Business & Commercial Aviation News From September 1970

NBAA Denver 1970

We in this sizable sector of aviation have to live with downturns that seem to occur in regular 4-5-year cycles to airplane sales, pilot support jobs and flying activity. – BCA Staff

Despite the present doldrums, the long-term picture for business aviation looks good. Its vicissitudes and attritions notwithstanding, business aviation is surviving after years of healthy growth.

Either in spite of or because of the most serious recession in the last two decades of general aviation, this year’s convention will have the largest number of exhibitors and most exhibits in the convention’s 23-year history.

FalconWho Knew — that you could rent a Falcon, by the mile, by the hour, by the month or buy the plane? (and save over $60,000 in the deal).

Pilots are being hired by Delta and Eastern airlines, while 1,200 pilots and flight engineers from other major U.S. carriers remain furloughed.

Hoover’s Yellow Mustang blew up in a ramp accident at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The accident, which is believed to have totaled the airplane, occurred while Hoover was at a motel in town. The plane was being serviced with oxygen when the bottle exploded. No one was hurt.

The general aviation industry used 20 million lb. of aluminum in 1969, according to the Reynolds Aluminum Co. The metal was in the form of sheet, plate and various extrusions.

Go Fly a Kite but don’t break any FARs. The FAA has adopted new rules that prohibit all kites and balloons (any size) from being operated in a manner that creates a hazard to people, property or other aircraft. Formerly, the FAA claimed authority only over kites weighing more than 5 lb. and flown at the end of a rope or cable or moored balloons exceeding 6 ft. in diameter. 

An FAA study has uncovered a direct relationship between faulty preflight procedures and accidents. The FAA says they were a major cause of accidents in 1968 (survey year) — 619 accidents of which 84 involved fatalities.

BCA September 1970 Cover
Russia's Yak-40 didn’t make it to the Abbotsford Airshow in British Columbia as planned, thus disappointing a BCA flight crew who were promised sufficient time at the controls for a thorough evaluation. Though slow and short-legged for a bizjet, the three-turbofan, 30,000-lb. transport has some highly interesting features, such as a Gulfstream II-sized cabin and a price of $775,000. TWA Capt. Barry Schiff took the photo.
GE ad 1970
High flying answers came from GECC which was  asking readers to join the team at the NBAA convention in Denver to talk about leasing plans. 

 

Jessica A. Salerno

Jessica is Executive Editor of Business & Commercial Aviation magazine. She started as Editor of ShowNews Online, Aviation Week's on-site trade show daily published at the Paris Air Show, NBAA Annual Convention, Singapore Air Show and at other significant aerospace gatherings.