"METHYLATING?
GOOD CHANCE YOU CAN ENJOY HIGHER YIELDS, LOWER COSTS WITH ANSUL METHYL CHLORIDE. WRITE FOR COMPLETE DATA."
n»: i « t r
Man Aloft At hand this week is a 54-page pamphlet, "Aerospace Highlights" (National Aviation Education Council, 1025 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington 6, D.C., 50 cents), which puts in one plade all types of odd and notso-odd facts about the aviation business. Since the U.S. public racked up more (50.1%) passenger miles in airliners in common carrier intercity travel last year than in trains and buses combined, News-scripts herewith presents a few of these facts for your edification: First, if you picture Europe's big international airports as busy places, retain that picture. But London at 150,000 "plane movements" a year is equaled by Indianapolis. So? So, Indianapolis ranks 57th in the U.S. Paris, with two airports at just over 125,000 movements, is paced by Omaha, 73rd; Zurich at just over 100,000, by Little Rock, 103rd; Rome at nearly 70,000, by St. Joseph, Mo., 167th. According to Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, which provided these data, heavy traffic at small U.S. airports comes from general aviation aircraft, which account for 80% of all U.S. air traffic. A pilot of a supersonic jet may have 140 pounds of equipment strapped to him to keep him alive, what with helmet, G-suit, parachute, flotation gear, and the like. Over on the civilian side of the business, airlines figure each of us at 165 pounds gross in the winter when calculating takeoff weights. This figure goes down 5 pounds in the summer when heavy clothing is packed away. Children under 12 get rated at 80 pounds.
COMING
In case you have been wondering, at cruising speed in a jet airliner you travel over a mile while you inhale and Please. exhale twice. ( E D . NOTE: If there are any mathematicians in the audience who are also experts on breathing and they find that figure wrong, don't write to us; write to the pamphlet's publisher.) The first air cargo was supposedly a 70-pound bolt of silk flown in 1910 to Columbus, Ohio. The department store ordering the silk paid $5000 for it, but wound up with a 20% profit by selling pieces as souvenirs. For the ladies: One airliner tire contains enough nylon to make 60,000 pairs* of hose.
Man Aground America's first concrete road pavement was rededicated last week in Bellefontaine, Ohio. Approximately one block of one of the main, streets, first installed in 1893 and in continuous service since then, was given a major repair job (potholes filled, etc.), and a stone marker with appropriate plaque installed to mark the occasion. The marker will serve as a monument to the Better Roads Movement in the U.S., which also began in 1893. The Bellefontaine Chambers of Commerce, Logan County Historical Society, Portland Cement Association, Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International, Antique Automobile Club of America, and Sports Car Club of America staged the events. The program included exhibits-of paving equipment, a parade, a street dance, and a county-wide contest to select a queen to reign as Miss Concrete Pavement.
NEXT
WEEK
Facts and Figures for the CPI mill
C&EN's annual 70-plus-page wrap-up of the status of the chemical process industries—production of basic chemicals, outlook for its business, financial summary for 130 major firms
ANSUL CHEMICAL COMPANY MARINETTE, WISCONSIN
108
C&EN
AUG.
2 7,
196 2
