I thought it might have been Ray Hanna (died even more recently), given the accuracy needed, but then thought he might not have been quite that reckless. I was chatting to some of the Spitfire pilots at Duxford a while ago, but completely forgot to ask them about the clip.
I don't like to boast (that's a lie!) but that author was a regular visitor to my house.
Just as a minor point of accuracy, the rules changed last year and are now: (2) The low flying prohibitions
(a) Failure of power unit
An aircraft shall not be flown below such height as would enable it, in the event of a power unit failure, to make an emergency landing without causing danger to persons or property on the surface.
(b) The 500 feet rule
Except with the permission in writing of the CAA, an aircraft shall not be flown closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle or structure.
(c) The 1,000 feet rule
Except with the permission in writing of the CAA, an aircraft flying over a congested area of a city town or settlement shall not fly below a height of 1,000 feet above the highest fixed obstacle within a horizontal radius of 600 metres of the aircraft.
(d) The land clear rule
An aircraft flying over a congested area of a city town or settlement shall not fly below such height as will permit, in the event of a power unit failure, the aircraft to land clear of the congested area.
(e) Flying over open air assemblies
Except with the permission in writing of the CAA, an aircraft shall not fly over an organised open-air assembly of more than
1,000 persons below -(i) a height of 1,000 feet, or
(ii) such height as will permit, in the event of a power unit failure, the aircraft to alight clear of the assembly,
whichever is the higher.
(f) Landing and taking off near open air assemblies
An aircraft shall not land or take-off within 1,000 metres of an organised open-air assembly of more than 1,000 persons, except -
(i) at an aerodrome, in accordance with procedures notified by the CAA, or
(ii) at a landing site other than an aerodrome, in accordance with procedures notified by the CAA and with the written permission of the organiser of the assembly.
Dave
Ended up with the Council eh?
All the regulations in the world doesn't mean that no-one is ever going to break them.
cf road speed restrictions.
Mary
My mistake - it was indeed Ray Hanna.
Was he? Were you in residence? He died about '63 I think. I'm impressed.
Slide Rule is a brilliant book, especially the 100 or so pages about the R100, a sad record of ignorant politicians destroying a technically sucessful project. I've got most of his novels, Requiem for a Wren must be one of his best. And Trustee from the Toolroom.
There's a very interesting website on the Comet crashes, I'll find a link if it's of interest.
So am I! If we're talking about Neville Shute ...
Mary
I was. Just got one of the many dog-eared paperbacks off the shelf to read the 'Also by' list. Round the Bend - my favourite. So Disdained, Ruined City are excellent. Why haven't more of them been made into films?
Don't ask me. I'm not a film maker.
No Highway and Ruined City are mine.
Mary
>
Compared to a Boeing 707, it is tiny. To a Hawk trainer, it is big :-)
Dave
All my favourites. Although I get very emotional at the end of Ruined City!
I read my first Nevil Shute book in about 1963. That was after hearing the Chequer Board as a Sunday afternoon radio play. I have them all.
No, Nevil Shute (or Norway in real life).
The message from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:
First published in 1948. Would that be before the Comet disasters?
In article , Aidan writes
I suspect that they are viewed as being dated by current standards, and so not marketable.
Adrian
Yes, first Comet crash was January 1954 (I had to look that up). Shute (Norway) had been the chief calculator, working for Barnes Wallis, on R100 so was aware of stress problems.
He was later MD of aircraft builders Airspeed, but got sacked when he had managed to grow company beyond his limited managerial abilities. Airspeed built the Horsa glider during WW2. Shute did some secret projects for the Navy in WW2, mostly on PLUTO, I believe. It seems strange that he wasn't dragged back into aircraft production.
Best played at full chat through a subwoofer ;)
P.
to my house.
I'm afraid not. The house I've owned and lived in for the past 37 years was built (for himself) by Sydney Hansel, who started as an architect then became an aviation pioneer. He learned to fly in the USA then came to England and became a designer and test pilot at the Airspeed factory in Portsmouth, which was part-owned and managed by Nevil Shute Norway. Sydney died in 2004 aged 100; he told me that Nevil was a regular visitor to my house. He also played host to Amy Johnson, Johnny Kent and Sir Dennistoun Burney.
Nevil Shute lived in a house by the bridge to Hayling Island. Where Portsmouth airport used to be is now a trading estate and has roads named Norway Road and Nevil Shute Road.
In message , snipped-for-privacy@technologist.com writes
Wonderful! It still won't replace the Real Thing though. A friend of mine had occasion to drive his van onto the airfield during an air show, and stopped near the edge of the runway where the Vulcan was about to take off. As the pilot opened the throttles, the van shook so much the engine stopped.
Shortly after I flew in it (first flight in my life). I was pretty young at the time and my main memory is of the Captain coming into the cabin and saying "Look, ladies and gentlemen" while balancing a pencil on its end on a table. I'm afraid my reaction was "Well, I can do *that*". My next flight was in a Viking ...
Agree about Shute. Great author.
Douglas de Lacey
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