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HELICOPTER AIR SERVICE PROGRAM                          77

Recent developments toward more economic helicopter operations are to a significant degree directly attributable to the lessons learned from the federally aided helicopter carriers' actual experience. These include constant improvement in the efficient operating and maintenance techniques. Such developments, together with the carriers' authorization to operate under instrument conditions——thereby improving scheduling and vehicle utilization——have in turn greatly decreased the operating expenses of the carriers. Comparing present costs per passenger mile with those of 1957, operating expenses have been reduced 58.9 percent and subsidy 72.5 percent.

It appears to us that the carriers now have a firm foundation of which to build economic and efficient operations and that we are on the verge of adding a self-supporting new increment to our national transportation system. Achievement of this goal, however, will be seriously jeopardized should Federal subsidy be terminated prematurely.

We do not address ourselves to the question of how much, or for how long, subsidy is required. That decision involves many elements which go beyond our appropriate province. However, estimates from authoritative sources indicate the amount needed is not large and that it will continue to decline each year. In our view, it is in the national interest to grant it.

The support of Congress has been and continues to be a decisive factor in all transportation progress. There is not a single element in our transportation network today which has not at some time been subsidized. But as equipment improves and commercial operations win increasing public support, the rate of subsidy diminishes until it is no longer necessary. This has been the case in earlier forms of transportation; it should also prove to be the case in helicopter operations.

The helicopter is but one of the several forms of modern transportation which must be considered for potential, as well as present, utility. The transportation problems which this country now faces will increase significantly in the years ahead. The demands generated by the present rate of population growth and accelerated urbanization mean that a farsighted and comprehensive transportation system must be promoted as a primary national goal.

Recognizing this, President Johnson has specifically identified improved means of transportation as a critical national need and is recommending to the Congress an enlarged program of research and demonstration projects. The aerospace industry inevitably will be charged with a vital role in this joint Government-industry effort to explore various possibilities which will contribute to the fulfillment of the Nation's overall transportation needs. In this context, we feel that termination of the helicopter experiment for the want of relatively small sums of subsidy would represent a major step in a direction opposite to those other Government-industry efforts.

In the field of transportation, there are many exciting programs and projects in the research and development stage which hold considerable promise, but most are still years away from operational use. This is not true in the case of the helicopter, which has already begun to demonstrate its great potential. It is a means of transportation which will not only help alleviate urban congestion but which is more