Future of aviation - fact or fiction

Monday I made a stop on a cross country flight to have lunch with my
daughter. Afterwards we dropped in to a used book store to browse. As
usual I migrated to the aviation section. The gem I laid my eyes on
this time was written in 1957 and titled, "Flying the Omnirange." It
touts the advantages and incredible possibilities of the fantastic new
VHF onmidirectional radio range (VOR) that was replacing the
low-frequency rado ranges in the 1950's. Here are a few paragraphs that
you may find interesting and mildly amusing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is the long-range program as visualized by the CAA and planned for
completion in the 1960's:

Before a pilot takes off on a flight a landing time will be reserved
for him at his airport of destination. While he is enroute a dial will
tell him continually, in minutes and seconds, whether he is ahead of or
behind schedule, and he will slow his plane down or speed it up
accordingly. On a screen in the cockpit the pilot will see a pictorial
presentation of everything around him. This picture, probably televised
from the ground, will show his own aircraft in relation to others in
his vicinity, indicate obstructions or other hazards, and even show the
location of storms and turbulent air.

At the same time, radar will be continuously watching him from the
ground. By means of a block system, something like that used on
railroads, the pilot will be assured that he is in safe air space at
all times.

His aircraft will carry equipment which continuously transmits to the
ground the readings of the cockpit instruments. Electronic brains on
the ground will check these readings automatically against information
derived from radar and other sources. If, for example, the altitude
shown by ground radar differs from the altimeter reading in the
cockpit, the pilot will be instantly and automatically notified.

If the pilot wishes to change his altitude or his flight plan he will
be able to communicate with the ground stations by pushing an
appropriate button. Approval or disapproval will be flashed back to his
cockpit in a fraction of a second, since the calculations will be made
by automatic machines on the ground.

This system may sound a bit fantastic in some respects, especially
since it is due for realization within the next 6 or 7 years.
Nevertheless, nearly all of the mechanisms and instruments upon which
it is predicated already are in development and some of them are in
actual use. The program will almost completely solve the weather
problems which plague aviation today, and it will permit aircraft to
fly their schedules with clocklike precision and absolute reliability.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

"Gene Seibel" wrote in message
ups.com...
Monday I made a stop on a cross country flight to have lunch with my
daughter. Afterwards we dropped in to a used book store to browse. As
usual I migrated to the aviation section. The gem I laid my eyes on
this time was written in 1957 and titled, "Flying the Omnirange." It
touts the advantages and incredible possibilities of the fantastic new
VHF onmidirectional radio range (VOR) that was replacing the
low-frequency rado ranges in the 1950's. Here are a few paragraphs that
you may find interesting and mildly amusing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is the long-range program as visualized by the CAA and planned for
completion in the 1960's:

Before a pilot takes off on a flight a landing time will be reserved
for him at his airport of destination. While he is enroute a dial will
tell him continually, in minutes and seconds, whether he is ahead of or
behind schedule, and he will slow his plane down or speed it up
accordingly. On a screen in the cockpit the pilot will see a pictorial
presentation of everything around him. This picture, probably televised
from the ground, will show his own aircraft in relation to others in
his vicinity, indicate obstructions or other hazards, and even show the
location of storms and turbulent air.

At the same time, radar will be continuously watching him from the
ground. By means of a block system, something like that used on
railroads, the pilot will be assured that he is in safe air space at
all times.

His aircraft will carry equipment which continuously transmits to the
ground the readings of the cockpit instruments. Electronic brains on
the ground will check these readings automatically against information
derived from radar and other sources. If, for example, the altitude
shown by ground radar differs from the altimeter reading in the
cockpit, the pilot will be instantly and automatically notified.

If the pilot wishes to change his altitude or his flight plan he will
be able to communicate with the ground stations by pushing an
appropriate button. Approval or disapproval will be flashed back to his
cockpit in a fraction of a second, since the calculations will be made
by automatic machines on the ground.

This system may sound a bit fantastic in some respects, especially
since it is due for realization within the next 6 or 7 years.
Nevertheless, nearly all of the mechanisms and instruments upon which
it is predicated already are in development and some of them are in
actual use. The program will almost completely solve the weather
problems which plague aviation today, and it will permit aircraft to
fly their schedules with clocklike precision and absolute reliability.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think I remember this one; and the first Omni we had in our airplane also.
It was a Narco Superhomer.
Cute little black box affair. Believe it or not, it was quite accurate and
fun to use :-))))
Dudley Henriques

Sounds like the book is reffering more to a GPS than a VOR.
It's almost as if the author of this book knew what lay ahead
as far as computers and GPS with an MFD.

David

If you selected those quotes because they seemed the most amusing or
'far-fetched', then they're actually impressively close to reality. It
seems to me the only really 'wrong' thing in his vision is the idea that
the new technology will free us from the constraints of weather. The
majority of flight delays today are still due to weather.

I like the part about the data being beamed back to the ground for
cross-check. I've often wondered why we still use flight data recorders,
with short (30min) recording capacity, when the data could be compiled
every minute or so, compressed and sent in packets to a ground station,
where it would be easily recoverable.

GF

Thats exactly what I was thinking.

--
John Huthmaker
PPL-SEL P-28-161

http://www.cogentnetworking.com
"FLAV8R" wrote in message
...
Sounds like the book is reffering more to a GPS than a VOR.
It's almost as if the author of this book knew what lay ahead
as far as computers and GPS with an MFD.

David

On Thu, 11 May 2006 08:46:24 +0200, Greg Farris
wrote:
I like the part about the data being beamed back to the ground for
cross-check. I've often wondered why we still use flight data recorders,
with short (30min) recording capacity, when the data could be compiled
every minute or so, compressed and sent in packets to a ground station,
where it would be easily recoverable.

Perhaps because the air transport pilots don't want it... We could
store more than 30 minutes right now if we so desired and it wouldn't
really cost any more... Hell, look at how much data gets put on an MP3
player...

In article , Greg Farris
wrote:

I like the part about the data being beamed back to the ground for
cross-check. I've often wondered why we still use flight data recorders,
with short (30min) recording capacity,

because those are the old FDR and CVRs. Newer ones record more data
and longer periods. Eventually the old ones will be replaced.

Note that instrumenting an aircraft, especially a non-digital aircraft is
incredibly expensive.

when the data could be compiled
every minute or so, compressed and sent in packets to a ground station,
where it would be easily recoverable.

Consider how much spectrum would be required for this. Who would pay for
the air time and the ground infrastructure?

Consider how few crashes occur each year for larger aircraft.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

The new VLJ Eclipse 500 will have data link and on-board
data storage for maintenance.



"Bob Noel" wrote in
message
...
| In article , Greg Farris

| wrote:
|
| I like the part about the data being beamed back to the
ground for
| cross-check. I've often wondered why we still use flight
data recorders,
| with short (30min) recording capacity,
|
| because those are the old FDR and CVRs. Newer ones record
more data
| and longer periods. Eventually the old ones will be
replaced.
|
| Note that instrumenting an aircraft, especially a
non-digital aircraft is
| incredibly expensive.
|
| when the data could be compiled
| every minute or so, compressed and sent in packets to a
ground station,
| where it would be easily recoverable.
|
| Consider how much spectrum would be required for this.
Who would pay for
| the air time and the ground infrastructure?
|
| Consider how few crashes occur each year for larger
aircraft.
|
| --
| Bob Noel
| Looking for a sig the
| lawyers will hate
|

If you selected those quotes because they seemed the most amusing or
'far-fetched', then they're actually impressively close to reality.

Well, maybe for the rarified elite who can afford to buy brand new
planes equipped with G1000 glass panels.

For the rest of us, that prediction is still far, far in the future.
And, of course, weather is still the same deal-killer it was in the
50s.

The author was only off by, say, 70 years? :-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"FLAV8R" wrote in message
...
Sounds like the book is reffering more to a GPS than a VOR.
It's almost as if the author of this book knew what lay ahead
as far as computers and GPS with an MFD.

It seems to me that, at the time, for pilots who were used to flying MUCH
more primitively, with A-N radio courses, maybe NDBs, and no radar coverage
most of the time, the advances that brought VORs and near-100% radar
coverage were likely much like to them as GPS is to us.

In another 50 years, when we have navigation that positions airplanes to the
inch and tracks timing to the tenth of a second, we'll be reading
descriptions of GPS and thinking, "gee, it's almost as if the author knew
what lay ahead".

Pete