munications Association represents approximately 2,700. The average turnover rate in this industry is extremely low, and as a result more than 50 percent of the employees have in excess of 20 years of service in the industry. The skills are unique to the industry and these workers, if displaced, would find it very difficult to earn comparable wages in any other occupation. While we appreciate that the testimony of James D. O'Connell recommending a merger of the international carriers was not germane to the subject which your committee is considering, we wish nevertheless to record our opposition to his recommendations. Obviously he sought to influence the Members of your committee who would ultimately consider the question of merger as members of the House of Representatives. While we recognize that this issue will be the subject of hearings before other committees of the House and Senate, we nevertheless wish to record our position since Mr. O'Connell introduced this question into your hearings. Sincerely yours, Hon. CHET HOLIFIELD, JOSEPH P. SELLY, President. AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION, Chairman, Subcommittee on Military Operations of the Committee on Government Operations, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: On behalf of the scheduled airlines of the United States, we welcome this opportunity to supply your committee with additional information bearing on the use of communications satellities by agencies of the Federal Government. We refer, specifically, to testimony before the committee on the proposed use of aeronautical communications satellites by the Federal Aviation Agency. The Nation's air transport system depends on fast, reliable, and high-capacity communications to assure the safety of each flight and the efficient operation of the system. To accomplish this, two distinct aeronautical communications requirements need to be satisfied: (1) Communications for air traffic control, and (2) Communications for airline operational control. Both requirements are equally important, both are now being satisfied by nonsatellite communications services, yet only one was mentioned in the testimony before your committee. The airlines believe that any planning for the use of communications satellities must consider both FAA and airline requirements. The committee has heard testimony from the Federal Aviation Agency concerning the use of satellite communications techniques for air traffic control over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The airlines support this objective. The FAA, as the operator of the air traffic control service, and the airlines, as major users of this service, share a common interest in improving the communications used to speed the safe flow of air traffic. However, airline requirements for fast and reliable communications go well beyond what is required for FAA's air traffic control. The reason is simply that while the purpose of air traffic control is to insure safe separation between aircraft in flight and an orderly flow of air traffic, all other functions that control the safety and efficiency of an airline flight are the responsibility of airline management. In the aviation community, we use the term "operational control" to distinguish airline management's responsibility for the operational safety of a flight from the traffic separation responsibilities of Government-operated air traffic control service. Operational control means, for example, such management decisions as the selection of destinations and safe alternates for maximum passenger safety and comfort. It means constant monitoring of the progress of the flight and the performance of the aircraft. Above all it means the ability to mobilize instantly, on demand, the airline's technical and operational resources whenever required to resolve a problem created by unexpected major changes in flight progress or aircraft performance. None of these responsibilities can be discharged effectively without direct, fast, and efficient communications between airline management and the crews of aircraft in flight. From the very beginning of scheduled air transportation in 1930, the airline industry has controlled and managed the communication services used for airline operational control. What started as an airline communications system for both air traffic control and operational control, grew into two separate yet interrelated communications systems, when the requirements of the Government's traffic separation service justified separate channels exclusively for communication between pilots and air traffic controllers. Advances in communications technology are constantly being reviewed and, where appropriate, grafted onto the airline communications system to make it more responsive to the growing, fast-changing demands of our expanding air transport system. Examples include the use of voice, instead of Morse code, when air-ground-air communications were begun in 1930; pre-World War II testing of VHF and postwar transition from HF to VHF for air-ground-air communications; development of an internationally agreed standard message and address format permitting automatic routing of messages between airline offices throughout the free world; and use of electronic computers to provide highspeed and high-capacity message routing service. The airlines are convinced that the next major advance in aeronautical communications will come from the use of communications satellites. In support of this conviction, the airlines are engaged in a major effort to make this possible. The first two-way communication between an airplane in flight and a ground station, via satellite, was accomplished by airline initiative over 2 years ago. A group of airline, airframe, and radio equipment manufacturers has been working ever since to outline the design requirements, assemble the engineering data and develop the airborne equipment that will be needed for a working air-ground-air satellite communications system. This effort has benefited greatly from the full cooperation and very helpful technical advice of those whose expertise lies in the field of communications satellite technology. The ground station-to-satellite link of an aeronautical communications satellite system will present no technical problems because it will use the technology developed by NASA and used by Comsat Corp. There was far less technology available for the aircraft-to-satellite link, and this is why the airline and industry team has worked so hard to develop airborne equipment and design new aircraft antennas that could be used in VHF communications between satellite and airplane. The next step in the airline program will be to test the design data and equipment in the two-way voice communications between ground stations and specially equipped airline aircraft, using NASA's ATS-B, which was described for the committee by Mr. Leonard Jaffe. A group of six airlines, represented by Aeronautical Radio, Inc. (ARINC), of Annapolis-the communications company of the airline industry-have been accepted by NASA as experimenters for the VHF communications experiment carried by ATS-B. In summary, the airlines have a unique communications requirement. The day-to-day management of an airline is a succession of decisions that must be made right now, decisions that depend upon the immediate availability of precise and detailed information on the status of the airline system. An efficient communications system, therefore, is one of the most valuable and essential tools of airline management. The system must be fast, to keep up with today's 600mile-per-hour jets and prepare for tomorrow's 2,000-mile-per-hour supersonic transport; the system must be reliable, for safety; it must be flexible enough to adapt smoothly and quickly to the changing needs of a growing, changing transport system; it must have the capacity to handle the increasing flow of information generated by the growing productivity of the air transport network; and, most of all, it must be under the airline industry's control. The airline communications requirement for operational control and the Government's requirement for air traffic control communications together make up the Nation's communications requirement for air transportation. Both requirements are equally important, both will make use of new communications techniques. We urge the Congress to consider and provide for both of these requirements in both planning and policy decisions that concern the Federal Government's use of communications satellites. Very truly yours, S. G. TIPTON. (Whereupon, at 12:30 p.m., the committee adjourned, to reconvene subject to the call of the chair.) APPENDIXES APPENDIX 1.-LIST OF COMMITTEES ON WHICH MEMBERS OF THE OFFICE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT SERVE AS CHAIRMAN, MEMBER, OR ADVISER; AS OF AUGUST 24, 1966 Committees The Frequency Management Advisory Council. Chairman: J. D. O'Connell. Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee. Chairman: Capt. Paul D. Miles. Telecommunication Science Panel of the Department of Commerce. Member: Mr. F. W. Morris, Jr. Ad hoc The Intragovernmental Committee on International Telecommunications. Chairman: J. D. O'Connell; cochairman: Rosel Hyde. The Ad Hoc Intragovernmental Communication Satellite Policy Coordination Committee. Chairman: J. D. O'Connell. Program Advisory Group of the Intragovernmental Committee on International Telecommunications. Cochairman: Ralph Clark. Ad Hoc Study Group on Space Service Spectrum Saturation. Cochairmen : William Plummer, Fred W. Morris, Jr. Hearings Frequency Management Hearings. Chairman: J. D. O'Conell. Committees in process of being developed Telecommunications Science and Technology Council. Federal Council on Telecommunications Policy (Commerce-State-DODJustice-FCC). National Communication System Policy Council. Telecommunications Emergency Planning Committee. Intragovernmental Committee on Government Own-versus-Lease. EXHIBIT 1.-FREQUENCY MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL The Frequency Management Advisory Council was established July 19, 1965, to advise the Director of Telecommunications Management on measures to increase the effectiveness of frequency management throughtout the executive branch of the Government. Its purpose is to review the procedures, plans, and problems of the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee, to identify areas where improvements may be needed, and to recommend to the DTM any new or more efficient approaches which may be feasible of adoption to strengthen frequency management within the Government. The current members are: Mr. Richard P. Gifford, general manager, Communications Products Division, General Electric Co. Mr. Gifford has been a member of the Joint Technical Advisory Committee since 1961, is vice chairman of that committee, and is currently playing a leading role in fostering advances in electromagnetic compatibility. Dr. John P. Hagen, professor of radioastronomy, Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Hagen was Superintendent of the Atmospheric and Astrophysics Division, Naval Research Laboratories, 1935-58; and Associate Director, Office of Planning and Space Administration, 1958-62. He is a pioneer in radioastronomy and space research, with major responsibility in the development of Vanguard and the launching of the first U.S. manned satellite. He has been a leader in U.S. participation in work of the International Radio Consultative Committee in these fields. Dr. Cullen Crain, group leader, Rand Corp. (propagation and space electronics) group leader, Rand Corp., radio propagation and space electronics. Has been a leading member in communications satellite studies carried out at the Rand Corp. and has participated in Department of the Air Force forecast study project. Professor of electrical engineering, University of Texas, 1946– 57; member of the research staff, Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy, 1944-46; participated in development of airborne radar equipment during period 1942-43; member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and a leading expert in the field of propagation of radio waves. Mr. Ray Vincent, manager, Communications Laboratories, Electronics and Radio Sciences, Stanford Research Institute. Mr. Vincent is foremost in the development of the technique and use of oblique sounders to improve the reliability of high-frequency communications, and is the primary developer of the application of computer techniques to assess interference with high-frequency systems. Mr. Philip F. Siling, formerly Chief, International Division and Assistant Chief Engineer, FCC; director, RCA Frequency Bureau, RCA; and radio consultant. He played a leading role in the U.S. preparation for a number of international radio conferences from 1945-62 and served as a member of the U.S. delegation to those conferences. He had a major role in preparing for the Atlantic City 1947 Radio Conference and in conceiving and developing the proposal for the Intenational Frequency Registration Board. He was a member and first Chairman of the Joint Technical Advisory Committee, 1948–59, and Chairman 1958-59. Comdr. T. A. M. Craven, U.S. Navy (retired), former Chief Engineer and Commissioner, FCC. and consulting radio engineer. Commander Craven has been a member of the U.S. delegation to every international radio conference since 1927, was chairman of the delegation to the Geneva 1959 Conference, and vice chairman, Geneva 1963. He chaired the U.S. interdepartment committee which prepared the position to the Atlantic City Radio Conference, 1947, directing the U.S. work to completely overhaul the International Telecommunication Union and the table of frequency allocations above 30 megacycles, including the establishment of the International Frequency Board. Commodore E. M. Webster, U.S. Coast Guard (retired), formerly chief communications officer, U.S. Coast Guard; Assistant Chief Engineer and Commissioner FCC; and radio consultant to Western Union and Western Union International Co. He has been a member of U.S. delegations to 27 international radio and safety-of-life conferences, including Washington 1927, Madrid 1932, Cairo 1938, and Atlantic City 1947. The Council is chaired by Mr. James D. O'Connell, Special Assistant to the President for Telecommunications/Director of Telecommunications Management. Members are appointed by him. Mr. Richard Kirby, Environmental Science Services Administration, Department of Commerce, serves as an observer. The Council meets once each month. (The order establishing the Council follows:) OEP order 1200.6a EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, To: Executive staff, staff and regional office directors. 1. Purpose. This order establishes and describes the functions of the Frequency Management Advisory Council. 2. Cancellation.-OEP order 1200.6 dated March 19, 1965, is hereby canceled. 3. Membership.-The membership will be composed of knowledgeable individuals representative of a cross section of available talent from outside the Government who are in a position to provide objecive judgment on frequency management problems and concepts. Members will be appointed by the Director of Telecommunications Management. 4. Functions.-The Frequency Management Advisory Council (FMAC) will advise the Director of Telecommunications Management (DTM) on measures to increase the effectiveness of frequency management throughout the executive branch of the Government. I will, among other tasks, review the procedures, plans and problems of the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) to identify areas where improvements may be needed, and will recommend to the DTM any new or more efficient approaches which may be feasible of adoption to strengthen frequency management within the Government. 5. Organization.-The Chairman of the Frequency Management Advisory Council will be selected from among the membership. Staff support for the Council will be furnished by the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Management. All meetings will be held at the call, or with the advance approvak of the DTM or his representative, and with an agenda formulated or approved by such official. All meetings shall be conducted in the presence of the DTM or other full-time salaried Government official, who shall adjourn any meeting whenever he considers adjournment to be in the public interest. Minutes of each meeting will be kept which shall, as a minimum, contain a record of persons present, a description of matters discussed and conclusions reached, and copies of all reports received, issued or approved by the Council. The accuracy of all minutes shall be certified by the DTM or his representative present during the proceedings recorded. 6. Authority. The Frequency Management Advisory Council is established pursuant to section 502 of Executive Order 11051. 7. Effective date. This order is effective the date of issuance. BUFORD ELLINGTON, Director. EXHIBIT 2.-INTERDEPARTMENT RADIO ADVISORY COMMITTEE The committee formed as of the notice from J. D. O'Connell on December 10, 1964, which was issued pursuant to Executive Order 10995 of February 16, 1962, as amended with particular reference to sections 2, 3, 5, 8, and 9 thereof has the authority to assign radio frequencies to Government agencies as delegated to the DTM including the power to amend, modify, or revoke frequency assignments. (Membership as of July 26, 1966:) Chairman: Capt. Paul D. Miles, Office of Emergency Planning. Executive Secretary: Mr. Chester R. Kirkevold, Office of Emergency Planning. Agriculture.-Representative: Mr. E. Allan Loew. Alternate: Mr. Wm. B. Morton. Air Force.-Representative: Mr. John D. Corley. Alternate: Lt. Col. Leo A. Buss. Army. Representative: Mr. Nathaniel White. mussen. Alternate: Mr. A. R. Ras Commerce.-Representative: Mr. Allen Barnabei. Alternate: Mr. Winston J. Van Winegarden. Federal Aviation Agency.--Representative: Mr. Wm. B. Hawthorne. Alternate: Mr. Charles A. Brooks. Federal Communications Commission.—Liaison Representative: Mr. Wm. H. Watkins. Alternate liaison: Mr. S. M. Myers, Mr. Merle Glunt, Mr. David O. Cooper, Mr. Grant E. Woodside. General Services Administration.-Representative: Mr. Stewart Schmalbach. Alternate: Mr. Harrison H. Merkel. Interior.-Representative: Mr. S. L. Windes. Alternate: Mr. Bruce Rogers. Justice.-Representative: Mr. Ernest J. Landreville. Alternate: Mr. Bernard Sikorski. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.—Representative: Mr. James B. McElroy. Jr. Navy. Representative: Mr. Wilfrid Dean, Jr. Alternate: Mr. V. G. Stingley. State.-Representative: Mr. C. Hoyt Price. Alternate: Col. Chas. D. Fisher, Treasury. Representative: Mr. J. L. Stewart (U.S. Coast Guard). Alternate: Mr. Daniel C. Spitz (U.S. Coast Guard). U.S. Information Agency.-Representative: Mr. George Jacobs. Alternate: Mr. Wallace R. Martin. (NOTE. The security clearance of each individual listed in this document has been confirmed as secret or higher, in accordance with standards of the Executive Office of the President.) |