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158          HELICOPTER AIR SERVICE PROGRAM
POINTING THE WAY

1. "The big advance in the future will be traveling short distances in vertical takeoff and landing aircraft" (Senator Monroney, 1963).
2. The need today is "to review, study, and investigate the entire scope of commercial helicopter development" (S. Tipton, president ATA, 1964).
3. "The operations are necessary and vital to the transportation system of the United States and the public. * * * We must fit helicopters into our transportation system, no matter what anyone things" (Senator Magnuson, 1964).

CONCLUSIONS

Helicopter experiment creative and successful.
Helicopter airlines close to economic self-sufficiency.
Public convenience and necessity safeguarded for future against growing congestion and delays.
Experiment is laying foundations for high-speed, short-haul airline service-
1. Between airports multiplying around key metropolitan areas.
2. From airports to downtwon.
3. From city center to city center.
4. As essential link feeding large subsonic and supersonic airline systems.

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APPENDIX B
LOS ANGELES AIRWAYS, INC., TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE DATA 
INTRODUCTION

During 1964, the second full calendar year of S-61 scheduled service, LAA flew a total of 814,120 revenue-miles (including 63,097 S-55 revenue-miles) and carried 200,699 revenue-passengers. This second year figure compares with a passenger count of 41,500 only 3 years before. It is obvious that the passenger acceptance of the S-61 is excellent.

In 1964, the 741,598 S-61 scheduled revenue-miles generated 1,826,149 available ton-miles, producing a total of 842,174 revenue-ton miles. This resulted in an overall load factor of 46.1 percent. The S-61 passenger load factor was 47.7 percent. In addition to the approximately 200,000 passengers, a total of 2,641,732 pounds of air express and 4,674,427 pounds of mail were carried during the year, for a total load factor of 46.2 percent. 

In 1964 four S-61's flew a total of 7,005 revenue-hours, for an average daily utilization of 4.47 hours. With cruising speed of 135 miles per hour, the block speed averaged about 107 miles per hour.

INTERRUPTION OF PERFORMANCE

During 1964, 24,202 trips were scheduled, of which 22,475 were flown. Of those canceled, 143 were due to mechanical reasons. One thousand three hundred seventy-nine flights were canceled due to weather below operating minimums, representing 5.7 percent of flights scheduled. The overall completion factor in 1964 was 92.9 percent.

INSTRUMENT FLIGHT OPERATIONS

It has been obvious for some years that scheduled transport helicopter operations would not approach fulfillment until IRF operations became feasible. The 6 percent weather cancellations reflect far more seriously upon public confidence than this percentage might indicate for during bad weather periods potential passengers tend to avoid making reservations. We need most of all to provide 100 percent integrity with fixed-wing airline schedule connections.

The most intensive efforts have been devoted during the past year to implement instrument flight operations at LAA. The LAA S-61 aircraft was approved for instrument operation on October 6, 1964, and was the first commercial transport category helicopter to receive a type certificate for instrument operations.

Since then, pilots have been trained, and LAA is currently awaiting FAA approval to commence scheduled instrument operations. This approval is expected within the next few days. The basic instrument program is based on the