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HELICOPTER AIR SERVICE PROGRAM 475

"The usual life of large air terminals could be considerably prolonged by eliminating or transferring that portion of local or short-range traffic which can be handled by helicopters or small transports equipped with BLC for short landings and take-offs. Runways parallel to the principle runways, but not over 2000 feet long, could be provided on many large airports, or the short-range traffic could be permanently diverted to another airport with connection for through passengers by helicopter or bus.

"Airport costs have risen to astronomical figures even though airports have been forced to move further away from large cities because of high land values and the interference of traffic patterns with congested residential areas. Heliports can be built for a fraction of the airport cost, even including lighting, radio equipment, and passenger-freight terminal facilities.

[[underlined]] "Air Traffic Control & Navigational Aids. [[/underlined]]

"The congestion of air traffic in our major terminal areas constitutes one of the critical areas in air transport today. A great deal of effort is being put into more advanced equipment for use by controllers, including the development of electronic devices, in place of manual, for selecting and advising aircraft in the area of their power routing and arrival time at the "gate" to the airport. High speed transports require large "blocks" of air space to be assigned in order to keep clear of possible collisions with other aircraft. Slow landing aircraft can relieve this situation considerably by permitting ATC to assign smaller "blocks" based on their lower controllable approach speeds, and turn off the runway sooner, thereby permitting a higher acceptance rate for the airport. Helicopters and convertiplanes, because of their low operating altitudes and special flight paths, would not fit in the normal traffic pattern, but would cross under it and land a safe distance from the runway, taxiing as little as possible to the unloading area.

"Outside of congested terminal areas, the helicopter can probably fly at will without reference to ATC during VFR conditions, providing it stays below assigned altitudes for fixed wing aircraft, and keeps a lookout for other helicopter and private planes."[[subscript]] 1 [[/subscript]]

What was true in 1955 is true even more today. Air traffic has grown and, as a result there is even more air traffic congestion. Increased investments have been made in the nation's air traffic control system and in our airports to accommodate the growth of air traffic; continuing investments must be made to accommodate future growth.

Public expenditures in 1962 are estimated as follows:

[[underlined]] Federal [[/underlined]]
Airways $613,266,00
Airports Grants-In-Aid 75,000,000
[[underlined]] State and Local [[/underlined]]
Airports 342,000,000

[[subscript]] 1 [[/subscript]] [[underlined]] Safety Through Steep Gradient Aircraft[[/underlined]], Woodham and Lederer, Cornell-Guggenheim Aviation Safety Center, May 1955.

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