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Aviation History
1976
1976 - 1069.PDF
FLIGHT International, 26 lane 1976 1693 Our flight continues through a seemingly endless sequence of meals and snacks, but only the fortunate few appear to achieve much sleep. From time to time a tem porary mild increase of engine noise and a small change of attitude tells us that we are climbing another step. Finally Capt Swinburne comes on the air again to announce our impending descent. The weather in Tokyo is not too good and much of our descent will be through cloud. In the event the cloud turns out to be rough. The SP responds sharply in yaw and pitch in the turbulence, much to the consternation of the cabin staff, who are trying to give out the immigration forms. As the aircraft is put into the landing configuration one major design difference from the 747-100 can be seen. The flaps are single-piece units instead of the familiar Boeing triple-slotted type. The change appears to make no opera tional difference and the landing reference speed is similar to that of the larger aircraft, at 128kt. The length of the flight and the cabin altitude combine to give the cabin staff some concern, I learn from talking to the crew during the Tokyo stopover. The prolonged exposure to an 8,000ft cabin altitude is leading to dehydra tion and the passengers and cabin staff have experienced some breathing problems toward the end of the sector. Certainly, during the return flight, I was to be very much aware of a passenger with an inherent bronchial complaint in a nearby seat. According to one of the crew, Boeing is making an urgent study of the air-conditioning system to see whether it can be operated at a higher humidity. I return to New York after taking the same length of stopover as the crew. Everyone appears to have had the same idea on arrival at Tokyo—bed, regardless of the local tifhe (around 1800 by the time we are installed in our hotel). Most of the crew sleep a solid 12 hours, as I do myself, and after another night everyone is in reasonable shape for the return flight. The 747SP has opened up a lucrative route for Pan Am by enabling New York and Tokyo to be linked non-stop and forward bookings look good. First-class bookings are particularly strong and appear to justify the greater first- class capacity of the SP; passengers are clearly prepared to consider the expense of first class to ensure their comfort over such a long sector. It will be interesting to see whether that thinking might be extended to accept the cost of Concorde at some time in the future. Concorde from New York to Tokyo via Anchorage could still further reduce the elapsed time, undercutting the non-stop schedule by some three hours. For the moment, however, the non stop way is the efficient way. Airliner market Air Canada is to modify three Lockheed TriStars for use on North Atlantic routes. The aircraft will be upgraded from L-1011-1 to L-1011-100 standard, with a 36,0001b take off weight increase and centre-section tanks for 18,8001b fuel, extending range with 257 passengers and baggage by 900 miles. Work will begin in the autumn and all three air craft will be available for services between Toronto and Montreal and London, Frankfurt and Paris. Like British Airways Overseas Division's L-1011-ls they will probably carry little freight • Aviaco has accepted the fourth and last of its latest McDonnell Douglas DC-9-34CFs; the first was delivered in May • Fokker-VFW has offered the F.28 Mk 4000 to Pakistan International Airlines • Saudia has ordered three Boeing 737200s, for delivery in July and August, and one 707-320C, for delivery in December. The latter is the first commercial 707 order since the beginning of last year. Boeing has now delivered or has orders for 2,983 jet airliners • Viasa has been granted a $30 million loan to pay for its third McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 • Yemen Airways has ordered a Boeing 737-200, for delivery in November. The airline has operated 737s leased from World Airways for the last 2>2 years, during which time its passenger traffic has increased by more than 300 per cent. Yemen Airways has a requirement for up to three 737s by the end of next year. Total 737 sales now stand at 475. Computerised flight plans are transmitted to Pan Am outstations in time for crew briefing. The beginning and end of the 26-sector plan from Tokyo to Kennedy are seen here, showing a stepped climb from FL370 to FL4I0 and an average groundspeed of 536kt over a ground distance of 6,523 n.m. Columns show waypoint latitude and longitude, sector length, distance to run and progressive fuel burn Air Ceylon is hoping to recruit British crews to fly its DC-8 when the present commercial agreement with UTA ends in September. POSN FL ATA TY0 CLB SAK CLB IOC 370 150E3 70 SVM M0 JK* 410 TOD DES SAX DES HM/TTME 016/0016 02 6/0042 D23/0105 050/0 155 022/1126 0 22/1148 004/1152 017/1209 POSN SHARK T0C 3 8N15 0E 4 1N160E JAUESTUN TOO SPARTA KENNEDY ~TA )EV T0E« BURN LG* OESFL TIME 670.0 259.1 410.9 4.1 1209 ADDITIONAL FLTPLAN INFO TRK CRZ T0G» FUEL T IUE COS LRC 670.0 259.4 1211 - 1* ST0 670.0 261.7 1205 AK/TRK TRKSET VAR T067 TO 67 1069 J70 J70 JT0 VAR CO MP P55 LEVEL J 3 70 370 Y DST VAR 120 193 213 49 6 200 19 5 022 116 OTGO DRFT 6072 5659 395 195 MN0 OAT CLB cm 844 844 844 843 DEE DES TAS 406 49 1 492 4 79 476 375 3 75 HIND SPOT 25082 27107 ^n\± 27060 28046 ;— GS 443 573 539 522 395 39T T00FL 255.0 227.6 J97j3 12.1 6.0 0.0 AVTAS/GS AIRMILES/GNO COST 481/536 5846/6523 -150 S VR/410 The Tupolev Tu-144 SST is now in passenger service on Moscow-Alma Ata, according to Soviet press reports. The Tu-144 went into service as a cargo aircraft at the end of last year. Osaka airport is now subject to a total flight ban from 2100hr to 0700hr, following the cancellation by Cathay Pacific Airways and Trans Mediterranean Airways of flights later in the evening. Royal Air Maroc will be the first African and Arab airline to offer regular flights to South America. Beginning in November, the carrier will fly twice-weekly from Casa blanca to Rio de Janeiro. British Midland Airways is wet-leasing a Boeing 707 to Libyan Arab Airlines for the summer, and is supplying a third 707 to Tunis Air. Four of BMA's six-strong 707 fleet are now flying for Arab airlines.
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