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Aviation History
1980
1980 - 0071.PDF
Three's company Week endina 12 January, 1980 Number 3695 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 complete aeronautical weekly © Copyright IPC Business Press 1980 Founded 1909 Second-class postage paid at New York, NY, and additional entries. Editor 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 Veluplllal BSc Air Photography Tom Hamiil Air Transport Bron Rek General Aviation Hugh Field, Cliff Barnett News Ian Goold Art Editor Colin Paine Technical Artists Frank Munger, John Marsden Keeper of 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 Cllve Rigden 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) .«*»*.i International Business Press Associates ftgcl Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation NEXT WEEK • Is the civil flying boat dead? Japan's Shin Meiwa thinks not and is hoping to launch a new 40-seat jet amphibian within the next year or so. Bron Rek describes the aircraft and its prospects. • Our Inter national Light Turbine Directory describes all current engines up to 10,0001b dry thrust or 2,000 h.p. AS in many industries, manning of i the airliner cockpit has fallen before technology. Two decades ago a five-man flight-deck was normal, at least on long-distance flights, although the jobs of the specialist radio officer, navigator and flight engineer were already being threatened. Manning economies spread as the avionics industry steadily simplified engineering and nav/com systems, and put displays and controls within easy reach of the captain and copilot. The majority of public transport departures during the 60s and 70s were conducted by two-pilot crews and Flight records can find no pas sengers lost because one pilot of a two-man operation was incapacitated. Adherents to the two-pilot cockpit will cite this remarkable statistical fact in support of their case. There have, of course, been instances of pilot incapacitation on two-crew flight-decks; but despite a few close calls, and sometimes thanks to the assistance of trained cabin- crew, the two-pilot system has always failed safe. The two-pilot protagonists, nearly all short-haulers, make another important point. They say that in the modern cockpit, with everything a pilot needs so neatly and conveni ently displayed, a third man can actually be a nuisance. Jobs and checklists have to be devised to find employment for him, they argue, reducing the safety level he was supposed to raise. In safety, as in love, two's company and three's a crowd. So say the pilots of two-man flight-decks, and they are the majority. So why are the pilot unions, led by the US Air Line Pilots' Association (Alpa) and the European branch of Ifalpa, Europilote, opposing the two- man flight-deck as proposed for the new Boeings and Airbuses? The air craft manufacturers, led by the avionicists away from the sideways flight-engineer's station, are propos ing the FFCC or Forward Facing Crew Cockpit. In this the third man sits in the jump seat between the pilots, with everything to hand or eye before or above him. What is new about the FFCC? The majority of DC-9s, 737s and One- Elevens have been flying this latest Yuckspeak acronym for 20 years. The new factor, which should not confuse the argument, is the proposed colour- TV display of flight information to the pTots. There may be grounds for caution about the human-factors and software problems of such displays; but these are avionics problems, and they will not be solved by manning. The evidence that there have been no incapacitation fatalities with two- pilot crews in public transport is forceful but not clinching. At least as forceful is the evidence that many two-pilot crashes might have been avoided if there had been a third pair of eyes and ears on the flight-deck— whether belonging to a pilot or a flight engineer. Indeed, some two- pilot accidents might have been avoided if the second pilot had been more assertive, or if the captain had been more accessible to his copilot's advice. Cockpit voice recorder (CVR) testimony does little to strengthen the arguments for two-pilot crews. The airlines face a difficult and delicate problem, vulnerable to mani pulation by some unions and manage ment—bath advancing safety in support of more or fewer crew- members. Yet the honest argument is about safety, even if it does get fudged by industrial and economic emotion. We shall not take sides, and any way there is no simple answer. But we should take note of CVR evidence in three recent disasters— the 747 Tenerife collision, the 747 Bombay attitude - director failure, and DC-8 fuel-exhaustion. The flight engineers or third men in all three accidents are heard advising the captain of his mistake. Whether we have two, three or more crewmembers on the flight- deck, the training syllabus should encourage captains to be responsive, and their cockpit subordinates to be assertive. J.M.R. IN THIS ISSUE World News Air Transport Defence General Aviation Business Private Spaceflight Avionics Industry International V/STOL SHAPES TOMORROW'S SHIPS BUSINESS AND LIGHT AVIATION SPECIAL Letters Straight and Level 66 69 73 76 77 78 80 83 84 87 107 108 Front cover: A British Aerospace Harrier lands on the helicopter platform of Royal Navy support ship HMS Olwen, demonstrating the potential of an air-capable navy using V/Stol aircraft from numerous and diverse ships.
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