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Aviation History
1980
1980 - 0003.PDF
Weak endinrj 5 January.1980 Number 3664 Volume 117 ISSN 0015-3710 Published In association with Aeroplane Monthly and Airports international by IPC Transport Press Ltd. Dorset House, Stamford Street, London SE1 9LU, England. World's first and only comptete aeronautical weekly © Copyright IPC Business Press 1980 Founded 1909 Second-class postage paid at New York, NY, and additional entries. Kdltor J. M. Ramsden Associate Editors Hugh Field, Mark Lambert Defence Editor Graham Warwick BSc Chief Sub-editor Bette O'Connor Sub-editor Graham Cowell Technical David Velupiliai BSc Air Photography Tom Hamlll Air Transport Bron Rek General Aviation Hugh Field, Cliff Barnett News Ian Goold Layout Artist Colin Paine Technical Artists Frank Munger, John Marsden Keeper off records Dennis Baldry Pictures Stephen Piercey Publisher Bryan C. Cambray FIMI Deputy Publisher and Group Advertisement Manager David Holmes US Publishing Consultant Warren H. Goodman Advertisement Representatives Jack Bush Clive Rlgden Richard Chandless Advertisement Production Howard Mason Overseas advertisement representatives: at back of this Issue Telephone: 01-261 8081 (Advertisement Sales) 01-261 8392 (Advertisement Production) 01-261 8070 (Editorial) Telegram/Telex 25137 BISPRS G Subscriptions Manager A. Walden Telephone: England (0444) 59188 (UK and overseas subscrip tion rates can be found in this issue) [AM; International Business Press Associates A^T, Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation NEXT WEEK Team test43:RS180 Sportsman j. Panther Navajahot twin • Next week we see how much Piper's Navajo gains in the air when it's given a Colemille conversion, e We fly Germany's sporting four-seater, the RS180 Sportsman. • Will the supercarrier be superseded by Vtol carriers? Graham Warwick looks at the trend in naval architecture for aircraft carriers, as Kingston's Harrier, which uniquely proved and established Vtol in the 1960s and 70s, looks forward to a decade which could dramatically confirm its indis- pensability to naval as well as to battlefield commanders. A new decade T HE increasing cost and scarcity of oil is one of few certainties facing international aviation, military and civil, as the 1980s dawn. Aviation—perhaps now the world's biggest industry after agriculture— accounts for only 3 per cent of the total world oil-burn; but unlike dom estic, factory and railway consumers, aviation is totally dependent on liquid hydrocarbon fuel. Assuming that the demand for oil —especially from the developing countries—will continue to outstrip supply and discovery, we shall be guided by the watchwords CONSERVE and CONVERT. Already avionics are helping pilots to conserve, by flying minimum-waste profiles from take-off to touchdown. There will be good business for every one who is good at autopilots, en gines and fuel-control systems. Cheap and plentiful aviation fuel has tended to breed some sloppy operational disciplines, and more must be done to cut wasteful taxiing and ground- running. Controllers and their equip ment will have an ever bigger part to play in the aviation economy. Conversion will be the other watch word. We shall see piston-aircraft users of Avgas—the scarce refinement of the oil barrel—converting to Mogas. This is another new word (meaning motor-car fuel) which will enrich the aviation vocabulary. Aero-engine manu facturers, if asked about Mogas in stead of Avgas, just say "don't"—for good safety and reliability reasons. Perhaps they will now be looking for ways to say "do". We shall prob ably be seeing more motor-car en gines adapted to aeroplanes. We shall certainly hear much more about the conversion of coal into synthetic jet fuel (Avcoal?). Conversion, too, will be the order of the day in industries which can be more cheaply operated on solid fuels like coal. Coal-generated electricity for industry and railways will help to keep the aviation hydrants flowing for many years beyond the dry 1999 now pessimistically predicted. J.M.R. Safety transfer AVIATION risk-management calls for the strictest disciplines, and its exponents are being called in by other industries. Jerry Lederer, President Emeritus of the Flight Safety Foundation and "Mr US Air Safety", is chairman of the US National Academy of Sciences Com mittee on "research needs for the prevention of collisions of vessels at sea". Lederer is also advising the Electric Power Research Institute, representing all power-generating companies in the USA. This body is organising the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators in an $11 million-a- year programme to upgrade the safety of nuclear power. His job is to trans fer to this industry the "philosophies and techniques of air safety." Bruce Lundin, retired director of Nasa Lewis Research Centre, has served on the US President's commit tee investgiating the Three Mile Island nuclear power station accident. Capt Paul Soderlind (ex Northwest) has been engaged on the same nuclear power investigation for General Pub lic Utilities, the parent company of Metropolitan Edison, the operator of the Three Mile Island facility. Charles "Chuck" Miller, former director of aviation safety, US National Transportation Safety Board, and director of System Safety Inc, is a consultant to the Nuclear Power Regulatory Commission, the body which sets the nuclear safety rules. Aviation safety, subject of a special report in this issue, is setting an ex ample to all industries. J.M.R. IN THIS ISSUE World News Air Transport Defence General Aviation Business Private Avionics Spaceflight Letters Industry Books NEW TECHNOLOGY AND SAFETY BELL PUSHES HELICOPTER TECHNOLOGY Straight and Level DEFENCE SPECIAL 2 5 8 10 11 12 13 14 16 19 20 24 26 27 Front cover: View of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30.
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