HC Deb 04 March 1959 vol 601 cc42-3W
64. Mr. John Hall

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation on what grounds the International Air Transport Association has accepted the United States VOR-DMET air navigation system rather than the British Decca system which is both better and cheaper: and if he will make a statement.

68. Mr. Peel

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether he will make a statement on the results of the Montreal Conference on Air Navigational Aids.

Mr. Hay

The special I.C.A.O. Conference has decided to recommend the adoption of VOR/DMET as a standard short-range navigational aid. The United Kingdom delegation expressly reserved the position of Her Majesty's Government and withdrew its proposal for the adoption of Decca as a protest because in its view the conference had not based its considerations on sound and objective technical grounds.

I fully endorse the action of the delegation. It is essential to the future of safe navigation in the air that I.C.A.O. should establish adequate technical criteria for defining navigational requirements and that a detailed examination should then be made of the extent to which either of the two systems meets those requirements. Neither of these things has been done.

Before VOR/DMET can be accepted as an international standard the recommendations of the special conference must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the Council of I.C.A.O.

Present standards of safety in congested air space cannot be maintained with the use of VOR/DMET without seriously reducing the efficiency of air traffic control. For this reason Her Majesty's Government will continue to press in I.C.A.O for a more satisfactory solution. In the meantime the further development and evaluation of the Mark X Decca system will continue.

We are not aware on what grounds the International Air Transport Association decided to support VOR/DMET. Both B.O.A.C. and B.E.A. expressly and publicly dissociated themselves from this decision.