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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 2971.PDF
LETTERS Burt Rutan's Voyager carried out the ultimate ETOPS flight ETOPS is not really so new SIR — In his letter (Flight Inter national, 9-15 October, P 46), Mr Ellis considers extended- range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) over the Atlantic and asks how long before the na tional press carries a headline never seen before: "Airliner down in Atlantic". It has been seen before. While uncertain of the headlines, I recall an airliner making a suc cessful ditching with minimum loss of life, close to a weather ship in mid-Atlantic, some time in the 1950s. Certainly, it was a four-engined craft — either a DC-7 or Stratocruiser that prob ably succumbed to fuel contami nation. When planning his sector — Long Island to Paris — in 1927, Lindberg reasoned his least risk of failure was to plan for no dead engines; so he chose a single Wright Whirlwind for the Ryan. Agreed, it was not an airliner, but he did carry a fly as a passenger,.and also pioneered extended-range operations by completing the journey! Designer Burt Rutan chose a push-pull twin layout for his brother's Voyager flight which encircled the globe, taking ETOPS to the limit. Since it is important to use the right tool for the job, the intriguing question of how many engines to install is posed con tinually; but for safe transatlan tic flight, don't three donkeys provide a good compromise? ALAN R MASON 16 Amorino Drive Red Beach N Auckland New Zealand CAA charges are justified SIR — The Civil Aviation Au thority does not overcharge its customers as Goran Ablom claims (Flight International, 23- 29 October, P 46). In the UK, our charges are directly related to the costs of our services. We are not al lowed, by international treaty, to make profits; we are obliged to repay any over-recovery caused by such factors as traffic fluctua tions and our charges have to be approved by the Government. Along with the majority of European states we recover our domestic services costs through the Eurocontrol charge system. The system has the virtue of simplicity by allowing for a sin gle charge per flight, even though an operator may fly through a number of Flight In formation Regions. The charging formula is agreed with our cus tomers and complies with Inter national Civil Aviation Organisa tion guidance. The system is based on stan dard'routes between city pairs. Although on some routes there will be winners and losers, cus tomers with large route net works accept that the overall effect is neutral. Where anomalies do occur, however, the rules allow for the charge to be based on the actual distance flown. I suggest, therefore, that if any customer thinks they have a grievance they contact Euro- control direct. D J McLAUCHLAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE National Air Traffic Services CAA House 45-59 Kingsway London WC2B 6TE, UK Hermes versus Dyna-Soar SIR — I agree whole-heartedly with the "Shoot the Messenger" leader (Flight International, 16- 22 October, P 3). Hermes is a waste of time and money. I should point out, however, that Dyna-Soar was not a lifting body. It was a winged vehicle with a high lift/drag — far higher than any of the HL-10/X- 24 lifting bodies ever demon strated. The HL-20 is an interesting project but it has two main flaws. First, lifting body research never got as far as the high Mach numbers associated with re entry. Flight tests established that lifting bodies could be landed with precision from high altitudes. They didn't crash too often either. There is a lot of work still to do, however, on high-Mach flight which is presumably done by computer these days. Back then, they built a full-size wooden mock-up and towed it behind the world's fastest Thun- derbird — the car, that is. Secondly, from what I can establish, the HL-20 is going to use the same thermal protection system as the Space Shuttle, which makes rather a nonsense of quick response and turna round times. Dyna-Soar, how ever, had a far more sophisti cated metal honeycomb thermal protection. Would that the HL-20 really was a Dyna-Soar descendant. The programme, as outlined by Gen Roscoe Wilson in 1961, envisaged a one-man spaceplane by 1964, a larger vehicle (HL- 20- scale) two years later and a full-blown single-stage to orbit NASP-like vehicle in the early seventies. Those were the days. MATT BACON TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Materials Edge magazine 16 Lower Marsh London SE1 7RJ, UK N BA's choice costs R-R SIR — Being a fervent British Airways (BA) customer, it is with dismay that I read of the concern held by a senior vice- president of All Nippon Airways and that company's decision to install Pratt & Whitney engines into its 777s (Flight Interna tional, 16-22 October, P 8). Ob viously, BA's decision to install General Electric engines not only impressed but possibly had some influence. As BA prides itself on being a world leader, then perhaps it should consider the old adage of charity beginning at home. Brit ish being the word on each side of their aircraft, their first con sideration surely should have been British engines. Furthermore, what a great pity that Bryan McGee would have to take it upon himself to write such a heartening and honest letter in the same issue (P 45) — and how correct. Does Rolls-Royce have any peers? I am quite confident that they don't come from American manufacturers. Time will, without doubt, tell. T F HILLMAN 5/113 Griffiths Street Balgowlah 2093 NSW, Australia WHAT'S ON Ail-Britain Historians 13 November - Test Pilot's Forum; 11 December - The Work of the Air Accidents Investiga tion Branch; 19.00h, Lecture Theatre, Holborn Central Library, 32 Theobalds Road, WC1, UK; contact: Charles Oman; tel: +44 (444) 811317. RAeS 14 November, "Technology earning its way onto an airplane" lecture, sponsored by Boeing. 4 Hamil ton Place, London W1V OBQ, UK; tel: +44 (71) 499 6230. METCOM annual conference 19 No vember, METCOM, Carlyle House, 235 Vauxball Bridge Road, London SW1V 1EJ, UK; tel: +44 (71) 233 7011; fax: +44 (71) 828 0667. Royal Institute of Navigation 20 No vember - Aviation Meteorology, 14.30h; 4 December - Navigation Training in the RAF & Training for General Aviation, 09.30h, HQS Wellington, Victoria Embankment, London WC2, Contact: Royal Institute of Navigation, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AT, UK; tel +44 (71) 589 5021; fax; +44 (71) 823 8671. The opinions expressed in these pages do not necessarily represent those of the Editor. Flight International cannot undertake to publish letters without name and address and reserves the right to select or edit letters. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 13 - 19 November, 1991 41
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