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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2015.PDF
roger.bacon@fliqhtinternational.com Back to the drawing board Customer satisfaction is what it's all about! says Birdseed Airways senior Conc orde replacement strategy advisor Wg Cdr Blitherington "Tony" Taildragger. "It's all very well putting your highest paying passengers in big aeroplanes like con verted 737s and A319s, and pretending these are personalised business jets. No-one is fooled for a moment...they're still self-loading cargo, and they know it! "That's why we've gone back to the drawing board with "Chippy". We're calling it our ultimate fragmenter. Small enough to land on your lawn, it will take you right to your destination - more than making up for the longer transit time. Self-service champers and finger food in the back, but a fabulous view to compensate and a comfy, fat little parachute to offset those DVT concerns. You'll meet plenty of inter esting people too at all those transit stops. And the manufacturer of our sturdy new personalised transport? de Havilland, of course." Aahhhh...de Haviliand! When do the afterburners kick in? Birdseed's fragmenter departs on its maiden "personalised" flight Minding your MMEL Oliver Obvious (no relation to Angela - obviously) of the UK CAA has kept us up to speed on the revised Master Minimum Equipment List. It helpfully reminds us that "The MMEL does not include items such as wings, engines and landing gear that are always required." You can never be too careful these days - obviously. Hairy story From a recent FAA incident report on a Cessna 206 prang: "DESCRIPTION AIR CRAFT, AMPHIBIOUS, MADE AN EMERGENCY LANDING IN WATER, BOUNCED AND LANDED UPRIGHT ON TUNDRA, AIRCRAFT SUR ROUNDED BY POLAR BEARS. OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES ARE UNKNOWN." Largely because the report ends: "PIECES OF FAA INVESTIGATOR LATER FOUND NEARBY'. Well, not really, but the rest is true. Thanks to nephew Simon Williams! Not that sort of exhaust Two delegates, Pratt and Witless, at a propulsion conference in a large hotel: P&W: "Is this the right room for the session on axisymmetric plug nozzles?" Dr Who: "Not exactly. This is a meeting on non-hereditary polyposis." P&W: "Polyposis?" Dr Who: "Unless you're into Tectums you're at the wrong conference!" Pratt: (sotto voce) "Do plug nozzles count?" Martinair McDonnell Douglas DC-9 convertible AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FLIGHT 18.09.1953 Avon-Comet Crossing Comet G-ALYT, the Avon-powered development air craft now on loan to B.O.A.C., completed the first crossing of the Atlantic by a civil jet airliner on Monday, when it landed at Rio de Janeiro at 1520 hr B.S.T., after flying from London Airport via Lisbon, Dakar and Recife. Carrying a crew of nine, and ten passengers, among them Sir Miles Thomas, f g^ the aircraft completed its 5,820-mile jour- ^J^J ney in 20 hr 50 min. The Minister of Civil YEARS Aviation, Mr. Alan Lennox-Boyd, was "GO among those who watched the departure of the Comet at 1830 on Sunday. The following afternoon B.O.A.C. received this characteristic mes sage from the chairman: "Comet with Avon jets crossed South Atlantic last night in 4V2 hours despite diversion avoid severe electric storm 8V2 miles high on equator, B.O. A.C.'s Captains Peter Cane and A.M. Majendie thus becoming pioneer civil jet Atlantic fliers. This marks further spread B.OAC. web of jet trails world-wide. We had tea London, dinner Lisbon, good sleep at 500 m.p.h., breakfast Brazil. How's that for going places? - Miles Thomas." Record Round-Up Summer is ending in a veritable spate of air record- breaking. Less than a fortnight ago Neville Duke with the Hunter re-captured the World Speed Record for Britain at a speed - subject to F, A.I. con firmation - of 727.6 m.p.h. Now comes the news that Vickers-Supermarine are to try to wrest the record from Hawkers, and that, in the hope of ideal conditions, the attempt may be made in North Africa. Meanwhile, an almost equally sought-after record, the 100-km Closed Circuit, is to be Duke's new objective; held since May 18th by Miss Jacq ueline Cochran (Sabre F-86EO) at 652.55 m.p.h., it was raised at the beginning of this month to 690.118 m.p.h. by Brig. Gen. J.S. Holtoner, commander of Edwards Air Force Base, California, flying an F-86D. Well-earned Retirement Now housed in America's National Air Museum is "Adaptable Annie," survivor of the 75 Boeing 243 transports built between 1932 and 1935. The type laid the foundation of the "modern" transport for mula: its specification included retractable landing gear, two supercharged engines, autopilot, de-icing equipment, and the ability to maintain height on one engine with full load. Annie's career began when she was flown into third place in the London- Melbourne Race by Turner, Pangborn and Nichols in 1934; then she served two years with United Air Lines; and during the war years, she was used as a "guinea-pig" by the Air Safety Board and the C.A.A. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 16-22 SEPTEMBER 2003 S3
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