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required twenty-five years ago. That this situation will not long be tolerated by the public, once it becomes fully aware that a reasonable solution is available, is perfectly clear. Today most of us concentrate our attention on the frustration and ulcer-producing struggle to get from the city center to the increasingly remote airport. But there are other time-consuming factors. How often has each of us sat at or rather near the end of a runway waiting for eight or ten aircraft to take off or land before we got our chance? How often have we circled an airport consuming valuable time, gradually descending to a point where the pilot at last cheerfully announces that "We are next" and "If there is a gate position, we should be unloading shortly".

With this background, it is well nigh impossible to understand how responsible persons in the airline industry can continue simply to ignore the problem or, more accurately, pass it off as being primarily someone else's responsibility. How can the handing of the traveling public and the efficient use of expensive equipment and facilities be left to someone else? It is an occasion for aggressive, imaginative leadership on the part of the Governments, the operators and the manufacturers working together. 

The question I would like to pose today is how does the helicopter fit into this situation? What contribution can it make -- or, maybe, is it already making?