EUGENE REGISTER-GUARD, Sunday. Oct. 21, 1962 Fate 7A
Age of Jets
Not All Roses
WASHINGTON (UNI The jots have surpassed all expecta
tions not only in their spectacular success but in the prob
lems that success created.
This is the irony of the aerojet age's fourth anniversary.
Almost every achievement has been tempered by accompany
ing headaches. The jets literally shrank the world by 40 per
cent almost overnight. In the same breath, they presented
the airlines with massive economic problems not only in
their enormous cost but their immense carrying capacity,
which adds up to supply exceeding demand.
The cost of the jet age is best expressed by these figures:
Most jets originally were priced around $5 million, in
cluding spare parts. A 1962 jetliner sells for more than $6
million.
The major U.S. airlines have $2.5 billion invested in their
jet fleets, which is 50 per cent more than they had tied up in
their propeller-driven fleets at the start of the jet age.
In 1955, a single airliner seat represented $20,000 in prop
erty investment. In 1962, the investment cost per jet seat was
$46,000.
A piston-engine DC7 or Constellation requires 14 pieces
of supporting ground equipment valued at $42,000. A jet needs
15 pieces costing nearly $150,000.
Airport costs have mushroomed because of the jets. The
New York Port Authority's pre-jet investment at Idlewild was
$221 million.
In 1955, slightly more than a half-cent of every airline
revenue dollar went for interest payments on new piston equip
ment. The figure for the jet age is 3 cents out of every revenue
dollar.
The price tag on spare parts inventory for a major carrier
was $19 million in 1957. It is now around $50 million for the
average airline.
Balanced against these astronomical costs, however, is the
productivity of the jetliner. A single jet can do the work of
three or even four piston-engine planes. For example, A DC3
in 1938 did a day's work when it flew from New York to Little
Rock, Ark. A four-engine piston plane's daily utilization in
volved a New York-Los Angeles flight. The jet's minimum
workday covers a round trip between the East and West coasts.
This productivity has added up to one prime fact about
jets: Basically, they have been money-makers although not
to the extent the airlines hoped. If they were flown full or
nearly full more often, they would be unbelievably profitable.
But their very size which has led to excess capacity keep
the black ink from flowing very heavily.
SAFETY RECORD EXCELLENT
The U.S. jets' safety record can be summed up In one
word: excellent. In four years, there have been only three fatal
accidents involving pure jets on scheduled flight, plus a sab
otage case.
The three accidents took 194 lives, underlining the ines
capable fact that when a giant jet crashes, the death toll can be
extremely high. Yet despite these fatalities, the jet fatality
rate since Oct. 26, 1958, has been only 0.41 deaths per 100
million passenger miles flown, compared with a rate of 0.58
for propeller driven planes.
If there is any pilot criticism as far as safety is concerned,
tt is directed at airports. The Air Line Pilots Assn. has said
most jet operational problems involve inadequate airports.
As of mid-1962, U.S. airlines were operating about 340
pure jets. By 1965, the jet fleet in this country alone will
total nearly 500. The nation's carriers still have about 1,200
piston-engine planes in service plus about 260 prop-jets. The
most itartling statistic of the jet age is that while only one out
of six airliners is a pure jet, the jets are carrying seven out of
every 10 passengers.
The jet influx naturally dumped hundreds of suddenly out
moded piston planes on the market, creating a new problem
for the industry. For the first time in aviation history, a new
airliner rendered its predecessors obsolete overnight
COACH TRAVEL GROWS
One of the byproducts of the jet age has been the steadily
Increasing trend toward coach travel, more on the jets than
older planes. TWA, for example, started operating its jets
originally with a cabin configuration one-third first class and
two-thirds coach. Its configuration today on a 140-passenger
jet is only 20 first class seats and 120 coach seats.
Economically, some experts think the next stage of the jet
age will be a shift to a single-class travel at fares ranging
somewhere between present first-class and coach tariffs.
The first four years of the jet age also spawned an un
wanted child the noise problem.
The industry, along with the Federal Aviation Agency
(FAA), has tried valiantly to keep the jets in the air while
keeping protests down. To a certain extent, they have suc
ceeded although there undoubtedly is a residue of resentment
in many cities.
The blunt truth is that nobody has figured out a way to
lower the noise level of the engine. Until a scientific break
through can be achieved, the noise problem will remain un
solved. The airlines and the FAA have compromised as much as
they can and still stay within a margin of safe operations with
special noise abatmcnt procedures.
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