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Aviation History
1975
1975 - 0907.PDF
fUCHT International. 22 May 1975 8 13 ii^W^uaiiia^iiiiiir Two of the Learjet 23s which are to form the fleet of Arab Wings ("Flight" last week, page 787) passed through Prestwick on May 14 on their way to Amman. The aircraft, which were previously operated by Executive Jet Aviation, have been refurbished and repainted before delivery Anglo-US talks on commissions. The British Department of Trade and the US State Department were due yesterday to discuss the dispute over the rates of commission paid by Pan American to travel agents. The DoT, along with its counter parts in many other countries, is try ing to make Pan Am conform to the 7-5 per cent limit prescribed by the International Air Transport Associa tion. Pan Am and the US Govern ment believe that the DoT has no jurisdiction, within the Bermuda Agreement, over the rates paid on tickets sold outside the UK. Earlier this month the DoT varied Pan Am's foreign-carrier permit to specify the 7-5 per cent rate—com mission rates are not normally part of these permits. Following the decision to talk to the US authorities last week, the deadline for compliance with the amended permit—after which the DoT will "reconsider" the US airline's operating rights—was extended from last Thursday, May 15, to tomorrow, Friday. Understandably the British authorities are keen to play down the possibility of action against Pan Am. US airline fatalities doubled in 1974 The number of fatalities arising out of accidents to certificated and supple mental US carriers' aircraft in 1974 was 467, more than double the 1973 total of 227, although the number of fatal accidents during each year was the same (nine). These figures are contained in the recently published preliminary statistical analysis of air craft accidents during 1974, prepared by the US National Transportation Safety Board. Estimates prepared by the Civil Aeronautics Board show that the com mercial flying effort during the year was down compared with 1973. Air craft hours flown fell from 6 • 5 million to 6 million while miles flown were down two per cent. During the 1969-73 base period there was an average of 5-1 million scheduled departures. This figure fell by 9-8 per cent during 1974 to 4-6 million. There was an annual average of 43-8 accidents during the period, of which 6-8 were fatal. In 1974 there were 42 accidents (an improvement of 4-1 per cent), of which seven were fatal. The effect of the reduced effort and almost constant number of fatal accidents was to increase the fatal rate per 100,000 departures by 21-6 per cent. The bulk of the increase came within the category of scheduled international flights, there being only a small rise on the domestic flights. Compared to the base-period average, aircraft miles flown by the supplemental carriers decreased by 8-7 per cent. There was one fatal accident, in which four people were killed. For the fourth year in suc cession, however, there were no fatal accidents to the non-scheduled carriers. For general-aviation data the NTSB compares 1974 against averages for the previous four years because the Federal Aviation Administration re vised its technique for estimating general-aviation utilisation in 1970. Hours flown in 1974 were 16-7 per cent above the base average at 31-2 million, and both total and fatal acci dents were slightly below average. There were 1,290 fatalities in 653 accidents, the total of reportable acci dents being 4,362. The NTSB study lists brief details SENSOR Prototype development of West- land's Civil Lynx 606 depends on the availability of an airframe for modification to PT6s, and also on the heavy Westland engineering workload expected to arise from the impending Egyptian order to build army Lynxes under licence fas well as Gems, Hawks and Adours). This is expected to be clarified in July. Development of the 606 depends also on market reaction to the mock-up which will be prominently on show at Paris. British Airways has so far not had one engine shutdown on TriStars. The airline believes that this has as much to do with its operating techniques as the reliability of the RB.211. Ten BAC One-Elevens are authorised for production, of which five are series 500s for Tarom of Romania. The five further upstream are 475s or 500s (the decision as to which does not need to be made until well into produc tion). Among the best repeat-order prospects are Faucett and Gulf Air. One area of general aviation that should benefit from the increased rate of Value Added Tax in the UK is the sale of second-hand aeroplanes between private indi viduals. Not subject to the tax, private transactions of used machines will now be considered much more seriously by the potential buyer, who previously would be more likely to act through a dealer. The dealers, whose market is already depressed, are faced with even harder times. Some senior airline pilots sense that the Civil Aviation Authority is modifying its simulator philosophy. CAA pilots have always recom mended, if not actually required, in-flight demonstrations of certain unusual emergencies—for example, double-engine failure coupled with rudder-boost failure. The change is thought to be due to growing confi dence in the capability and fidelity of modern simulators. A move out of London is being planned for British Airways HQ staff based at Ruislip, the West London terminals, and Speedbird House. Basingstoke is the currently favoured location. The move towards integration of the two British Airways mainten ance bases at Heathrow is taking longer than had been hoped. Two years of talks between manage ment and unions have made some progress in identifying the prob lems, but little progress in agreeing action.
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