Women in Aviation
It is still considered, even in 1954, a matter of some moment for a woman to be closely concerned with aviation. I know only to well the astonishment which is aroused when I present myself at a Royal Air Force station and indicate that, as a journalist, I am prepared to fly in a military aircraft. A woman can, without causing comment, have herself conveyed from place to place in an airliner, but as soon as she achieves some professional status in aviation she is likely to find herself as highlighted and exposed as an actress visiting a meat market.
African Flights
West African Airways experienced a remarkable response to a recent offer of 5s pleasure flights in a Bristol Freighter from Accra. Africans travelled up to 100 miles for a flight, and police had to be called to control the crowds. The Freighter made 20 flights, carrying 800 passengers.
Vietnam Crash
Bristol 170 F-VNAI of Air Vietnam was destroyed on August 16th while making a charter flight for the French Union Forces from the Red River delta to Saigon. The aircraft is reported to have fallen into a tributary of the river. Of the 51 passengers, 46 lost their lives; three of the crew survived.
Safer in the Air
Recent propaganda in connection with accidents on British roads has suggested that haste rather than speed leads to accidents. This is also very true of aviation. Airline operations are at their safest when a strict, unhurried, carefully worded-out routine is followed. There is little doubt that the latest faster and more powerful airlines are safer in the air than their predecessors. The fact that a flight of a jet airliner must be worked out to then smallest detail in advance, and its speed, height and position kept precisely to the figures planned, decreases the risk of collisions.
Source: Flight International
