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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 0045.PDF
LETTERS tct a dual-control trainer No future for fun? SIR—Are we experiencing the dying days of fun flying in the UK? Forecasts state that by the end of the century well over 2 billion airline passengers a year will be transported in around 12,500 jet liners. Of these, some 180 mil lion will be to or from the UK, with millions of others just pass ing overhead. Today's over crowded and increasingly regu lated control systems will need by then to cope with at least double the movements. In this crowded environment it is hardly likely that 70-year-old veterans or 20-year-old novices will be allowed to fly their single- engined transports of delight, no matter how well equipped with transponders, RNAV or flashing lights. What will become of the sense of elation over a precision plan or a roll off the top? So, how do those with vision and those who plan the future see general aviation in the year 2000? Will airlines train ab initio recruits in special schools set up in lightly populated areas like central Canada or Australia? Will recreational flying come to mean a microlight under 500ft in a designated zone? • Will flying transport by amateurs be as ob solete as the private train, and demand for single-engine private aircraft reduced so far as to ensure the demise of the manu facturing industry? It would be interesting to discover readers' opinions. C E PASSMORE I Sea Reach CliffParade Leigh-on-Sea Essex Time tangle SIR—In your item on London City Airport (Flight, 23 Septem ber, P 14) you appear to confuse a number of flying hours (2,300) with simply telling the time (23.00). TOM FURSTENBERG Rue des Tiennes 51 B-1338 Lasne Belgium Hart of the matter: new arrivals inspi Hart facts DEAR UNCLE ROGER—The picture captioned "RAF Hawker Hart, possibly India, late 1930s" (Straight and Level, 16 Septem ber, 1989) is in fact a dual- control Hart trainer. The rear cockpit has only a padded (protected) rim; all other Hart variants—Hind, Hardy and Osprey (fleet version)—would have a gun ring. The engine exhaust pipe double bend is also quite distinctive. The men look like new arrivals from home. THOMAS MORAN (No 117TS, 1936/7, Wittering) 89 Fivey Road Stranocum Ballymoney Co. Antrim Northern Ireland Bulldog memories DEAR UNCLE ROGER—The picture of the boys from Taunton School inspecting a Bristol Bulldog (Straight and Level, 29 Novem- ber-5 December, 1989) brought back memories. Someone could have taken a similar photograph in 1941/2 at the Minehead County School in Minehead, Somerset. We had two Hawker Harts (?) in various stages of disrepair which were used by the local air training corps squadron (possibly no 133). After seeing some Avengers up close at RNAS Yeovilton during an ATC camp, I'm sure we were never kidded that our school had the "most modern and finest" equipment. JOHN CORNELIUS 3 Nesberry Lane Glastonbury Connecticut 06033 USA Fokker's 146 proposition SIR—Contents (Flight, 13-19 De cember) presents a striking ex ample of British Aerospace's in novative strength. According to the picture caption, the aircraft shown in Sudan Airways' livery is a BAe 146. This is a fantastic scoop for Flight, as British Aero space never announced to the outside world that they were developing a twin-propjet ver sion of their aircraft. Our British friends apparently took a very close look at the Fokker 50 before designing this new 146 variant. This certainly tickled our vanity, but we regret we can not return the favour. Fokker has no plans whatsoever to transform the Fokker 50 into a four- enginedjet. LEO STEIJN Fokker Aircraft PO Box 12222 HOOAEAmsterdam-Zuidoost Holland First flights to Kerry SIR—Whenever anyone in the aviation business says that they are the first, you can be sure someone has done it before. I refer to the article on Kerry Inter national Airport (Flight, 10 June) and to Aer Lingus' claim to have operated the first scheduled ser vice (Letters, 15 July). Neither was first, in fact. Southeast Airlines began sched uled services on 25 July, 1978, from Shannon to Killarney (as Kerry International was then called) and Cork, using a Cessna 206. I believe there was also a service (possibly operated by Avair) from Killarney to Dublin. The services were unsuccessful because of weather problems as sociated with Killarney Airport and the reluctance of passengers to travel in small aircraft. An even earlier scheduled ser vice—the first scheduled heli copter service in Ireland—flew from Killarney (Great Southern Hotel, not the main airport) to Portmagee to Skellig Rock, inau gurated on 20July, 1971, with an Alouette 3. I would very much like to hear from anyone who travelled on that official first day, having been chairman of both Southeast Airlines and Kerr)' Boats Helicopters, which operat ed the Skellig Rock service in co operation with Irish Helicopters. The Irish Civil Aviation Au thority insisted that we painted "half the telephone poles in Port magee white" for the inaugural service. I think they meant the top half, but we just painted the bottom halves—five striped and two plain. It also failed the land ing site on Skelligs, as at the time there was no provision for heli copter landing pads, and a 20ft circle plus at least two fire en gines would have been required. That was solved by keeping the rotors turning and then claiming that, as the passengers both left and boarded the aircraft while in flight, there was no need for an airport on Skelligs. DR MICHAEL GRIMES SENIOR PARTNER Grimes and Company Grianan House Douglas West Cork Ireland
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