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HELICOPTER AIR SERVICE PROGRAM     65

  Another need is to provide transport services to tourists. A third requirement is to help transport some of the key persons in the country, be they governmental leaders, doctors, or technicians.
  Clearly, in view of the extent of AID's interest in and investment in transport assistance programs, any technological development which improves one of the modes of transport, or any vehicle, is of considerable interest to AID.
  To date, AID has made little use of the helicopter in its assistance programs. We have already alluded to one of the reasons-that is, that frequently the problem is to transport large quantities of agricultural products or the output of mines from the place from which they are exported. The helicopter is not well suited for such purpose.
  There are other reasons, however, why it has been difficult to use the helicopter in developing countries.
  First, the helicopter is a complicated machine to operate, more complicated than fixed-wing aircraft. It is also a complicated machine to maintain; thus, it runs squarely into a chronic problem in developing countries: the shortage of technically oriented personnel to operate and maintain modern equipment.
  Furthermore, the cost of a helicopter is generally greater than that of fixed-wing aircraft capable of carrying more or less the same load.
  For example, a recent study shows that over a 100-mile range, the four types of aircraft which predominate in a short-range service in the United States have a direct operating cost of 1.96 cents per available-seat mile.
  The Sikorsky S-61, the most widely used commercial transport helicopter, has a comparable direct operating cost per available-seat mile of 6.5 cents.
  While the cost of the fixed-wing aircraft drops as the distance increase (1.65 cents at 200 miles) the S-61's cost increases (7.7 cents at 200 miles).
  The direct maintenance cost and maintenance burdens on transport helicopters are generally higher than the total direct operating costs of comparable size fixed-wing aircraft.
  AID has considered its initial interest in air transport to be that of making developing countries accessible to each other and to the world. We have spent over $100 million for air capacity and accessibility in developing countries.
  To date, this has been largely used in construction of larger airports, provision of equipment for airports and airways, the training of air and traffic control personnel and the development of legislation and governmental staffs to control air development.
  This was necessary, if these countries are to be in touch with the rest of the world, if they are to know what the rest of the world is like, and if they are to be visited by businessmen and government officials from the rest of the world.
  Now that the task of bringing these countries into contact with the West by air has been achieved, we are devoting more attention to domestic air transport.
  In doing this we believe the developing countries will continue to use the relatively small fixed-wing planes which can operate in the neighborhood of 3 cents per available-seat-mile, or if only half occupied at 5 cents per occupied-seat-mile.