FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1973
1973 - 0072.PDF
44 FLIGHT International, 11 January 1973 Minister names TriStar Mr Michael Heseltine, British Minister for Aerospace and Shipping, has been in the United States since January 7 visiting industry and govern ment. He began his visit in Los Angeles, where he toured the Lock heed plant to see TriStars being assembled, and named the first of the five for Court Line "Halcyon Days." It is due to go into service in the second week of April, flying Clark- sons inclusive tours on 17 routes to the Mediterranean and North Africa. The second TriStar should be in Court Line service by the end of April. Between them the two aircraft are expected to carry 250,000 holiday- makers this summer. Mr Heseltine said at the naming ceremony that Lockheed foresees a need for more than 575 TriStars in the next ten years, including the extended-range and—later—an ex tended-fuselage version. This would create a demand for 2,300 BB.211s, worth $4,600 million with spares, he said. Yesterday, January 10, Mr Heseltine was due to address the World Affairs Council of Los Angeles on the theme of "Aerospace and Industry: Britain, Europe and the United States." The Minister is scheduled to call on McDonnell Douglas and North Ameri can Rockwell at Los Angeles today and to fly to Seattle tomorrow, January The US Navy's new Standard Missile 2 on its first guided flight, below, successfully inter cepted a target drone flying supersonically. Built by General Dynamics Pomona Division, the new surface-to-air weapon will replace the Standard Missile I on "Aegis", "Terrier" and "Tartar" snips from I97S onward 12, to visit the Boeing plant. Mr Heseltine is due to have talks with the US Administration in Washington on January 15 and 16, and to spend one day in New York for further official contacts before returning to London on January 18. Concorde 02 about to fly The maiden flight of Concorde 02— the first to be fitted with an extended rear fuselage, tail wheel, modified leading edge, TRA nozzles and smoke- free Olympus 602s—was expected as we closed for press. For initial trials the aircraft is equipped with Dunlop steel brakes. The retractable "spade" silencers will not be used during the first series of flights. Test flights carried out last week by Concorde 01 from Ellinikon Airport, Athens, were successful, according to Mr Brian Trubshaw, British Concorde chief test pilot. Following the publication by Presi dent Nixon's Advisory Committee on Aviation of a report recommending that SSTs be allowed to use American airspace only if they meet strict noise and pollution standards, which were not defined, it is expected that British Minister for Aerospace, Mr Michael Heseltine, will seek clarification of the noise levels which will be accept able while he is in the United States. It has been suggested that 02 might visit the United States later this year. The advisory committee, which had nine members and was set up two years ago noted that noise was the most urgent problem facing the aero space industry. It recommended that steps should be taken to reduce the noise of aircraft already in service. • Mr John Ehrlichman, the Presi dent's chief adviser on domestic policy, disclosed last week that the budget for the year beginning July 1, 1973 will include a small sum for SST research. The money would be "for research and development, particu larly in areas of noise suppression problems and environmental impact." Faulty recorder hinders investigation The flight data recorder of the United Air Lines Boeing 737 which crashed at Chicago, Midway on Decem ber 8 stopped working several minutes before the crash according to the National Transportation Safety Board. In an effort to establish the final stages of the aircraft's flight path reference is being made to the data recording at the ARTS-3 installation at O'Hare International airport. The automated control system includes continuous recording of altitude as one of its parameters as well as head ing and groundspeed information. Redraft Part 135 says NTSB Reporting at the end of a year-long study of commuter and air taxi opera tions the US National Transportation Safety Board has recommended that the applicable regulation, FAR Part 135, should be completely rewritten. The study began as a result of a fatal accident to a Chicago and Southern Airlines aircraft at Peoria in October 1971 and the report notes that in the previous three-year period there had been 141 accidents to commuter air line aircraft; 35 of the accidents were fatal and caused the loss of 112 pas sengers' lives. The NTSB comments that a lack of basic data limits its ability to compare air taxi safety with that of larger carriers. The NTSB is critical of a recent CAB ruling that an air taxi service would not pose a safety hazard if it were substituted for a scheduled car rier service. The ruling was based on inquiries to the FAA and the NTSB considers that the CAB should have made its own investigation to ensure that the operator was capable of meet ing his obligations. The US Post Office policy of accept ing the lowest tender for air taxi mail contracts leads to cutting corners at the expense of safety, in the Board's view. Specific suggestions for revisions to FAR Part 135 to improve the safety of commuter and air taxi operations include requirements to appoint com pany safety officers, to insist that all commercial captains regardless of air craft size should hold an Air Transport Pilot rating, to introduce flight-time limitations and to clarify the operating conditions for visual and instrument flights. Laker /CAB conflict The US Civil Aeronautics Board's Bureau of Enforcement has asked the board to suspend temporarily the United States air carrier permit of Laker Airways. The airline is required to comply with an order first issued in 1971 to supply the board with informa tion concerning alleged illegal charter flights (see page 47). Autonomy within Airways Board Following much speculation about a merger of BEA and BOAC beyond the financial link implicit in the forma tion of the British Airways Board, Mr Henry Marking, group managing director, has gone into print in BEA Neivs. He says that . . . "you can expect that, with the greater integra tion of the group's efforts, the BEA and BOAC divisions will continue to carry out operations with a high de gree of independence and autonomy."
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
