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478 HELICOPTER AIR SERVICE PROGRAM

The reasons for the lack of such a coordinated objective, again, are obvious. First of all, there has been a critical need to provide added runway and airways capacity to accommodate as safely as possible, the rapid growth in the demand for air travel. In this period, the objective has been added capacity rather than the utilization of our total system under conditions of minimum cost.

Secondly, and perhaps more important, is the fact that the development of other components of the system is beyond the control of those responsible for the development of each of its parts. In the case of the aircraft manufacturer, there is a definite limit to the area of his responsibility and control. His responsibility is to produce and sell aircraft that will operate safely and economically and not to attract savings in the construction of airports or the air traffic control system. Even though the aircraft manufacturers might see possibilities of such public savings, there is no assurance that these benefits would be recognized by the purchasers of his products. It has been true in the past that aircraft could be designed and built by manufacturers with a reasonably high degree of confidence that their products could be accommodated by the technical, social and economic environment in which they would operate. Aircraft were relatively slow and few in number so that their accommodation by the airways and by airports was not a problem that need be considered as critical in the design of aircraft.

However, the rapid growth of air travel and dramatic advances in technology, together with the huge investments that are now required to a dd capacity to out air transportation system, has changed this to some extent. 

In the current SST development program problems existing in future relationships between the vehicle and its operating environment must be faced, for the first time, in initial planning stages. The economic penalties of not recognizing these problems will be severe when the operation of 20 million dollar aircraft and an initial investment of billions of dollars are involved. In view of the interrelated technical and economic problems, a coordinated planning approach is essential if substantial losses are to be avoided.

In the case of vertical-life aircraft, there is a similar need for an interrelated planning approach if total economic benefits resulting from their operation are to be recognized fully and if unnecessary investment costs are to be avoided. At a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to provide additional runway capacity in our urban, metropolitan areas, vertical-lift aircraft offer the capability of operating with a minimum of landing and takeoff space. At a time when terminal air space is growing more congested, vertical-lift aircraft offer the possibility of utilizing unused portions of terminal air space. However, the measurement of any public benefits which may be involved in lowered air traffic control or runway requirements are lost in the conventional process of aircraft evaluation and procurement. The development, production and operation of common-carrier aircraft has depended upon sales to the management of individual air carriers and the selection of these aircraft has depended, almost solely, upon their direct economic and operating characteristics. There is no incentive for airline management to give weight, in the choice or equipment, to matters of public investment which are clearly beyond their management control. Management must base its equipment decisions upon questions of aircraft operating cost, upon passenger appeal factors, and upon any other carrier costs which might be attributed to a specific aircraft type.

In the case of fixed-wing aircraft this has made little difference. In the evaluation of vertical-lift aircraft this is not the case as the possibility of indirect public benefits are very definitely involved. For example, the recognition of these indirect benefits might very well indicate the desirability of hastening the development of vertical-lift aircraft as a means of reducing surface and air congestion problems, whereas a comparison of only the direct operating costs of vertical-lift conventional aircraft might not disclose this area of benefit.