SAFETY IN THE AIR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26540, 15 August 1947, Page 4

SAFETY IN THE AIR

The condition that must govern all planning of air transportation development in New Zealand was succinctly expressed by the Prime Minister in his comment on the request to the Minister of Aviation that the services of a British aviation expert should be secured. The main points to be considered in any investigation of flying services, Mr Fraser said, were, was it safe, could it be made safe, or was the risk too great? These qualifications must attach to any service—land, sea or air—of which the transportation of the public is a part, but they have a particular application to commercial aviation in its present stage of development. The uncompromising quest for air superiority during the war years led to advances in aircraft design and performance which, in more normal times, might not have been possible of achievement, for another twenty years. But it must not be forgotten that the employment of the fruits of this research in operational flying involved the acceptance of calculated risks, based on an expendability of men and machines, which coul'd not be seriously entertained in civil aviation. Safety, and safety alone, must be the determining factor in peacetime aviation, especially—if safety can be considered in comparative terms —in a country such as New Zealand in which the traffic potential is limited by a small population. Most accidents to commercial aircraft to-day occur at ground level, on airports which are not capable of accommodating machines of the size and speed operating from them. In practically every country in the world aircraft design and construction have advanced much more rapidly than the provision of the ground facilities that are necessary if risks, in taking off and landing (are to be avoided. The-higher ! speeds and greater wing loadings of ! modern commercial aircraft demand | that airports be constructed with j paved runways stretching like ! arterial roads across the landscape, i with elaborate systems of instrument i landing devices and the removal of all obstructions that might be a possible cause for accident. These improvements are costly. To install them in New Zealand will involve an expenditure of many millions of pounds, yet that will have to be done if land based machines of the size necessary for economic operation are to be employed. When the recommended standards are finally approved by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, aircraft manufacturers will be expected to design machines suitable for. aerodromes conforming with those standards, and unless aerodromes come up to specifications pay loads will

have to be reduced, -with a consequent loss of efficiency. The problem of inadequate airports in New Zealand is not restricted to a few especially difficult aerodromes, of-which Rongotai is an outstanding example. Improvements are urgently required at practically every airport in the country, and if the services of the British expert can be secured it would be preferable, as the Prime Minister remarked, that he should make a general report, and not restrict his observations to a particular area.