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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 1960)
(J.S. Commercial Aviation Winds Up SiHost SpectacuDar EDecade on DUiistory Washington - (UPD - U. S commercial aviation is wind ing up the most spectacular decade of progress in its his tory. The 1950s have seen: Start of the commercial jet age. Vital advancements in air safety. -A revolution in air traffic control. -Emergence of air travel as the nation's number one trans portation medium. Then years ago, the nation's railroads were carrying three times as many first-class pas sengers as the scheduled do mestic airlines. That ratio is now completely reversed. The airlines have expanded faster in the last 10 years than they did in their first 20. In 1949, there were 45 cer tified airlines. There are now 55. In 1949, the scheduled air lines served 638 cities. They now fly into 703. Fleet Growing In 1949, the U.S. commerc ial air fleet totaled 1,083 planes - more than half of them twin-engine airliners offering 35,900 available seats daily. The most advanced jet liner planes-those of the Boe ing 707 - consisted of a hand ful of tentative drawings. Today, the commercial air fleet numbers 2,063 planes. These include 1,750 piston engine airliners, 228 prop-jets 0'et engines hitched to con ventional propellers) and 85 pure jets. Daily seats avail able: 130,000." In 1949, the fastest cruising speed of a U.S. airliner was 315 miles an hour. It now is 590 miles an hour and will go up to 615 in 1960 when Con vair introduces the 880 jet liner. Ten years ago, the airlines employed 76,000 persons. They now employ 150,000. The payroll in the past decade has jumped from $349 million to more than $1 billion. In 1949, the airlines carried 14.6 million P A nSers on do mestic flights 'find about 2 million overseas. In 1959, they carried 49.8 million domestic ally and 5.8 million interna tionally. Jet Age Arrives By far the outstanding achievement of the 1950s was the unexpected smooth transi tion into the jet age. The cynics and pessimists warned that the new jets were far ahead of ground and air traf fic control facilities. To a certain extent, this was and still is true. But the gap was not as wide as feared, and what most ot the gloomy forecasts failed to take into account was the enormous job of advance planning done by both the air lines and the federal government. By the fall of 1959, U.S. jets already had hauled their one millionth passenger - in only one year. Trans-Atlantic jets had flown more passengers in 12 months than the liner Uni ted States had carried in seven years. And the jets, although plagued by minor bugs, were not only operating with near capacity loads but with a per fect safety record. With the aviation industry's expansion of the 1950s came the inevitable growing pains. The decade saw some disas trous accidents, including the worst in commercial aviation history. Grand Canyon Crash On June 30, 1955, a United DC-7 and a TWA Constella tion collided over the Grand Canyon. All 128 aboard the two planes were killed and a shocked nation demanded ac tion. The Grand Canyon tragedy pointed up the inadequacies of air traffic control and the in ability of pilots to follow the old "see-and-be-seen" rule that had separated airliners since the 20s. Modern planes were simply too fast to rely on the human eye for protection. Grand Canyon prompted the first moves toward mo dernization of the air traffic control system. But it took two more fatal collisions to galvanize Congress into major action. On April 21, 1958, an Air Force jet fighter rammed a United DC-7 over Las Vegas, BOOTS FOR EVERY OCCASION Attention! Men and boys. If you are going to need boots NOW time to buy! We have a very complete selection of dress boots, boots, and hunting boots. All sizes and types. Come on in. INSULATED Boots $16.93 Values Here is a real buy. This boot has ev thing. ... 10" brown moco toe style. White foam crepe wedgie sole. 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Whit foam crepe wedgi e soles Af Neoprene Ifcin Wear Your choice of work jackets, big style or regular style pants. Olive drab neo prene rubber rainwear. Cloth back, welded seams. A real good buy. Rain Clothes Worth $8.95. Olive drab neoprene rub ber parka. Hip length. Half zipper front . . . hooded model. Welded seams. Cloth back. Special q5j7 Qssg nxD uxmUM&f 1 I 0 is the I work I Nev., and all 47 aboard the airliner were killed. Only one month later, a National Guard jet trainer hit a Capital Vis count near Brunswick, Md., with 12 perishing on the trans port. Swift and drastic reforms followed. CAA Abolished 1. Congress abolished the old Civil Aeronautics admin istration (which had just cele brated its 20th anniversary) and set up a new Federal Aviation agency with unprece dented powers in the field of air safety. 2. Congress voted huge new funds for improvement and modernization of an air traf fic control system that had changed little since the days of the DC-3. 3. Under projects started by the CAA and continued by the FAA, the government hir ed several thousand new air traffic controllers, installed new "super - skyways" for transconti nental flights, bought millions of dollars worth of new electronic equip ment including radar, put most military traffic under the same traffic control as the civil airlines, and estab lished a new research and training center at Oklahoma City for ATC personnel. By the end of 1959, some tangible results were evident. There were still frequent re ports of "near-misses," but no further actual collisions. And th vastly-improved air traf fic control system now is ca pable of handling 22,500 flights a day compared with only 10,000 in 1956. More Radar Appears The decade also saw other developments toward greater safety. Radar appeared with increasing frequency on the nation's airliners. By the end of 1959, about half the com mercial fleet was equipped with the storm-warning "little black box" and all of the new transports coming off assem bly lines carried radar. Airport runway lighting was vastly improved at most major terminals, although much remains to be done in this field. Pilot training un derwent a literal revolution by the introduction of elec tronic simulators. These real istic cockpit reproductions, used for both refresher train ing and transition to new types of aircraft, can train and test crews in everything from instrument landings to simu lated emergencies. New Control Gear The airlines are the first to concede that greater safety re mains a prune target. (In 1959, more than 300 persons died in commercial airline crashes. Major safety achieve ments are predicted for the 1960s. New 100 per cent electronic MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Or. O Sunday, Jan. 10, 1960 " air traffic control equipment now being tested and develop ed under the FFA is aimed at one goal: completely safe sep aration of all traffic in any kind of weather. There are more than 100,000 planes us ing the nation's airspace. But achieving the goal is not im possible; airliners land and take off today in weather that would have grounded them a decade ago. The switch to jet-powered equipment is a safety develop ment in itself. Jet engines are far more reliable than piston and up to 20 times less likely to fail. The aviation industry estimates that by 1965, the commercial air fleet will be about 75 per cent jet-powered. Commercial aviation has grown up. Its brilliant new planes - the Boeing 707, DC-8, Convair 880, Lockheed Elec tra and Fairchild F-27 - are taking to the airways in in creasing numbers. In the '50s, they brought the Jet Age to America. In the '60s, they hope to make those next 10 years aviation's Golden Age. Love Said Behind Slaying of Girl Tangier, Morocco-OJPD-Wil-liam Moore, confessed slayer of Barbara H. Mueller, says he strangled the 19-year-old New York coed because he loved her. The 26 -year -old English man's confession said he kill ed her in his apartment here Nov. 19 when she stopped by to tell him she was leaving Tangier forever. Moore said he wrapped the body in burlap sacking bought in a shop here and tied up the bundle with light cord. That night, he took it in a rented car to the woods out side the city and hid it in the bushes. Miss Mueller's body was found Dec. 13. Moore was ar rested six days later. Mrs. Duncan Asks For New Trial Los Angeles-fllPD-The State Supreme Court has had under submission an appeal for a new trial for Mrs. Elizabeth Ann Duncan, 55, sentenced to death in the for-hire mur der of her daughter-in-law. Defense attorneys charged in . court . that pre-trial state ments by Ventura County Dis trict Attorney Roy A. Gustaf son might have influenced jurors to vote the death penal ty for Mrs. Duncan and the two men she was convicted of hiring to kill Olga Duncan Nov. 17, 1958. Gustafson denied making improper pre-trial remarks and labelled as false a state ment attributed to him about having no .qualms in sending Mrs. Duncan to the gas cham ber. EXCITING HEW AND KITCHEN AIDS? From casseroles to cookie jars...we can supply your housewares, at prices you can afford! 18 KT. GOLD PLATED cedar i j. I TRIANGULAR MOP push-button removable top! $2?8 Modern design for hot or cold bever ages. Use indoors or out. Candle-warmer stove. Heat-proof glass, 18K gold trim. 8 cup 5.95 12 cup . 7.45 m FfaobJe HotiK HOUSEWARES WASTE BASKET FT $249 PERMANENT FINISH SUHSg geared can opener Ifs geared for smooth, easy cutting and extra-long life, mm mm Reg. S3.98SPECIALV0 OPEN MONDAY NIGHT Plenty of Convenient Free Parking QUALITY AT LOWEST PRICES mm (Tl AiNlOvivQHtl 6Qo SPECIALISTS Iff HOMEWAKlSt 245 S. 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