The phrase ‘Zero-Right Time’ was very much in everyone's mind at the last symposium held here earlier this year. Since the Edwin Link trainer in 1929 the technology of flight training devices has relentlessly progressed towards achieving this ultimate in pilot training. The flight training devices in current use in the civil and military spheres are extremely sophisticated and complex; to the layman they are little short of magical. However, during the past 50 years one aspect of flying training through simulation appears to have been overlooked; namely, the training of instructors to make the most effective use of these complicated devices.

Great interest is being generated in direct broadcasting from space. In the future, several satellites will give individual users who are suitably equipped the option to select from over 40 programme channels. This paper is intended to outline the general system characteristics and requirements and considers the practicalities of siting and setting up a small receive-only terminal. Possible impairments resulting in signal degradation are described.

Though billed as an honorary consultant to the Air Transport Users Committee, I must underline that I speak for no one but myself, as irritated BEA advocates used to point out to the Air Transport Licensing Board in the old days.

The airline user is concerned with the real price of his ticket, or freight invoice, though he realises that this is related to the cost of producing the service. His complaints are first, that the fare structure is often unfair, and furthermore fails to maximise the revenue earning opportunity: and secondly, many airlines’ staff costs are far too high.

Airworthiness — fitness for flight — is one of the main factors influencing aircraft design. This joint paper discusses the problems of managing airworthiness and some of the methods used in an aircraft design organisation dealing with new and development designs and ‘in service’ aircraft.

External standards of airworthiness are set by many national and international authorities and it is vital that the aircraft manufacturer plays his part in setting these standards so that the implication on operational economics and production liability are considered. In addition the manufacturer sets his own internal standards of airworthiness. The relationship between civil and military airworthiness requirements are reviewed.

A vibration analysis of waffle cylinders with various stiffener configurations is made using the energy method. The frequency factors of the stiffened cylinders are obtained in terms of various non-dimensional parameters. To make a comparative study, the frequency factors are maximised for a fixed cylinder mass and stiffener eccentricity ratio. It is observed that spiral and circumferential configurations are efficient whereas axial stiffening is detrimental.

The aerodynamic pitching moment, lift and drag forces acting on a ski-jumper during the free flight and landing phases were measured using scaled models in a wind tunnel. Comparisons are made between those meaurements and observations of actual ski-jumps.

It is shown that the high angles of incidence (typically α varies from 35° to 55°) adopted by ski-jumpers during free flight is determined by the need to prevent tumbling. Over this range of incidence angles, the opposing moments due to weight distribution and aerodynamic pressure distribution are approximately in equilibrium, and small out-of-balance moments can be accommodated by arm movements. The maximum lift/drag ratio on a ski-jumper in free flight occurs at α ≃ 25°. If it were possible to avoid tumbling at low incidence angles, maximum jump lengths would be achieved at α ≃ 8°.

A private enquiry about the initial application of Dimensional Analysis to experimental measurements in aerodynamics has been made of the writer. The consequent literature search has revealed what is now to be described. If due credit is to be given correctly the matter needs checking particularly by those who had direct contact with the early aerodynamicists throughout the world: initiation of that check is the reason for this paper. Dimensional Analysis originally came from ideas of similarity which were considered by such masters as Kepler, Newton and Galileo. The idea of equality of dimensions in an equation was used by Fourier. Dimensional Analysis was, after Galileo, used by biologists in the last century but in the general area of physics the initial impetus came from Rayleigh. Rayleigh first advocated the value of Dimensional Analysis in 1885 and though he usually referred to it as a method of similitude he also, despite what has often been written to the contrary, used the description of ‘method of dimensions’.

The management of civil aircraft airworthiness must embrace three requirements.

• 1. To establish a working system which ensures that airworthiness is achieved.

• 2. To demonstrate to the certification authorities that it has been achieved and

• 3. To ensure that airworthiness is maintained throughout the life of the aircraft.

The sub-contractor’s task has traditionally been one of carrying out appropriate analysis and testing and then to supply to the prime contractor (usually the aircraft constructor) the data on his equipment which is required to satisfy these three requirements. Subsequently he must support this, as necessary, with the operators until the end of the life of the aircraft.

Let us now consider the apparatus needed for satellite reception. First of all, we must decide what signals we want to receive. If we are content with the ‘normal’ signals, that is to say the signals intended for reception in a particular country, then a parabolic antenna of 0·7-0·9 m is required. This can be fixed, since only one satellite position is involved and the receiver need only cover half of the 800 MHz band. The 1977 plan has been so arranged that certain transmissions from neighbouring countries with similar cultures and languages can also be received by the same set-up but a larger antenna. I have called these adjacent transmissions, and examples are the UK and Ireland, Germany and Austria, and so on.

The purpose of this talk is to describe some of the more simple aids used in the training of aircrew and to illustrate how they can be integrated with flight simulators and aircraft to form a systematic approach to aircrew training. Of course, low cost aids do not solve all training problems, neither can they replace the aircraft or the flight simulator for many tasks, but they are worth examining for reasons which will appear in this paper.

As a start, it might be useful to look at a typical flight simulator and note some of its characteristics as a teaching device.