§ 19. Mr. A. Royleasked the President of the Board of Trade what action has been taken to introduce better fog landing aids for use during the coming winter at airports throughout the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. MasonInstrument landing systems enabling aircraft to land in conditions of poor visibility and low cloud base are already installed at the following United Kingdom civil airports: London (Heathrow), London (Gatwick), Stansted, Prestwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Belfast, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Stornoway, Bournemouth and Middleton St. George. The performance of these systems is regularly checked and where possible is being improved to enable landings to take place in more critical conditions.
In addition a programme to install higher performance equipments at a large number of airports has been embarked upon. The first step includes the ordering of equipments of advanced design for London (Heathrow), to be delivered in 1967, which will in due course enable autolanding to be achieved.
§ Mr. RoyleI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his reply. Is there any chance of hurrying up delivery of this new equipment, and does it include transmissometers, which I gather are being used on many airports overseas?
§ Mr. MasonI do not think that we can possibly get the equipment which we require before the delivery date of early 1967. We have in mind installing similar equipment in Birmingham and Stansted so that technical evaluations can also take place.
§ Mr. RankinIs it not the case that aircraft which use this landing system must carry the proper equipment to use it? How many aircraft still lack it?