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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 1318.PDF
STRAIGHT AND LEVEL Rolls-Royce has also pro vided the power for another world record. For an RAF spray- powered Phantom has estab- A Department of Trans- 1 port statement said: "As ^fl the main wheels left the 1 runway, a loud band was 1 heard, and the second offi- 1 Left; Rolls-Royce Commercial Brief, March 18: Right; Horley Mirror, April 7 GOOD morning. I am going to Boston but I want my baggage to go to Milwaukee. -—We can't do that sir. You did it last week. • Robot riveters are putting people out of work and robbing aircraft factories of their nostalgia—that- always-remembered random staccato of men making aeroplanes. And ah! that fragrance, which automation has not yet dispelled, of epoxies and phenolics and a thousand other flying- machine aromas. Robots ensure that after noon rivets are as good as morning rivets, and that you get fewer customer complaints about manu facturing quality. No more Friday Afternoon Wings for the customer's rep to reject. He knocked off early for the weekend anyway. • Bit cheeky of SAS to nick the BCal advertising slogan "We never forget you have a choice". That now belongs to British Airways, though perhaps adapted to the new situation—"We never forget. . . what?" WOMEN IN AVIATION YOU can just stop that sulking, Alfred. You have had quite enough aeroplanes for one day. —Boo-hoo, scowl, sob. Come along now. You can have another flight in an aero plane next week. —Sob, scowl, boo-hoo. Alfred, there are other things in life besides aero planes. —Scowl, sob, boo-hoo. I'm getting fed up with looking after everything—the garden, the bills, the children's schooling, that damp patch in the bathroom, your wretched family. I seem to be responsible for every thing while all you can think about is your blessed aero planes . .. —HOWL, SCREAM. Oh all right, you can have another go. I'll come with you if you like. But you must promise to find time for other things. Like buying yourself a new suit. uHo f hell no, triple no, no squared" EENGINEERS are "always •i coming up with com plicated : tions and terminology rather than fixing the thing", says .Jeana Yeager at a point in the book Voyager where the problems- are so ov ning that Dick Rutan isn't the only member of the team close to i ting. But one mi.t .hive to succeed in aviation. especially if one intends to fly round -he world without refuelling. ; When Dick hi > r , :iat an ei.unc lumpjn'- ju ,t down the flight line at e was testing an unrlucte.l fan, he exploded: "Unducted fan? l't tell me what it isn't, tell me what it is." Yet his favourite quota tion, stuck on his wall in the hangar at Mojave, - was: "Life's a bitch, and then you die" Duiuig a te btr he was so exha? \A the w<;ather so rough that he could hardly land, Jeana •hed up arw , d his arm, saying: "It's okay, Rutan, it's okay. You're doing fine. Cairo down. You can do it," and coolly continued the checklist. At with Voyo ost out of control, she leaned forward aw* ask."l: "Are v.-t V>&.&gt;u ? fun yet?". < )n the ground Dick raged: •'ix^s joK\ I-*" •>*> -hell <b> we get into this? There is no way this thing can make it around the world. v\'ho are we kidding? The longer we go on, the deeper we.get, the lldffll ? it « lH 'V (1/ g>>i C» w we have no cho^ - The only way,out, is death," Jeana recalls that when he was back in the hang - in his \ 'oyagcr team o\ oralis and wise> sss, he was "as pro. sional as ever". In mission conti the record flight, weather and performance people competed for the radio. One day designer Hurt Rutan was particularly woiv • . uel burn. He s< i "Pd like to run tb. ; weather guys out of th- - and talk to Dick ihoot his, iirjnooe"'. Bruce- E*'atw., controller, disagreed: "You performance weenies may as • ' 11 go home right now. There's nothing left for you to do. They'll fly the airplane as far as they can nnri then trvv'll Lr.o ii. all." Over Africa, wh i towering cuniin bubbled iii ' h '<>! i U oti <•" ' H >e< speeded-up weather movies, mission control at Mojave vetood routeing over Soma lia and Chad and Uganda to mis-, ihe storms—too sensi tive politically. "Thr where you get 'shot down. It's no, hell no, ti . ' • To fly rouftd the world without refuelling, e- your negatives must he positive. 'm?o *•. Jeana ¥ea.gefc»ttdjMcjs H'ltan, Hem n mm iQMfiper lit >•.- or Street, London V, MISS YOU!. . . (Unipart Four- nier pair, Redhill air show, June 1987) 52 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 14 May 1988
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