NAVIGATION AID IN ATLANTIC

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27987, 6 June 1956, Page 18

NAVIGATION AID IN ATLANTIC

Tests To Be Completed Next Year BRITAIN AND CANADA IN CO-OPERATION LONDON. Britain and Canada are to co-operate in a year-long test, to be completed in 1957, which may result in a new air navigation system for aircraft using the North Atlantic area. The system is known as “Dectra” and is an adaption of the Decca navigator system now in use rn Western Europe. New long distance radio stations will be erected on either side of the Atlantic. Canadian stations will be at Comfort Bay and Rorburn Lake near Gander, Newfoundland, while British stations will be at Prestwick.

Tests are being undertaken on the recommendation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, which for years has been searching for accurate long distance radio control and a number of international airlines will participate in evaluation trials. The systems currently in use do not give complete coverage of the North Atlantic. Only a limited number of aircraft can fly in the air lanes which are controlled for safety purposes. The Dectra system is reported to make it easier for station controllers to find aircraft at any given point on a transAtlantic flight and for planes to fly closer together allowing more planes to use air lanes at any one time. The new British system is also reported to help aircraft navigators. Instead of constantly plotting their course on charts, navigators will be able to get tracking range information from a moving pen which will indicate the aircraft’s position on a chart. A range of accuracy of 10 miles is predicted for the full length of the route, rising to a very high order of accuracy as the plant approaches the terminal in Britain or Canada.