FROM THE ROCKING CHAIR Full cycle Our resident Old Git, Ian Frow, on the brothers Wright and workers’ rights Orville and Wilbur Wright were successful bicycle makers and skilled engineers. The profits from their shop financed their passion for achieving powered flight. The total development cost was around $1,000 for that first flight in 1903. One of their competitors, Samuel Langley, effectively financed by the state through the Smithsonian, spent $70,000 and failed. He avoided flying his odd construction himself: remarkably wise, since his test pilot nearly drowned on its first manned launch – and crash. Cycling was a rapidly expanding business in the early 1900s, and it continued to expand until the motor car became affordable and available, initially in the 1930s and then again after the war in the 1960s and 1970s. (At the same time, cycling became the province of the poor and the mildly eccentric, such as OG.) Today, it is again wildly fashionable, while all forms of motor transport, apart from electric, are under a cloud. Commercial aviation, which grew out of the Wrights’ great project, sits under an even bigger cloud (hopefully temporary). How the wheels of progress do turn. Here is a debating point: what would Wilbur and Orville be building today – bicycles or aeroplanes? And does anyone still own an original Wright-built bicycle? Full cycle 2 As the great Industrial Revolution developed, it dragged in country-dwellers to work in the ever-expanding factories and mills in the cities. With honourable – often Quaker – exceptions, the owners were both driven and somewhat careless of their staff’s welfare. With the advent of the trade unions, workers’ rights and conditions steadily improved. During the 20th century, the improvements were generally substantial, although early commercial aviators had to fight for their right salary scales and safety standards. When government-owned airlines were in the ascendant in the 1950s and 1960s, they made no money, but their staff were generally well cared for. Recent events in aviation raise concerns that the cycle has turned again, with some of those 18th and 19th century industrialists reincarnated as airline executives. What would Wilbur and Orville Wright be building today – bicycles or aeroplanes? A disagreement of experts Before he became boss of the Football Association and went on to ever-greater fame in sports administration, Denis Follows was General Secretary of BALPA. One day, he was heard to mutter: “Put 10 pilots in a room and ask their opinion, and you will get 15 different answers – and then one of the *******s will change his mind.” The arrival of COVID-19 has been a field day for ‘experts’: statisticians, virologists, epidemiologists, behavioural psychologists, and just about any ‘ologist’ that ever existed – perhaps apart from a gynaecologist. That Follows’ comment is as pertinent as ever when referring to the current ever-expanding collection of ‘experts’. These ‘experts’ devise the rules by which the general population is meant to behave. But if they cannot agree with each other and write plain English, what hope is there for the rest of us? Rules and obedience A prime principle of aviation is ‘always comply with the checklist/QRH’. However, back in the 1950s, checklists and written emergency procedures were quite a novelty. There was one hoary old captain who used to recite: “Rules are for the guidance of the wise and the blind obedience of fools.” And, even in modern aviation, that can – very rarely – still be true. The Qantas A380 engine failure event in Singapore was solved by the crew ignoring the automated rules and instructions being blasted at them. The same applied to the US Airways flight that ditched in the Hudson River in 2009. Somehow, in aviation, in life in general and in the battle against coronavirus, surely there is a place for some of that rare commodity – enlightened common sense? For want of a definition Here is a quiz question: what does ‘ppm’ stand for? Ignorance of its meaning nearly caused a disaster. The inside of an aircraft’s fuel tanks is a happy breeding ground for all sorts of interesting growths that are controlled during routine servicing by adding a carefully calibrated quantity of ‘biocide’, defined in ‘ppm’, into the tanks. This procedure was unfamiliar to an engineer on a night shift and, working through his checklist, he puzzled about the meaning of ‘ppm’ in the instructions. Somehow, the internet’s definition led to him adding 37 times the recommended dose to the aircraft tanks. There were difficulties starting the engines on two of the first three sectors following the maintenance. Troubleshooting procedures were carried out without identifying the problem. Around midnight on a January day, after more starting problems, the aircraft set off on a short positioning flight. At 500 feet, number one engine began “banging and surging” with the aircraft “yawing and fishtailing ... all over the place”. The cabin crew reported tail pipe flames. Having declared a mayday, the crew turned back, and shortly afterwards the number two engine indications began to fluctuate. Surely there is a place for some of that rare commodity – enlightened common sense By carefully nursing both engines, the crew landed safely. The pictures of the engine combustion chambers are interesting. Aviation is cursed with abbreviations, and maybe all us clever pilots and ex-pilots know what ppm stands for (parts per million). But does everybody know the meaning of every aviation abbreviation? Drone on The monthly AAIB* bulletin makes for interesting Rocking Chair reading during lockdown. For some months now, there has been an expanding section dealing with drone accidents and incidents. This tends to convince a sceptical Rocking Chair pilot that these devices have some way to go to match manned aviation safety standards. Undaunted by the statistics, a Chinese company has now flown an ‘autonomous passenger drone EHang216’ over Yantai City. Maybe the AAIB should send more monthly bulletins to China? *Air Accident Investigation Board The Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA, recognising perhaps the most influential bicycle makers in history OPINION