Aviation: Safer Skies

Two of aviation’s greatest hazards are pilot error and fire. Last week two potent weapons were introduced that should lessen these hazards and make the skies safer. At Dayton, Air Force researchers demonstrated a material that they say will greatly reduce explosions and fires in airplane fuel tanks. And in Manhattan, American Airlines an nounced development of a Big Brother device that will watch nearly every move a pilot makes during flight, spot his errors and provide information to help him correct them before they cause any real difficulties.

The Air Force contribution to aviation safety is a polyurethane foam that is stuffed into aircraft fuel tanks.

Although the spongelike material fills the tank, it soaks up the fuel and capaci ty is not significantly reduced. The or ange polyurethane, by containing the fuel and its vapor, reduces the possibility of explosion or fire when the tank is hit by a bullet or ruptures during a crash. At the Air Force demonstration, a bullet fired into a fuel-and-foam-filled tank produced only a slight glow as fuel vapor escaping from the pressurized tank ignited outside. Foam has been successfully used for nine months in the tanks of HH-3E helicopters and other aircraft operating in Viet Nam, the Air Force disclosed, and the Federal Aviation Administration is now investigating the substance for possible use in commercial aircraft.

Supervising the Pilot. In Manhattan, American Airlines disclosed that Astrolog recorders would soon be installed on 20 of its BAC-111 jets. Converting electrical impulses from transducers at tached to the plane’s instruments and equipment into 0-to 5-volt signals, Astrolog will record them on a tape that will be fed into a computer. From the data, the computer will define such indi cations of pilot performance as bank angles, speed in turbulence, sink rate and even use of the public-address sys tem. It will also spot any unsafe maneuvers or actions and print out “exception reports” that the airline will use to help the pilot correct his techniques.

“In effect,” said an airline official, “the device will put a supervisory pilot on every flight.”

American is also installing Astrolog maintenance recorders, which the crew can switch on to take complete readings on engine-performance facts from rotor speed to fuel flow at any time during the flight. At the end of each flying day, the taped engine data will be sent over telephone wires to American’s maintenance center in Tulsa, Okla.

where a computer will print out a daily report on the engine’s condition. Thus Astrolog will spot engine problems be fore they become serious and will probably reduce the number of routine en gine inspections now required.