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A NUMBER of the cost aspects of management are discussed with a view toward improving overall airline efficiency. Utilization of airplanes alone does not greatly affect operating costs. Low costs are the result of high utilization of all equipment and personnel, the author stresses. Lengthening periods between inspection and overhaul-but always satisfying reliability requirements-can bring significant economies, a survey covering timing of various maintenance operations for one fleet shows. Five possible goals of cruise control are discussed, with emphasis on maximum payload miles per dollar. Analysis of the value of weight saving in aircraft results in a formula for finding the annual revenue value of the weight involved.

THE new CAA requirements for transport airplanes deal with all airplane characteristics that involve safety in actual operation. Unfortunately, it appears that the effort to combine past experience with probable trends has resulted in a rather involved set of regulations. The author attempts here to resolve some of these complexities, and shows the problems involved in designing to them on a reasonable basis. He also presents his ideas on future trends in design and the regulations.

A METAL-FACE, balsa-core sandwich material being marketed under the trade name “metalite” has been found competitive with the present conventional all-metal types of construction. In this material, cycleweld cement and phenolic resins form the bond. Extremely high joint efficiencies can be obtained with hollow rivets or aluminum-alloy bolts. Metalite construction gives the very smooth surface needed for high-speed, low-drag aircraft and has been used extensively in the XF5U-1 and XF6U-1 experimental Navy fighter planes.

A STUDY of the operation of aircraft gas turbine powerplants under various atmospheric conditions shows that trends in performance will not always be similar to the trends noted with reciprocating engines. High humidity will have a negligible effect on performance, but ingested water will automatically increase power in a turbine engine regulated by speed and combustion-temperature controls without a power-limitation device. Abrasive, erosive, or contaminating matter in the air stream may change blade contours and clearances, decreasing compressor efficiency, engine power, thrust, and overall efficiency. Several inertia-type separators which should be useful in removing foreign material, especially moisture, from the air stream are described.

THIS report on a canvass of a number of engineers concerned with aircraft, aircraft powerplants, and fuels and lubricants indicates that the reciprocating engine will continue to occupy a paramount position among aircraft powerplants for the next 10 years. Turboprops will gradually displace reciprocating engines in some types of airplanes, chiefly air transports and bombers. Turbojets will be common soon in fighters and later in bombers. But small aircraft will still be relying on reciprocating engines in 1957, according to the survey.