Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-11-11

81 want to see the lounges get good, ralr,
economic try The engineers Ammann & Whitney,
who worked with MFR. Saarinen) got the airlines
support before they took the lounge idea to FAA
so we shouldn't grippe now"
Diminishing Cost
As for the cost, 1.-THE prototypes always cost
more" said Bernard T. Robb in charge Of mobile
lounge operations for FAA Look at your bal-point
pen. The prototype cost 50 million. You paid 20
cents"
Since the days of the grass-strip runway with a
gasoline pump and passenger shed at one end, air
ports have grown into small cities with traffic prob
lens as har-rasng those you'll find at Seventeenth
street and Constitution avenue at Sis pm.
For safety planes must land good distance
away from crowded terminals At all metropolitan
airports planes taxi up to the terminal buildings,
which have grown longer as more planes use them.
In an effort to crowd more persons into existing
airport space terminal buildings have sprouted costly
fingers" which reach out to meet planes, grab
passengers and give them long hike.
Seattle-Tacoma Airport and others have attempted
to solve this intra-arport transportation with
covered passageway that simultaneously hooks onto
both plane and terminal Dallas Airport has hori-
zontal escalator. But both these solutions require
the plane to taxi close to the terminal.
Dulles dramatically reverses these trends
On the runway side of the relatively small terminal
building, "a docks hold the lounges, which, mated
with the terminal look like waiting rooms.
The lounges drive out to the waiting planes over
CW0-ane
for baggage trucks.
This ground transportation system has its own
radio control tower. Thus there's little likelihood OF
passengers or baggage colliding with planes taxing
in to pick up cargo And airlines save as mucn as
$50 per trip costs by parking near the runway
Dowdy Anticlimux
The idea of transporting passengers and cargo to
planes is not new. In Europe, small buses scuttle
from plane to terminal but this has been described
as a "dowdy anticmax" to Jet flight
When authorities were studying plans for Idle
wild Airport New York City Art Commissioner William
Delano suggested motorized transportation from
terminal to plane. His suggestion was thought TOO
radical And Engineer E. W. Fuller had suggested
a mobile gate house" to the Society OF Automotive
Engineers prior to 1852.
~ Architect Saarinen trying to find better method
of airport transportation, bought stop watches ana
counters and sent men to several arports to clock
passengers travel time between flights.
For the 1858 commercial plane passenger, the
average hike from ticket counter to plane was about
us of mile Passengers transferring from Con-
tnental to American at Chicagos new OHare jet air
field must walk 9/lO OF mile from arrival to de-
sparture points
from terminal ticket counter to mobile lounge The
lounge built by Chrysler will carry total OF 80 pas
sengers-71 persons seated in charcoal gray chairs
plus 19 standing red carpets.
@ The largest piece OF automotve equipment ever
long more than third the length OF the l3O-toot
jets it will service.
The mobile lounge ramp hooks up with most types
of jet aircraft in existence the drawing boards
But the ramp will not tilt down far enough to hook
into the French-made Caravelle. This Jet unloaos us
passengers from near the tall.
b Should Caravelle land at Dulles its passengers
would enter the mobile lounge from service door,
which opens Just under the lounge ramp.
The prototype lounge has undergone 5000 hours
OF testing at Dulles during the last IA months.
q This mechanical monster Is feet wide, can be
driven from either end It's operator sits in glass
cage that has vision At l75 feet his seat
is almost as far off the ground as DC-S cockpit.
No Bounce
The lounge is powered by a 172 horsepower engine
at each end, and has maximum speed OF 20 miles
per hour. The engines be used simultaneously in
snowy weather, providing four-wheel drive. If one
engine fails the driver engage the other without
leaving his seat.
The engines have one reverse and three forward
speeds but due to the eveness of Dulles the drivers
only one forward speed. The lounge rides on huge
21OO by Is tires.
teescopng ramp extends from the lounge to con-
meet with the plane at the height Of its passageway
Two stabilzers then take the lounge off its spring
system it won't bounce up and down while thu
passengers disembark.
ground music is provided along with PA system TO
the driver and airline representatives to use on thei
captive audience.
Complete with a sealed-in heat and air condition
ing system, the lounge also can plug into generatin
syst. at the terminal to avoid fumes while it
docked.
Some attenuation dsplaces jobs, but the mobil
lounge creates them. The FAA has hired and traine
20 drivers to handle the lounges around the CLOCK
Eventually, they plan to use "A drivers and severe
mechanics plus about five dspatcherS to handle tn
ground traffic control tower.
Mr. Saarinen told an interviewer last year tina
his role in the development of the airport and lounge
was responsibility beyond what has usually been as
ISOLATED with architecture profession"