Be sure to check out new pages added, both are under construction. If you have anything to submit, I would be more than happy to post it to share with all.
Happy Landings, Mike Minear In a message dated 2/11/2012 12:54:03 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: I can just barely remember that effort of Sikorsky. I wonder, if that had caught on if LAX would have been able to handle all the helicopter traffic it would have brought, whether the would have needed a larger model for the actual LAX flights. My theory was that initially the skycrane would have been fine for that segment but too large for the initial runs to the central collection point. It is nice to see the present huge success the use on Union Station has been.
BREAKING THE "GROUND BARRIER"
An unfortunate fact of air travel in the jet age is that in too many cases it takes the passenger longer to get to and from the airport than to fly to his destination. In Los Angeles, this problem is compounded by the sprawling nature of the metropolitan area served by LAX. The Department of Airports has been engaged for more than four years in preliminary studies on how to break this "ground barrier," which obviously cannot be done through use of overcrowded surface streets, or even added freeways. The plan focuses on a downtown terminal, possibly Union Station, where passengers check in and are taken to LAX by high speed carriers. Under current consideration is "Skylounge," a radical new helicopter-bus system which employs detachable lounges capable of picking up passengers at various locations and transporting them to the central pick-up point, either the downtown terminal, or other area centers. It then changes its mode from a ground vehicle to a helicopter-transportable lounge, which is flown to LAX. It is estimated that this form of passenger transportation could reduce travel time from one hour to approximately ten minutes between outlying areas and the airport. Because this new system, an adaptation of Sikorsky's Sky Crane, is applicable to any major metropolitan area in the nation, the city received a $490,112 feasibility study grant for it from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in April 1966. Joining with the Department of Airports in this study are Systems Development Corporation, Santa Monica, project manager; The Budd Company, Philadelphia, passenger lounge and ground powered vehicle; Los Angeles Airways, flight operations; AirporTransit, Los Angeles, ground operations; Sikorsky Aircraft Division, United Aircraft Company, Hartford, helicopter and airborne power unit; and William L. Pereira and Associates, architectural and engineering services. The downtown terminal, with its existing buildings and trackage, offers other possibilities in addition to the heliport planned. By the 1970's and '80s, an elevated V/STOL runway (for vertical/short takeoff and landing aircraft) could accommodate shuttle flights between LAX and city centerterminals of outlying communities. Such a development would make this downtown terminal the first of a series of such "inner-ring" metro-ports serving urban centers. A map of the possible satellite system is on the opposite page. Another form of transport from downtown terminal to airport would be Skyrail, an elevated high speed railway, designed to follow existing railroad rights of way. It is no longer a question of which idea is best. The Department feels that all of these methods, V/STOL, Skylounge and Skyrail, will comprise a commuter network, tied in with the outlying system of satellite airports. Such a network of local service vehicles is a necessity if global transportation is to fulfill its promise to civilization. Check out long lost video converted from 16mm film of S-61 Inugural found on Video Tab. LINK
Welcome to "L A Airways" new website. This site is being created for the enjoyment of previous employees, family and friends of the "World's First Helicopter Airline" Los Angeles Airways. This is a work in progress and any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Please send anything you would like posted via e-mail or via U.S. Postal service. ( I will scan it, post it and return it with haste) If any of you would like to help edit and maintain this site let me know and I will set permissions to allow it. Take time now to tour the site, On the Photos tab you will find sections on: Helicopters Heliports LAX People The Video Tab will list Available DVD's available @ $5.00 per copy donations to help maintain this site along with some you can play. History of LA Airways by Mike Minear LAX #1 Opportunity Market S-51 Instrument Flying, great shots of Kess! On the Media Tab you will find PDF's and Audio Clips of various news releases. You can listen to Clarence Belinn and Igor Sikorsky. Check out 50 Th Reunion Tab! Click on picture to start slide show, I have numbered photos so if you have suggestions for captions send the # and help me correctly identify everyone Memorabilia Lots to look at here, send me more! Stories, I have some posted, send me more... Check out Links in Blog Side Bar, just click on title. Let me know if you know of more. Please vist us often and check out mobile page on your smart phone. The more you visit, the better our chance of Google picking us up on their search engines. Mike Minear [email protected]
Start blogging by creating a new post. You can edit or delete me by clicking under the comments. You can also customize your sidebar by dragging in elements from the top bar.
|