Search Results

THE feathering propeller meets two fundamental needs in airline operation which the constant-speed propeller cannot meet, the authors explain. First, by stopping the rotation of an engine and propeller in flight, it protects the airplane from catastrophic vibrations occasionally set up by mechanical failures of engine and propeller. And the second fundamental need, they state, is that the feathering propeller decreases the drag of an inoperative propeller, thereby increasing the performance of a multiengined airplane with one or more engines inoperative. For these reasons, they point out, the feathering propeller has been accepted by leading airlines as the answer to their immediate propeller needs. In this paper the full-feathering principle is explained as applied in two distinct propeller designs.

Clear air turbulence and thunderstorm turbulence are compared. The flight technique to be used is the same in all turbulence. Upsets in thunderstorm turbulence are discussed. Years ago there was evidence of a clear pattern in the upsets involving propeller driven airplanes. There was heavy airplane nose down elevator use following a violent updraft with eventual recovery from a deep dive. A similar pitch axis pattern is apparent in jet upsets. The swept wing jet has different stability characteristics; has a motor driven horizontal stabilizer as well as an elevator to control around the pitch axis; has improved flight instrumentation. Pilot training and a stabilizer modification have contributed to a dramatic decline in incident reports.

American Airlines, faced with the need to ground inefficient Boeing 707 airfreighters, opted in 1981 to expand its 747 freighter fleet, add Hercules “hub planes”, and increase hub trucking operations. The Hercules' ability to carry the 10-foot M-l (8×8 cross section) containers, its lift capacity and short haul economics made the aircraft particularly attractive as the hub airfreighter. The hub planes feed 747 freighters at New York, Chicago, and San Juan; they also provide freight-er service to Boston, Cleveland, Port au Prince, Haiti, and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The planes are operated under lease arrangements with Southen Air Transport of Miami, Florida and Transamerica Airlines of Oakland California. American's revenue and cost projections for hub plane operations are being met and the Hercules have proven the best available alernative to the grounded 707 freighters.

THE FIRST YEAR of jet airline operation has brought many problems — and satisfactions — to the industry. Here the author discusses some of the more serious problems: 1. Scheduling. American Airlines used the “Monte Carlo” method to calculate payloads and flight times. 2. Baggage handling. Almost nothing annoys a passenger more than long waits for baggage at the end of a flight. One approach to the problem is the baggage expediter system. 3. Mechanical shutdowns. 4. Runway length. 5. Noise. Noise suppressors have not been effective enough, from the standpoint of communities surroundings airports. Development of the turbofan engine offers some hope in this area.*