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May 1946 — Vol. 27, No. 5 — Airway Transport
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Just as man's cultural age is divided
into periods according to the tools he used, and the ages
of life on earth are sectioned off according to the kind of
creatures living, so man's scientific development might be
analyzed according to his progress in transportation. After
the simple "on foot" age, there came the water, wind and wood
era, when sailing vessels and stage coaches were the highest
development in transportation. Then followed the coal and
iron period, when the nineteenth century saw origination of
steam railways and steamships. The age we are now in might
be called that of electricity, petroleum and alloys, since
it has produced the automobile, the electric railway, and
the airplane.
Flying has passed the guessing stage, and is being applied
to transportation in ways that are wonderful, and sometimes
terrible. When anyone thinks of airplane travel he automatically
associates it with speed. From an average rate of 10 miles
an hour on the best mail coach routes in England in the 1830's
to the present—day commonplace of nearly 300 miles an
hour and the rocket type ship's 600 miles an hour, is a long
jump in little more than a century. It is the more astonishing
because for thousands of years before the nineteenth century
there had been little improvement; Julius Caesar could send
a courier about as fast as Napoleon. Today's world is so closely
knit that businessmen cannot afford not to travel by air if
they are to retain their competitive advantage and discharge
their affairs in the way demanded by a speed—conscious
society. As a speaker said recently: "Fifty years ago we were
lucky if we made the horse—and—buggy trip from the
suburbs to Montreal's waterfront in an hour and a half; today
we feel we are losing time if we miss one section of a revolving
door."
Consider what 300—miles—an—hour schedules
criss—crossing the globe will mean. Halifax to Montreal
in 2 hours; Montreal to Toronto in 1 hour; Toronto to Winnipeg
in 4 hours; Winnipeg to Regina in 1 hour; Regina to Victoria
in 3 hours. Between lunch one day and breakfast the next,
a traveller could fly from Montreal's Dorval airport to any
capital in Europe. And now there are being built in England
jet—propelled airliners designed to cross the Atlantic
in five hours. This will mean, allowing for the difference
between Montreal and Greenwich time, that the traveller will
arrive in Montreal at the same clocktime he left England.
But laying aside these terrific speeds for the time being,
it is interesting to take account of the practical benefits
given business through the airplanes at present in commercial
use. A good illustration is at hand in South America. If someone
from the branch of The Royal Bank of Canada at Lima, capital
of Peru, wished to visit a customer 600 miles away at Iquitos,
a town and river port on the Upper Amazon, his only route
until a few years ago was a month's trip through the Panama
Canal, around the top of South America, and up the Amazon.
A new road across the Andes and through jungle to the river
enabled the trip to be made overland in a week. By airplane
the journey takes three hours.
Before considering Canada's place in the aviation picture,
and how she can best take advantage of her position and facilities,
it might be well to glance backward at her interest and achievements
in flying. Canada Year Book refers to W. R. Turnbull as the
"father of aeronautical research in Canada." He set up the
first wind tunnel in Canada at Rothesay, N.B., in 1902, discovered
the laws of the centre of pressure movement on aerofoils,
and made deductions from these laws which explained the longitudinal
stability of airplanes. He also propounded the static laws
of air propellers, and evolved and developed the controllable—pitch
propeller. At the same time, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell was
experimenting with kites and air—screws at his summer
home in Baddeck, Cape Breton Island. The "Aerial Experiment
Association," formed in 1907, consisted of Dr. Bell, J. A.
D. MeCurdy, and F. W. Baldwin, two young Canadian engineering
graduates, Glen Curtiss, a motor—cycle engine builder
from New York State, and Lieut. T. E. Selfridge, on leave
from the United States Army. On February 23, 1909, McCurdy's
airplane, the Silver Dart, flew for half a mile at a speed
of 40 miles an hour. The craft was an advance on any aircraft
previously flown, having a three—wheel undercarriage,
tapered wings, and aileron controls. Only 10 years elapsed
until successful flights were made for forest protection and
survey work in Quebec, and in 1924 the first regular freight
and passenger air transport service was inaugurated to meet
the needs of mining developments at Rouyn. A nightly mail
service was started between Winnipeg and Edmonton in 1930,
only to be suspended by the government in 1932 for reasons
of economy. By 1938 there were 16 separate transportation
companies licensed for commercial operation, using 244 commercial
aircraft. As everyone knows, Canada has built a world reputation
as an efficient operator of civil air services; she contributed
extensively to combat air services and the training of air
and ground crew. Some of the most spectacular commercial flying
feats in the world have been performed by Canada's "bush pilots,"
who taught the world a great deal about carrying air cargo
and battling tough country.
Long distance transportation has just begun its growth.
On December 1, 1938 the daily transcontinental air service
from Montreal to Vancouver commenced. Halifax and Victoria
are not to be blamed if they protest that this was not a true
"transcontinental service," but that is the name given it.
The country is so large that an airplane service which at
least halves travel time between points is certain of popularity.
It is being borne in upon people that distance is only relative
to the speed of transportation. Business can be done in a
fraction of the time it took a few years ago. Deliveries can
be made quickly.
In 1931 the Privy Council handed down the decision that
the Dominion Government has control over all matters pertaining
to civil aviation and aerial navigation in Canada. The essentials
of a federal civil aviation programme are said to be: a national
airport plan, technical aids and navigation devices, pilot
training and aviation education. As to policy, there are two
aspects: domestic and international. The government announced
in March 1944, through the Minister of Munitions and Supply,
that TransCanada Air Lines, set up by the government as a
national operating company in 1937, would be given the task
of operating all domestic trunk air lines, and all international
lines. He added that steps would be taken to ensure that the
control of any civil air transport company was divorced from
association with any surface transport company. This policy
did not meet with universal approval, the criticism being
summarized by a leading newspaper in this way: "A country
whose principal need is transport, and with a high proportion
of aviation experience, is now restricted to a choice between
TCA and a few minor charter services."
Air travel has raised many new problems for international
solution, as well as pointing up some old worries. Before
development of the airplane, Mercator's map was all right.
It did exaggerate the size of some countries, Greenland, for
instance, but it was a good enough map for surface navigators.
An air map is quite different. In the centre of the air map
showing the northern hemisphere there is a dot indicating
the north pole. Scattered over the circle are smaller dots
representing cities. Reykjavik is a dot about an inch from
Montreal, Moscow is another point an inch beyond, and another
inch takes one to Aden. Winnipeg is an inch from Nome, and
two inches from, Tokyo. No boundary lines on the air map say
This is Canada," or "This is Iceland," or "This is Japan."
If a man wished to leave Toronto for a flying visit to South
Africa, he might be tempted by the Mercator map to go by way
of Miami, Natal, (in Brazil,) trans—Atlantic to West
Africa, and thence south, but the air map shows that his shorter
route is by way of Montreal, Labrador, and Europe.
Over—water flying has become a commonplace. Nothing
can dim the lustre of the triumph of Bleriot, hobbling on
crutches to his tiny monoplane in which he was to fly from
Calais to Dover, but his successors have brought London to
the suburbs of Canada. As Sir Roy Dobson puts it: "You take
off from London, and before you know what has happened you
have slipped off the edge of the island, and about seventeen
hours later you find yourself in Toronto." It was in the same
year that Alcock and Brown flew the first airplane across
the Atlantic that the first international line started its
schedule. Now the great circle route that cuts Montreal, the
Straits of Belle Isle, Northern Ireland and London stretches
on to Paris and points south, and if airplanes left tracks
the route would be well worn.
Need for a northeast staging route was suggested to Canada
by the United Kingdom in 1941. Before the end of that year
Goose Bay field was in use, and upon completion of the Greenland
and Iceland fields by the United States, a staging route was
available for comparatively short—range aircraft. Estimates
of possible traffic vary widely, but all are optimistic. An
English source suggests five departures from London for North
America daily, with three more starting on the continent,
carrying an average of 600 passengers per day in each direction.
Very little had been done in development of the North Pacific
great circle route to the Far East until the war brought imperative
needs. Today's airway is very good, at least as far as the
Bering Sea, and it is likely to gain greater eminence as people
come to realize that from the North American mid—continent
it brings Shanghai 4,300 miles nearer than by the Hawaii—Manila
route flown before the war. The northwest staging route was
built, developed and put into operation by Canada before Japan
entered the war and subsequently improved with the co—operation
of United States army engineers and workmen.
It will be noted, in glancing at the air map of the northern
hemisphere, that Canada is not so much at the top of the world
as in the middle of it, speaking in an air sense. This does
not mean air success is automatically Canada's destiny. When
faced with the problem of estimating the probability that
two plus two will equal four, the estimator is on safe ground,
because all the factors are known. But given the factors "good
aircraft plus low rates," for instance, no such certain results
can be expected, since these are not all of the factors. There
must be taken into account the political and economic states
of the countries concerned, employment, the trend of industry
and business, government factors such as taxation, and the
competing appeals of other routes, means of transportation
and destinations. Even political unrest in distant countries
may affect the probabilities, by imparting a sense of danger
or uncertainty. Government policies have their impact, as
well as the enthusiasm and good sense with which both government
and operators seek new business, and their efficiency in it.
It would be well, therefore, for Canadians seeking to see
their country prosper in the air transport business to take
nothing for granted. Given geographical position; materials,
factories and skilled men and women to build planes; natural
resources and manufactured goods with which to trade; and
many thousands of young men trained in all aspects of flying;
there remain as needs to place and keep Canada in the lead
of aviation development, imaginative initiative and sustained
effort.
The Dominion's potential position among the world's aviation
leaders has been recognized. When the Chicago International
Conference on Civil Aviation created the first inclusive international
organization to establish air navigation standards and procedures,
it selected Canada as the seat of the Provisional International
Civil Aviation Organization. (This organization is usually
referred to as PICAO, pronounced pee—kay—o.) Strong
efforts should be made by Dominion, provincial, civic, and
other bodies, and by citizens generally, to make Montreal
so acceptable to the 500 delegates meeting there this month
that they will vote to make this Canadian metropolis the permanent
seat of the organization.
PICAO has great potentialities, and Canada will wish to
have her full share in framing and executing the policies.
Already this organization has produced an impressive number
of technical standards, authorized regional route conferences,
and laid the groundwork for an international code of flying
technique which will increase efficiency and reduce hazards.
Some physical factors in air transportation are not always
given due weight by persons discussing development. The airplane
is more sensitive than railways or road transport to the combined
tonnage of fuel, load, and its own weight, all of which it
must lift from the ground. Air travel is more affected by
weather conditions than is any other form of transport, though
technical advances, particularly in radio and meteorological
analysis, are helping to overcome this handicap. The airplane
is flexible in the air, but not on the ground. An invisible
leash, of a length varying with the type of aircraft, ties
it to an airport. Air transport cannot have a multiplicity
of stops. As the length of interim flights within a long journey
decrease, so does the relative overall time increase, and
it is in the saving of time between departure and destination
that passengers are interested, not in great speed between
intermediate landings. Taking off requires more fuel than
does sustained flight, but even in the air, say experts, power
requirements vary as the cube of the speed. This means that
to increase the cruising speed of a given airplane from 150
to 300 miles an hour, to make up for time lost in landings,
would mean generating eight times the power required at the
lower speed.
All of these variables encourage strenuous competition as
country after country and airline after airline take the lead
temporarily in mastering one or another. In many instances,
air transport has been supported by governments in order to
enhance national prestige and war potential, and has not been
governed by commercial considerations. When one country subsidizes
its airlines, it is difficult for other countries to refrain,
and subsidized competition, carried to extreme, is an international
irritant. Domestically, subsidies are criticized because they
compel a large body of taxpayers to give special assistance
to a comparatively small body of users of air transport.
Air travel rates, like air travel time, are being reduced.
In 1929 there was one departure a day from Montreal to New
York, at $50, taking 4 hours at an average speed of 83 miles
an hour; in 1946 there are eleven departures a day at $23,
taking 2½ hours, an average of 130 miles an hour, including
two intermediate stops of 15 minutes. The rate is down from
15 cents a mile to 7 cents a mile. Dr. J. Parker Van Zandt,
of the Brookings Institution, who has much of interest and
value to say on the subject of aviation, declares: "That a
three—cent level of fares on a self—supporting basis
can be reached in due time by progressive stages, appears
incontestable." What effect this would have, as one in a galaxy
of favourable features, may well be imagined, particularly
if accompanied by a comparable reduction in freight and mail
rates. It will be recalled that it was the revolution in travel
costs accompanying railways into western Canada that made
it possible to grow wheat there and to market it economically
in Europe. Adequate transportation at popular rates encourages
the full utilization of special local advantages such as climate,
soil, traditional skill, the production of goods where they
can be produced most economically, and, generally, the use
of the resources of each district for the benefit of all districts.
There is an unprecedented number of persons in Canada with
aviation skills and interests. More than 120,000 men and women
have been employed in aircraft manufacturing. A quarter million
men voluntarily entered the Royal Canadian Air Force, of whom
73,000 graduated as air crew. Thousands of schoolboys have
learned the fundamentals of aeronautics. Yet the future of
airplane plants, as in all countries, is obscure. As remarked
previously, one characteristic of the airplane in transport
activity is its carrying capacity when measured in ton—miles
or passenger—miles. A relatively small number of efficient
airplanes can establish an impressive transportation record.
The hope that plastic planes could be stamped out like cookies
has been abandoned, and, in fact, that kind of production
is not warranted by present circumstances. There were, and
this is surprising, only 22,729 civil aircraft registered
in the whole world in 1938, and of these only 2,388, or 11
per cent, were in scheduled operation. It has been calculated
that some 600 airplanes carrying 36 passengers each, operating
3,500 hours yearly with a 65 per cent load factor, could (theoretically)
handle all the United States Pullman travel of 1940 and still
have space for cargo and mail. Van Zandt estimates that all
air traffic call be carried in 1,500 airplanes, while a survey
by the Curtiss—Wright Corporation takes an even dimmer
view, estimating a world total three years after the war of
1,454 commercial airplanes. In addition, of course, there
will be thousands of aircraft in use for business and recreation.
It was reported in the press a month ago that Canada's surplus
of training planes had been sold to flying clubs throughout
the country. So far as prospective cost goes, there is no
reason why many thousands of airplanes should not be operated
privately in Canada within a few years.
Public airports are a most important part of the aviation
set—up. The number of airplanes that can be handled will
be affected by the state of the weather, and total potential
use is not dictated by landing strips, but by space in the
air above the airport. There are 280 land airports in Canada.
New terms have been reached, the press reported in February,
whereby certain wartime airports may be leased from the government
by municipalities and other bodies for five years at $1 a
year. Many bases built as war necessities will be of little
commercial use, but what the air force did in laying out international
routes will aid in the rapid development of world—wide
transport, that is, if the airports are kept up to date. Aircraft
and airport design are closely related, the type of aircraft
dictating the kind and quality of airport needed, while the
size and facilities of the airport limit the aircraft which
may use it. This is complicated by the fact that since the
life of an expensive airport should be long, the speedy evolution
in aircraft design demands a far—sighted determination
of what the airfield plans shall be. Only five years ago New
York was severely criticised for investing $40 million in
LaGuardia Field; just recently ex—Mayor LaGuardia stood
at one end of the new $200 million Idlewild airfield and remarked:
"Can anyone tell me just where we're going?" This field, when
completed, will be able to handle 8,600 giant passenger and
freight transports daily, on a peak basis of 180 planes in
and 180 out in an hour.
Among the difficulties to be ironed out by international
conference and agreement is that of sovereignty. Some countries
refused, in the past, to permit airlines to cross the air
space above their territory, necessitating costly detours.
Others refused landing rights. If international air trade
is to develop for the good of all nations, it cannot be by
hard and persistent bilateral bargaining. That ends in a confusion
of duplicating airlines, futile and uneconomic, and worse
than that, in international jealousies and envies. Co—operation
in spirit and in practice will prevent political considerations
from obstructing the development of aviation, and aviation
from chafing international relations. If narrow nationalistic
aims can be submerged in a general world attempt to eliminate
the obstructive fences built around states, and if a working
system can be built out of the wartime structure of the United
Nations, then aviation will prosper.
This brings back consideration of the work of PICAO, an
organization whose activities surpass in significance those
of almost any other of the international organizations. Optimists
say to leave things alone, and order will come out of chaos.
It is the job of PICAO to endeavour to introduce the order
before chaos has a chance to envelop aviation. In this task,
Canada has taken a leading part. As far back as St. Patrick's
Day, 1944, there was presented to the House of Commons a draft
convention for the establishment of an international authority
to deal with civil air matters. At the Chicago conference
it was made clear that Canada did not propose international
ownership of airlines, but international regulation by an
international authority. There was a great and important area
of agreement among the delegates. All nations agreed to work
out an international air technical code covering air—worthiness
of craft, qualifications of airmen, rules of the "road", procedures
in tariffs, weather reporting, communications and search and
rescue. Most important, practically all the nations represented
at Chicago subscribed to plans permitting the airplanes of
any nation to fly over the territory of the others without
special permission, arid to land for non—commercial purposes.
Still other freedoms - the right to carry passengers, freight
and mail from the country of origin to any place in the world,
and back to the country of origin from any place in the world;
the right to pick up passengers, freight and mail in a foreign
country, for conveyance to another foreign country; and the
right to pick up passengers, freight and mail in a foreign
country for delivery to another point in the same country
- these remain under discussion. Canada Year Book remarks:
"Canada has signed the air transit agreement to assist in
opening up the airways of the world, but has not signed the
five freedoms agreement, thus retaining full control over
all rights to pick up and set down traffic in Canada."
Having come so far on the way toward international accord,
it may turn out to be impossible to secure unanimity, but
it should be practicable to achieve satisfactory community
of opinion on the fundamentals. Few nations would approve
outside control of their internal aviation affairs (in fact,
the idea was rejected at the 1932 disarmament conference)
but, on the other hand, no nation can acquiesce in unregulated
use of its air and facilities by either its own or other nationals.
These regulations should, in the interests of safety and efficiency,
be alike in all countries, insofar as they are concerned with
navigation aids, airport techniques, and similar affairs.
The whole world is now much smaller, measured by travel
time, than were Upper and Lower Canada at the time of Confederation,
79 years ago. Air travel and radio are making the world into
a neighbourhood. There are closer contacts between political
leaders, businessmen, educators, and scientists. Whether,
in addition to making nations neighbours, the development
of air travel shall also make them friends, is a question
for the people and their leaders, outside the scope of practical
aviation.
Published by RBC Financial Group. All editions from the RBC
Letter collection are available on our web site at www.rbc.com/responsibility/letter.
Our e-mail address is: rbcletter@rbc.com.
Publié aussi en francais.
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