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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0870.PDF
5O4 MAY 29TH, 1947 DUTCH FOUR-SEATER: The Fokker Promoter, equipped with tricycle undercarriage, was described in Flight of October 3rd, 1946.Those who saw it fly at the recent Ypenburg rally were impressed with its general manoeuvrability and good climbing qualities. B.A.L.P.A. Criticizes Accident Reports : Aircraft Flying on British Airlines : New Aid to Bad-weather Landing ALLOCATING THE BLAME THE Air Safety and Technical Committee of the BritishAirline Pilots Association has studied and made comments upon the Chief Inspector of Accidents' reports on two recentcrashes. In both cases the pilot was a member of B.A.L.P..A., and in both reports adverse comment on the pilot's abilitywas made. The first report is concerned with the Avro XIX whichcrashed at Speke on August 16th, 1946. The aircraft, being flown ou test by Capt. D. C. Harrison, crashed after attempt-ing to go round again with one airscrew feathered. The over- shoot was made to avoid collision with an aircraft taxying, near the runway in use The Committee considers that the circumstances leading to a probable crash by collision, and,in fact, to the actual crash, during avoiding action resulted from lack of airfield control, and considers it inexcusable thatone aircraft should be allowed to taxi near the runway in use at a time when another aircraft was landing. Although Capt.Harrison was guilty of faulty technique in failing to retract his undercarriage or leaving overshoot action too late, theCommittee considers that he was so fully occupied in attempt- ing to correct swing that his error was understandable. The second report concerns the B.S.A.A. York which crashedsoon after take-off at night from Yundum airfield on Septem- ber 7th, 1946, as reported in Flight, April 24th. The Com-mittee has taken strong exception to the " opinion" expressed that the accident occurred as a result of the pilot losing controlof the aircraft. "Any opinion qua opinion," it says, "is dangerous, but it is doubly so when other possibilities whichare equally valid are ignored." There was, for example, no mention of ambient temperature, and the Committee com-plains that there was too little emphasis placed upon the fact that the aircraft took off oil a heading of 227 deg and crashedon a track of no deg. which indicated that, a turn had been forced upon the pilot. There was, in consequence, a suspicionof port outer engine failure, and yet no mention had been made of the possibility because of the conclusion, after tech-nical inspection, that there was no such failure. A further possibility was instrument failure, particularly as the take-offwas at night. The Committee points out that the three- engined rate of climb of a York weighing 68,770 lb in normal flying conditions would be about 150 ft/min, but with airscrewwindmilling and flaps at take-off position the rate of climb would be negative. The Committee then puts the question whether the operationwas safe. Even though the flight was in accordance with legal requirements, it is thought that at a weight of over 68,000 lband under conditions obtaining at Yundum, even with all engines functioning perfectly, the take-off would demand ahigh degree of skill and pilot experience, and yet the pilot of this aircraft was making his first take-off from that airfield ina York aircraft. The Association points out that it has already expressed doubts about the performance of the York, and con-siders that no aircraft should be permitted to fly without a safe performance with one engine not functioning. If, in thisinstance, the port outer had failed, it is thought that not even the most experienced pilot could have saved the situation. The Association makes the further observation that shortlyafter this accident the maximum all-up weight for that type of aircraft was reduced to 68,000 lb, and also that the Ministryof Civil Aviation were prepared to condemn by implication a pilot as being inexperienced on a type when at the same time,by their own regulations, a pilot was accepted fit to fly for hire or reward with a limited number of hours and withoutproof of night flying on the type. AVIATION EXPENSES ¥ T^XPENDITURE for I.C.A.O. during the coming year 'flas-•—' been assessed at ^500,000. The United States will pa ' the largest share of ^105,000, the U.K. ^70,000, and Canada,France and China will each pay ^35,000. Denmark has asked the Committee for aid in establishing navigational facilitiesin Greenland and the Faroe Islands, on the ground that the expenditure would be out of proportion with Danish interestsin the North Atlantic route. Sir William Hildred, Director- General of I.A.T.A., recently criticized the amount of moneybeing spent by the international civil aviation organizations to conduct meetings. He was appalled, he said, by the expensesof the various Ministries of Civil Aviation, technical facilities and also I.C.A.O., which were piling up on fare-paying passen-gers. He warned against over capitalizing air transport ami said that the organizations attached to I.A.T.A. were notinterested in political questions.
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