Volume 16 No 1 Feb 1965.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

BRITISH GLIDING ASSOCIATION NEWSCHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICERROM 1st December, 1964, Mr. R. C.F Stafford-AlIen is appointed ChiefTechnical Officer to the British GlidingAss()(;iation. This will be a full-time appointmentand Mr. Stafford-AlIen willbe responsible to the Council of theB.G.A. via the Chairman of the TechnicalCommittee. He will be based onthe B.G.A. office, but a certain pro'portionof his time will be spent visitingClubs and Inspectors.The Chief Technical Officer's dutieswill comprise examining applicants forInspection Approval, organising trainingcourses for Inspectors, advising andhelping Clubs on workshop organisationand other technical matters; includingthe tr,aining of ground engineers. anddealing with technical queries and Certificateof Airworthiness renewals in theoffice. Matters which involve policy de·cisions or specific approval on the basisof design calculations will generally continueto be referred to the TechnicalCommittee.In general, Mr. Stafford-AlIen will notbe available to carry out routine C. of A.renewal inspections or ten-year inspectionson specific aircraft, but it may bepossible occasionally to combine suchinspections with visits to Clubs for otherpurposes, and he will be available togive advice on unusual problems.No charge will be made for visits bythe Chief Technical Officer other thanthe normal application fee for InspectionApproval, where applicable. In this way,we hope to encourage Clubs to availthemselves of his services.Applications for visits by the ChiefTechnical Officer should be made inwriting or telephoning the B.G.A. office.F. G. IRV1NG. Chairman.B.GA. Technical CommitteeB.G.A. ANNUAL GEN'ERALMEETINGTHE Annual General Meeting of theBritish Gliding Association will beheld at 10.30 a.m. on Saturday, 27thMarch, 1965, at the Roderick Hall,Imperial College, $cuth Kensington,London, S.W.7.IT'S ON 27th MARCHTHIS YEAR!F you ~re normally a solitary person,I but thmk that you might like to beone of a crowd on Saturday, 27th March;why not spend 35s. and come to thisye.ar's ~.G.A. ~ll? Alternatively, youmight. hke to bn~g your crowd with youto enJoy what Will be THE most splendidgliding event of the year.The Ball is to be held in one of thenew HaIls of Residence in Imperial College.Prince's Gardens, London, S.W.7,and those who were there last year willremember what a superb evening it was.A mouth-watering menu has been selectedand drinks at the tables and thebars will again be very reasonablypriced. After the dinner, the AnnualAwards will be presented, and this willb~ followed by dancing and a cabaret.Tickets at 35s. each are selling fast, andas the numbers are limited, you wouldb~ wise to make sure of yours MW.Either purchase them from the ticketseller at your club. or else send cash withorder to the B.G.A., Artillery Mansions75 Victoria Street, London, S.W.I. •To possess a ticket to the B.G.A. Ballis to be sure of a first-class dinner; firstclassmusic for dancing or listening to,and first-class company. (Thinks: Can Iafford to miss it?)RADAR REFLECTIVITY OFGLJDERSHE Ministry of Aviation policy forT the future of Air Traffic Control inU.K. depends basically on the use ofradar to keep a current real-time pictureo~ the air traffic situation; computerswJll th~n be used to l'redict cases whereseparauon standards will be infringed.Initially such a system will be used incontroUed airspace and upper airspace,but ultimately it is possible that thesystem might be: extended to cover allairspace down to 5,000 ft. No time-scalehas been giVen for. this system to comeinto being, but clearly many years mustpass, and so far even the initial stepshave yet to be taken.From the point of view of gliding,45