Airframes program AIRCRAFT SAFETY ACTIVITY Effort in this area will develop and demonstrate methods and design concepts to improve crashworthiness and to minimize the probability of postcrash fire in survivable accidents. Also included are development and experimentation with respect to criteria for improved aircraft structural and mechanical integrity and development and demonstration of a traction measuring system. Propulsion program Major emphasis in this area is on experimentation with modern turbine engines to adequately establish basic and fundamental criteria with respect to fire detection, suppression and containment. Experimentation on the effects of bird ingestion on turbine engines and efforts to develop suitable protection systems will continue. Studies of lightning hazards to aircraft and development of adequate protection against lightning strikes to aircraft in flight are also included. Noise suppression program Efforts in this area involve development of improved devices and techniques for noise reduction or suppression at the source, development of safe operational procedures to minimize noise, and development of improved and acceptable yardsticks for evaluation and measurement of aircraft noise. Equipment program Effort in this area involves development of improved crash recorders, incorporating additional aircraft performance parameters and experimentation with aircraft maintenance recorders. Intensive efforts will be continued to develop feasible bomb detection techniques and systems to overcome the hazards of aircraft sabotage. Flight program Effort in this area involves development of criteria for specifying safe performance characteristics of rotary wing aircraft and development of improved performance criteria related to the takeoff, approach, and touchdown phases of operation of commercial 'jet transport aircraft. A study of the effects of turbulence on jet transport aircraft is being undertaken in an effort to develop improved criteria and procedures for safe operation of these aircraft in turbulence. General aviation cockpit program This effort involves development and experimentation to provide safer and simple general aviation cockpit intrument displays and cockpit configurations. Subsonic aircraft development program This effort is intended to stimulate the development of a suitable modern local service transport aircraft and to analyze the suitability for commercial use of various novel V/STOL aircraft configurations under development by the military services. AVIATION MEDICINE ACTIVITY Loss of flying effectiveness resulting from the use of common drugs Use of readily available drugs of the nonprescription variety may be a factor in general aviation accidents. Antihistamines, salicylates, and tranquilizers, can be obtained with relative ease and when combined with alcohol which has been ingested in various amounts, may produce synargistic effect on the systems of the body. This effect may be far greater than the single or simple additive effects of any of the drugs ingested alone. This program is orientated toward determining the effects of drugs singularly or in combination on the skill and judgment of airmen required to fly aircraft safely and efficiently. The project will be investigated utilizing single drugs and various combinations of drugs in sequence. A study of the human factor associated with advanced commercial transports The utilization of commercial transports of the future will produce several practical problems for an aircrew utilizing such features. Some of these problems will require the extension of nontechnology requiring development of practical hardware involving sound aviation medical principles for the protection and safety of joint crew and passengers. A study of the human factor associated with light aircraft General aviation activities encompass a great many flying hours, more aircraft, and more flying personnel than any other segment of civil or military aviation. This program is being inaugurated in order to eliminate many of the accidents, the injuries, and lower the fatality rates and improve the safety in such type of flying. Investigation will be carried out in the area of delethalization of the aircraft cockpit so that when an accident does occur it becomes a no-injury minor damage incident, rather than a serious one. Likewise, the simplification of the pilot skill required to flying the vehicle, the addition of simplified instrumentation and other areas of interest will be considered under this general program. Development of tests of specific safety factors for protection of passengers and crew in civil aircraft Protective equipment such as adequate oxygen systems and masks, seat restraints, adequate seats and furnishings for aircraft will be developed and tested Survival equipment for use after an accident will also be developed. This equipment will be tested and evaluated and the technical standard orders relating to its function and use will be modified or approved as indicated. Evacuation procedures from aircraft on land and on water will be developed and tested as applicable. Information gained by such investigations will be correlated with the flight standards service and the aircraft development service for use in future aircraft design. A study of the effectiveness of personnel in the national aviation system The integration of personnel into the national aviation system, and the effectiveness of their operation, will be investigated. The adjustments necessary to absorb such personnel into the system may take the form of selection and qualification criteria, specific training procedures to fit personnel into various situations, and other modifications to the system dictated by the human operator and his needs to insure an efficiently operating system. Such aspects as fatigue, the working environment, interrelationship of personnel, and other aspects will be examined in pilots, air traffic controllers, and other aircrew operating in the national aviation system. Aircrew safety in relation to aerial applicator chemicals Crop dusting is a very important aspect of the agricultural industry of the Nation. The scope of aerial application of chemicals is increasing rapidly. Unfortunately this segment of aviation has one of the highest accident rates of any aspect of general aviation. It is essential that a detailed knowledge of human toxicology associated with the various insecticides being used by crop dusters be obtained. It is essential that adequate means of protection from the toxicological agents involved be provided to personnel in this industry. The development of adequate antitoxic agents to prevent the toxic action of these chemicals on the human body must be investigated. The effect of the normal aging processes on civil aircrew performance The physiological age rather than chronological age is the criteria for establishing the ability of aircrew to carry on normal performance when flying aircraft. It will be necessary to establish a normal aging curve in the population for specific systems of the body. It will then be necessary to ascertain the performance requirements of aircrew for specific flying tasks, and equate these to the normal aging curve. The physiological age of the aircrew is then evaluated by establishing his ability to adequately carry on his flying duties when compared to his position on the normal aging curve. A study of flying hazards from specific diseases in civil aircrews Insufficient knowledge in regard to the effect of specific diseases on the flying ability of airmens' ability. Factual data must be obtained in order to define specific medical flight standards for civilian aircrew flying general aviation aircraft. Medcal flight standards must be written to permit the maximum number of civilian personnel to exercise the privileges of an airman while maintaining the optimum standard of safety. The clinical evaluation and the flight performance of aircrew having simulated an actual disease condition will be investigated in this program to ascertain any decrement in their actual flight performance thereby effecting the safety of their flight operations. EVALUATION OF GENERAL PRODUCTION Senator MAGNUSON. Is it possible in the studies at all, and I think it will require somebody at a high level, to evaluate what is in general production? We have a great electronics industry and we don't have to develop everything brand new for FAA. They were testing some years ago this new dial system of the pushbutton instead of the spinner. They have been working themselves to death on that up there. I have had enough experience on Western Electric and Bell Telephone to know if they bring out a dial system, it will probably be faster. I heard 2 or 3 years later, they were still testing this thing. When I was up there, they were throwing birds into turboprop motor for bird ingestion. They were still doing that as late as 6 months ago. These things can certainly be done by the aviation industry generally and leave you free for the necessarily sophisticated systems that you have to adopt for your procurement from suppliers and also stuff you need for your own use. Mr. HALABY. I think the general point is a very good one, Senator. As you know, most of this work with the requested $42 million is done outside in industry. A very good deal of it is done under costsharing contracts with industry and if there is a project which, (a), is necessary, and (b), would be carried out by industry without FAA doing anything, I would like to eliminate it. In fact, that is one of our tests. ALL-WEATHER LANDING PROGRAMS Now, an all-weather landing program, as you know, sir, has been going on since Jimmy Doolittle used to conduct experiments in Oklahoma City perhaps 35 years ago. We are now down to 200 feet and a half mile. We are working on to 100 feet and a quarter mile. But if that cut stands, we will just stop that project and slowly, over maybe 10 instead of 5 years, it would come out. We apply the test to these projects: "Is it essential? Does it contribute directly to the system? Will it be done in industry if we do not do it?" If it fails on those tests, we don't do it. COORDINATION WITH NASA Senator MONRONEY. Have you done anything to coordinate your activities, and by coordinating, I mean getting more money allocated to aviation in NASA? Of all the research and development money NASA gets it seems that almost 9944/100 percent goes to space, and aviation gets the leftovers. Mr. HALABY. I guess there is a very strong feeling that that is true, Senator. It is very interesting to me that in the very same bill cutting our R. & D. 50 percent, there is about $5 billion for space research and development. From my point of view, which is a narrow one, of course, the idea of safety in the sky research being worth only $21 million with flight into space being worth $5 billion, is not in balance. Senator MONRONEY. Particularly when related to the number of people involved in space and in aviation, as modes of travel. Mr. HALABY. Yes, sir; and when in the same session, roughly $6 billion is voted for military research to defend the United States from foreign enemies and only $21 million is voted to defend the United States from danger over its airspace day after day, it again seems to me completely out of proportion. But that is just the narrow point of view of an FAA Administrator. CLOSING OF FLIGHT STATIONS Senator MAGNUSON. There are several Senators that have asked the committee to ask the Administrator of the FAA questions regarding the closures of certain flight stations. Senator Hruska has some which we will submit. Senator ALLOTT. Yes, Mr. Chairman, I have this letter addressed to you and also a list of questions which Senator Hruska submitted. (The matter referred to follows:) RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY SENATOR HRUSKA On May 12 the Administrator presented a general outline of the flight service station program to the Subcommittee on Transportation and Aeronautics of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. This program reflects reconsideration of previously announced Agency plans to the press in February which provided initially for the conversion of 42 flight service stations into remote control facilities, with annual savings between $30,000 and $40,000 each. The planning anticipates that 154 of the present flight service stations (approximately one-half) plus 6 new combined station/towers will constitute a hard core of the system operating on a 24-hour-a-day basis, 7 days a week, and handling all basic functions now performed by stations. Selected terminal services would be provided at most of the remaining airport locations now served by a full-time FSS through a tower, a weather bureau airport station (WBAS) or one of two new types of limited FAA facilities. The first would be a manned facilitycalled a MANICOM-and would be staffed by one or two FAA flight service specialists to provide terminal services up to 12 hours daily (such as airport advisory information, face-to-face briefing of pilots, and weather observations). The other facility would be an unmanned airport information desk or AIDwith a direct telephone line to the nearest full-time flight service station for "do it yourself" flight planning. Community participation would be a prerequisite to either a MANICOM or an AID facility. Aeronautical need and requirements for weather observations will be the major factors in determining for each non-hard-core location whether an AID or MANICOM facility will be utilized to perform terminal services. An important aspect of this program is that it leaves needed terminal services at minimum cost for the remoted FSS airports and, if the President and the Congress approve the program we have presented, there may be added, through Federal and local effort, over 400 terminal facilities around the country where none now exist-a substantial increase in the quantity and quality of service. There is no plan to automate flight service stations. The unmanned facility is remotely controlled through two-way radio operated by landlines from the controlling station, which is the nearest manned station in the hard core group. Since the Scottsbluff flight service station is classified as a hard core FSS, all services there will be handled as in the past. 1. With reference to the two Nebraska FSS's, Scottsbluff and Imperial, how did the FAA calculate or estimate costs so that a savings of $30,000 or $40,000 results? As indicated in the general comments above, no changes are contemplated at Scottsbluff. Estimated FAA annual operational savings which will result from the conversion of Imperial flight service station to a remote controlled outlet with an airport information desk (AID), are as follows: Operational savings (annual recurring): Operations manpower (savings). Leased landlines (increased requirement). Total operational saving. Nonrecurring costs: Employee relocation costs___ Total nonrecurring costs---. Amount ($44,600) (11,300) 7,600 48, 300 3,600 85,000 88,600 2. When a pilot flies from the west to east, out of Denver, Colorado Springs, or eastern Colorado, from what points can he obtain weather conditions and route? A pilot flying east out of Denver would receive the same weather services that are available today by communicating with the closest flight service station. This station can furnish him weather information from any part of the country where official weather observations are taken. If we assume further that this same pilot is going to Imperial from Denver, he would contact the North Platte FSS which would give him Imperial weather based on the observations of personnel based there. 3. When you automate a station, what changes are made in the physical plant, equipment or other fixtures? See general comment above regarding automation. 4. What changes in flight procedures must be made? There would be no change in flight procedures. A possible exception might be that airport advisory services would be offered on a voluntary (pilot option) basis rather than the mandatory basis as at present. We are informed that the U.S. Weather Bureau will establish a manned second order weather reporting station at Imperial. Additionally, there would be a direct telephone line to North Platte FSS over which a flight plan could be filed or used to obtain any needed aeronautical information. 5. If new equipment is required, what costs are involved: (a) for the basic equipment, (b) for installation costs, (c) for maintenance? The major capital investment is required for modification of the hard core stations to accommodate the consolidated stations and for the conversion of consolidated stations to limited remote controlled outlets. Maximum utilization of existing FSS equipment will be made in the establishment of MANICOM's and AID's. 6. What is the timelag in weather reporting as a result of automating a station? See general comment above regarding automation. 7. Both stations in Nebraska are in an area where rapid changes take place in weather conditions. In the event there is a 20- or 30-minute timelag in reporting weather, safety is neglected, is it not? We would anticipate no change in the weather reporting timelag. 8. What type of communication will remain at the stations after they are remoted? Remoted stations will retain the VOR voice feature and the general aviation en route frequency (122.1 megacycles). 9. In case of a storm or rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, what service on the ground at the field will be available to pilots? Will the service be adequate to assist fliers in need of help? It is assumed that the question refers to flight assistance capability for for lost or disoriented aircraft. In this case the proposed system would incude direction finder equipment at additional locations and thus increase area coverage of this service. The MANICOM type of terminal service will be established at many of the locations where flight service stations are being consolidated. MANICOM's will have the capability of providing assistance to lost or disoriented aircraft within their communications range during hours of operation. 10. Are there any organizations of pilots or interested State departments of aviation which support your economy to close flight service stations? The testimony before the Subcommittee on Transportation and Aeronautics of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, U.S. House of Repre |