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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 2786.PDF
Balloon attempts circumnavigation British balloonist Julian Nott plans to ascend from Los Angeles, California, on Novem ber 15, in an ambitious attempt to circumnavigate the world in 18 days. Nott's proposal was first announced to the world four years ago. The 135ft-high balloon Explorer holds half a million cubic feet of helium gas, and will circumnavigate the globe at 40,000ft. It will have a "double skin", with the air between the outer and inner skins used for vertical move ment. "Air can be introduced into the air sack or expelled, affect ing the density of the helium and forcing it to expand or contract, enabling us to change altitude," says Nott. The deci sion to use the air sack tech nique for altitude control, instead of ballast and gas, was made because Nott believes it will give Explorer greater flexi bility in the Jetstream, where he plans to fly. The decision to fly above the moist, freezing winds which have caused previous balloon- ists to abort their round-the- world attempts has made it necessary for Nott and his co pilot, Buddy Squires, to make the journey in a pressurised capsule, designed and built by Airship Industries. The 8ft- diameter capsule will contain the communications, naviga tion, and life-support systems, including satellite equipment capable of transmitting live voice and television pictures. Buddy Squires, a film camera man, will record the journey for a future video release. There have been six previous attempts to balloon around the world. Only four of these got off the ground. Nott says the main reason for the record attempt is the thrill of the adventure, but the infor mation the flight can contribute to weather research will be valu able. "There is not enough data about the Jetstream in some regions where we will fly, so we plan to send back our research." Although the flight is sched uled to take off from California on November 15, the pilots are prepared for delays, and intend to wait for exactly the right weather before starting the attempt. TTTTTT- Pressurised gondola Communications and navigation equipment, rate of climb indicator, two cabin pressure differential gauges, two envelope pressure differential gauges Electronics, air-conditioning and a scrubber to remove carbon dioxide and water Storage space for equipment, parachutes, raft, etc. For 18 days, Julian Nott and Buddy Squires will live in a pressurised capsule only 8ft in diameter US satellites cleared for Chinese launch The US State Department has approved applications by Hughes Aircraft to export two of its satellites to China for launch on Chinese Long March launch vehicles. The decision is subject to veto by both the US Congress and the Co-ordinating Commit tee for Multilateral Export Controls (CoCom), which each have 30 days in which to regis ter objections. If approved, the export licences will clear the way for Hughes to begin negotiating with the Chinese on behalf of the Australian Aussat consor tium, which has contracted Hughes to find a suitable launch vehicle, in addition to constructing the hardware for its Aussat B programme. Of the launch vehicles under con sideration the Long March is by far the cheapest option. Negotiations have been delayed while the State Department considers the issue of technology transfer, which has so far prevented any US manufacturer from launching satellites on either Chinese or Soviet-made vehicles. The granting of export licences will be subject to Chinese safeguards on specific technology transfer concerns, and to the Chinese accepting an obligation to make future launch contracts competitive. Airlines must sell CRSs, say MPs Airlines should be forced to sell off their computerised reserva tion systems (CRSs), according to a UK report. The Commons Select Committee on Transport believes that the ownership of CRSs by airlines is against the public interest, and is open to abuse. The committee identi fies the main potential abuses as screen display bias and the use of privileged access to information about competing airlines. Screen display bias is important, because experience in the USA has shown that bookings tend to be made on the first screen of flight details. In fact, most bookings are made on the first flight displayed on that screen. The MPs realise that divestiture by the airlines of their highly lucrative interests is highly unlikely. As a second- best option, they would like to see ownership of CRSs spread around as many airlines as possible. They cite Galileo and Amadeus, where ownership is spread over several major and minor airlines. Ideally, they hope, such joint ownership would be spread so thin that no two airlines could exercise control by working together. The final option, the commit tee believes, is producing guide lines to curb the abuses. The committee also recognises the multinational nature of CRS systems, and wants to ensure that unilateral action by the UK does not handicap British airlines. The MPs recommend that the Government investi gates multilateral talks about CRS divestiture. The MPs see the threat to the public interest coming from the natural monopolistic tendencies of CRSs. They believe that travel agents will only subscribe to one system and, should an industry leader be established, it will quickly gain a dominant position. This is the position in the USA, where Sabre is the market leader. But the commit tee does recognise that work proceeding in the UK may produce a system allowing travel agents to access which ever CRS they please from a single terminal, reducing the travel agent's hardware outlay. Travel agents will simply use the easiest, cheapest, or most powerful system. 16 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 1 October 1988
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