Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1961)
Each plane gels a preflight check. Here, jet exhaust is being inspected. Safer Skies (Continued; I have in mind the crash of a plane last fall, killing 22, mostly young foot ball players and students from Cali fornia. The plane's pilot, who died in the crash, had been the subject of re cent FAA hearings which convinced examiners that he had violated regula tions and demonstrated a lack of re sponsibility and judgment. We revoked his license, but he continued to fly, pending his appeal to the Civil Aero nautics Board as permitted by law. But the fact remains that he and 21 others died despite the evidence that he had previously demonstrated bad judgment. How long should the public's security have to wait for the surrender of lesser personal interests? The Congressmen who wrote our aviation laws had in mind a noble ob jective and a procedure for achieving it. One of them said: "Regulations are Irksome things . . . but the test must be the protection of the public. "Any tendency to proceed with cau tion in promulgating and enforcing reg ulations to promote safety must be avoided at all costs, even at the risk of being charged with undue harshness . . ." If private interests as well as public officials would accept those principles, we could hope for greater safety. What a boon to air safety it would be if FAA personnel could spend their time in pursuit of urgent technical and scientific objectives instead of having to rebut wild charges and pressures! Technical Development Needed Besides money and men of good will, we need machines. Safety in our skies demands greater harnessing of electronic instruments to flight objectives. A few are already here, and others are on the way; but some present problems continue to baffle modern science. One innovation which is nearly here is a blind-landing system. Todny, we have only a blind-approach system; it brings you to the airport's threshold. This is not a landing system. The final 12 Family Weekly, March 19, IMI When the choice The ATLAS Plycron Cushionaire Tire tested and proven for ail-purpose driving. i lc 1 at -L on LONG-MILEAGE ATLAS TIRES are built to give you greater safety modern nignway speeds. Yet Atlas Tires cost no more than ordinary tires. StKinmiiiiNmHiHmiiiiuimiiiiHimiiHiHiiiiumiHiiiiiimiHmnniiimHmitmiiw process of landing is still done by the pilot. But I can assure you that we will soon have a blind system that will touch down and roll the plane to a stop. I flew one recently, or rather it flew me. We are trying, but with seemingly endless frustrations, to develop a de vice which will prevent mid-air col lisions. It has been calculated that two pilots of jet aircraft approaching each other on a collision course at a speed of 600 miles per hour could not save yours ...yMl is 2. LABORATORY TESTED at speeds faster than you can drive. Atlas Tires prove their extra stamina under con ditions of unusual distortion. iniiiimimitKH::; themselves even if one pilot sighted the other at a distance of Vz miles. Human reactions are too slow. If we succeed, the new instrument will "sense" an im pending collision from afar and will automatically alert the pilot or guide mmjmmm. ..j. . mtmmMm " EXTRA SKID-RESISTANCE. Atlas Tires prove their stop ping power on wet, polished surfaces far more slippery than you're likely to encounter. Trada-marka Hi! -:!;;H:H:HH::i:i!!!iHi;;miH!iH!!!!!HI!mi:;H!;;!H:!;H;!!;:H the plane into a safe course. A third new device is symbolized by a radio tower recently erected above the FAA research center near Atlantic City, N.J. It contains a special radar altitude. designed to determine the altitude of tower can 3, choose LA Step up to better tire performance... to the better tire quality your car now needs. Your car was easier on tires when it was new. Shock absorbers, steering, brakes, wheel alignment were at their best. But now you've added on the miles, your car is tougher on tires. Atlas Tires are built for this harder kind of service. They must pass 87 grueling laboratory and road tests to prove their extra stamina, extra safety. And best of all, you pay no more for Atlas quality. Sold at more Service Stations than any other tire! Service station men, who know tires and tire perform ance, recommend Atlas Tires. 38,000 dealers in all 50 states and Canada sell them. Wherever you go, you're never far from Atlas service! . ATLAS CUSHIONAIRE TREAD, Its famous traction and mileage j result from testing hundreds of tread designs In laboratory and actual use. "AUaa", "Plycron". "Cu.hlon.lr." Rf. U.S. Pat. Off. 0 1001 AUaa Supply Co., N.w.rk 3, N. J. aircraft within its range. FAA radars now show only a plane's direction and distance. When this new device is per fected, it will add the third dimension relation to every other, and safely as sign different levels to pilots who enter the area. With good luck, this instru ment should be in use by 1963. Then a controller in his Perhaps the most significant safety "fix" each craft precisely in development of all is the system I mentioned in my letter of resignation to President Eisenhower. In brief, it is an electronic brain called a data-processing central. Nicknamed the DPC, it is really a memory system into which is fed the flight plan of every plane in its control area. Then the "brain" takes over, calculates arrival time over check points, probes the airways for potential conflicts, assigns alternative routes if trouble lies ahead, and keeps records on the positions of all aircraft. The first DPC will be installed at the FAA Bos ton control center this year, and is ex pected to be operating by 1962. Identifying Planes " Finally, there is the transponder. Consider the problem of an air-traffic controller who sees from 20 to 50 iden tical blips representing planes on his radar screen. Until recently, no practi cal method existed for distinguishing one aircraft from another. Occasionally, a puzzled controller would ask a plane to perform some unique maneuver and then watch for it among his radar blips. The transponder reinforces the radar signal and adds additional marks to its appropriate blip. When the pilot pressed a button, for example, an electrical de vice creates an effect which is visible on the radar screen and permits the controller to identify the blip. Why not put a transponder in every plane? FAA rules now require airlines to install all-weather radar, costing up to $25,000 each. The regulation flight recorder now required by every pas senger plane costs from $5,000 to $7,000. Transponders are presently in use in passenger jets. Whether to add them to all craft in view of other forthcoming instruments is a question now under study by the FAA. Congress will un doubtedly examine it when they pass on future expenditures. The Program Can Work In the beginning I observed that the air-safety program stemmed from three thi ngs men, machines, and money. As a private citizen, I now feel that Con-, gress keenly realizes its responsibilities for suppying funds which will enable the FAA to meet the requirements of aviation today, next year, and 10 years hence. This gift to the American public lies in their powerful hands. As for those men who represent spe cial interests, I would remind them of the deeply felt admonition of Rep. Oren Harris, given the year before Congress passed the Federal Aviation Act in 1958. He said: "In achieving maximum safe ty standards possible in the public hf terest, all segments of aviation have a responsibility to give and take for the common good." Only selflessness and love of human ity will dissipate the political and emo tional pressures which some individuals continue to exert against certain aspects of the FAA safety program. If we are to be truly safe in our skies, euery leader of every segment America's great aviation industry must act with a good conscience. Family Weekly, March 19, 1961 1) i e mil. n'jm WJKSXStt xv. . uhvj
