking on the Roskill Commission's recommendations on the siting of the third London airport, which favoured the Cublington site, Mr Noble said that the final decision would have to be in the interests of civil aviation as a whole. "Environment and so on is important," he said, "and we have to decide it in human terms. But essentially we have to decide it in the interests of British aviation." fUCHT International, 4 March 1971 Aircraft noise, admitted Mr Noble, was the worst of his problems. Even during the present postal strike the com plaints seemed to be getting through to his department. All civil aviation problems were insoluble, he added; "but the noise problem is rapidly becoming not only insoluble but intolerable." Mr Noble also had a warning against complacency over the hijacking situation. "It is still a very serious threat," he said. "There is absolutely no evidence that this type of operation will decrease, and quite a lot of evidence that it will increase." The Roskill Commission, in the view of Mr A. P. Cusworth, chairman of AOA and commandant of Southend Airport, came to the only logical conclusion possible within their terms of reference. An airport developed on a site that was unsatisfactory from the aviation point of view, he said, would be a disaster. But the main requirement, said Mr Cusworth, was not just for a national airports plan but for a national trans portation plan. V/Stol would have an important role— "and I hope that there'll be money left in the kitty for the development of this. It is up to the Government to inject new life into British aviation, which has suffered from official policies—or lack of policies—ever since the war." The other speakers were Sir John Briscoe, operations director of the British Airports Authority, and Mr B. J. Bowden, a director of Shell-Mex & BP. Mr Bowden referred to what he considered a discriminatory fuel-tax system, under which gasoline was taxed very much more heavily than kerosene. This seemed unfair to owners and operators of light aircraft, he thought, and was certainly not helpful to such manufacturers as Britten-Norman. It was unfortunate, said Mr Bowden, that responsibility for the quality of aviation fuel could not be taken over by the Air Registration Board. At the moment quality control responsibility rested with the oil companies, with pilots and with the aerodrome owners. STRONG CHARTER GROWTH THE number of passengers using the British Airports Authority's four airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Prestwick) topped 20 million in 1970. Total passengers were 20,345,742, a figure which was 12-7 per cent higher than in 1969. Particularly strong increases are noticeable in charter passengers, up 30 per cent on 1969, and charter cargo, up 30-8 per cent. The latter is still, however, only a small part of the total cargo traffic at BAA airports; and scheduled cargo was 2 per cent down, leaving total cargo slightly less than in the previous year. The bulk of the cargo traffic uses Heathrow, and in spite of the new cargo terminal and a dock strike in July, the 1970 figure was 2 • 3 per cent down. In fact the new terminal may have contributed to the drop, because of airlines' diffi culties in establishing their facilities there. BAA says that cargo traffic recovered in the last quarter of the year. The introduction of the Boeing 747 has meant that, although the total of scheduled passengers at Heathrow was up 9-9 per cent on 1969, the number of scheduled movements rose only 4-3 per cent. A big growth in charter passengers at Stansted—146-5 per cent up on 1969 to reach a total of 198,910—reflects the first substantial use of the airport by long-haul jet charter operators, including the US supplementals. TRAFFIC AT BAA AIRPORTS, 1970 Movements: scheduled charter total Passengers: scheduled charter total Cargo and mail (short tons) All BAA 273,574 45,411 451,095 15,991,319 3,937,801 20,345,742 474,995 airports % change + 26 + 21-7 + 6-6 + 9-6 +30-0 + 12-7 + 0-9 Heath 242,817 3,630 270,302 15,065,084 349,943 15,606,719 410,697 row % change + 4-3 -13-1 + 4-6 + 9-9 -10-8 + 9-0 - 10 Gatwick 19,837 33,812 92,186 706,153 2,977,882 3,704,345 35,658 % change - 6-5 + 22-2 + 4-8 + 80 +27-3 +22-9 +19'7 Prestwick 10,851 1,789 44,041 214,830 119,643 515,144 17,420 change - 1-3 + 4-9 + 28-8 + 0-4 +23-3 + 7-3 — 13-8 Stansted 69 6,180 44,566 5,252 490,333 519,534 11,220 % change -95-6 + 63-5 + 4-9 -73-1 + 146-5 + 119-2 + 79-7
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