Navigation Aids At N.Z. Airports

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29749, 16 February 1962, Page 8

Navigation Aids At N.Z. Airports

In spite of geographical and climatic problems. New Zealand's civil aviation industry has an excellent safety record. This is perhaps the most enviable asset of any commercial airline; to it the major New Zealand operators largely owe the spectacular growth of custom during the postwar years. Improved services in all but the worst weather are possible only with good aircraft, efficiently operated to and from good airports, and supported by modern navigation aids. Because so much has already been done to improve air services, criticism by the Airline Pilots’ Association of the standard and kinds of navigation equipment at the main New Zealand airports is disquieting, especially when the industry wants to arrest a temporary decline of public patronage. Christchurch residents, in particular, cannot relish being told that “ for its “ size, Christchurch airport *' has possibly the most “rudimentary aids in the “world”; but they should remember that the provision of navigation equipment is the duty of the Civil Aviation Administration, not of the Christchurch City Council. The responsibilities of commercial pilots should ensure a sympathetic hearing for their complaints Among the worst problems of New Zealand operators

is the disruption of services by adverse weather, which is estimated to cost the National Airways Corporation about £ 30,000 annually. Clearly, if navigation aids were improved sufficiently much of this trouble might be avoided, and the safety of passengers in all weathers would be enhanced. Two years ago the annual report of the Civil Aviation Administration recorded that “ the “ passing of the DC-3 era “in New Zealand and the “ emergence of tertiary “ services call for considerable effort on the part of “ the administration, which “must ensure that airports “ and aids suited to the new “aircraft and services are “ available if they are to “ be operated with reason- “ able efficiency. Quite “obviously facilities for the “ new aircraft cannot be “ supplied in all centres at “ the same time, and some “ system of priorities is “ necessary. ...” Navigation equipment is both highly complex and very expensive. Its use is justified not only by its worth in preserving lives, but because of the enormously increased cost of buying and operating commercial aircraft If the planning of aids in New Zealand is as “dilatory and haphazard” as the pilots claim, the public should press the Government to remove a legitimate grievance affecting everybody who uses air transport.