Statement of— Beatley, Capt. C. E., first vice president, Airline Pilots Association, Brady, Frank B., project engineer, Air Transport Association of Butler, Hon. John Marshall (Rep., Md.). - - Calkins, G. Nathan, Jr., Chief, International Rules Division, Civil Cates, Larry, Washington_representative, Airline Pilots Association, Durand, J. G., secretary, Air Transport Association of America, 1107 16th Street NW., Washington, D. C. FitzGerald, Bureau of Air Operation, Civil Aeronautics Board. Flynn, Roger, Air Transport Association of America, 1107 16th Hewitt, Capt. Barton, TWA, Airline Pilots Association, International, Howe, Harold K., Chairman, Burke Airport Relocation Committee__ Lee, Fred B., Administrator, Civil Aeronautics, Commerce Depart- Rolfs, Henry J., Chairman, Committee for Burke Airport, Annandale, Rothschild, Under Secretary of Commerce for Transportation__ Additional statement of— Durand, J. G., secretary, Air Transport Association of America, 1107 Letter from Arnold, Milton W., vice president, operations and engineering, 106 Rizley, Ross, Chairman, CAB, with attachments to Senator Monroney, 122 NEED FOR AN ADDITIONAL AIRPORT FOR THE NATIONAL CAPITAL THURSDAY, JULY 21, 1955 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a. m. in the committee room, G-16, United States Capitol Building, Senator A. S. (Mike) Monroney (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Monroney (presiding), Magnuson, Bible, and Payne. Also present: Senator Butler. (Professional Staff Member assigned to this hearing: Edward C. Sweeney, aviation counsel.) Senator MONRONEY. The Subcommittee on Aviation will come to order. The purpose of this hearing today is to hear testimony about the traffic conditions, overcrowding and service at the Washington Airport at Gravelly Point, and to discuss and gather evidence and information that would further support or fail to support the passage of Public Law 762, passed by the 81st Congress, the act of September 7, 1950. In that act the Congress authorized the appropriation of $14 million for the purpose of carrying out the act to give Washington another airport. During the course of the appropriations in 1950 the Congress appropriated $1 million, most of which has been spent for the acquisition of land for the site for a second airport. Requests made the following year for funds of $1,660,000 to complete the procurement of land and to start the engineering work necessary for the construction contract failed to pass the Congress and were denied in toto, and the work has been at a standstill since that time. Members of the full Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, as well as the Aviation Subcommittee, are very much concerned as to the dangers existing in the overcrowding of facilities and airspace over the National Airport, and it was for that reason that we determined that hearings should be held to see if anything could be done to expedite the planning and securing of another airport for Washington. At this time we would like to have Mr. Ross Rizley, the Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board, who was scheduled to testify, but is now in the midst of a case that he cannot well excuse himself from, because he is hearing an oral argument, and he sent two representatives from the CAB here to read his statement and to be available. State your name for the record. Mr. ČALKINS. Mr. Chairman, Senator Payne, my name is G. Nathan Calkins, and I am Chief of the International and Rules Division of the Civil Aeronautics Board. I am accompanied by Mr. Joseph FitzGerald, the Director of the Bureau of Air Operations of the Civil Aeronautics Board. STATEMENT OF G. NATHAN CALKINS, JR., CHIEF, INTERNATIONAL AND RULES DIVISION, CIVIL AERONAUTICS BOARD; ACCOMPANIED BY JOSEPH H. FITZGERALD, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF AIR OPERATIONS, CAB Mr. CALKINS. Mr. Rizley regrets exceedingly his inability to appear before you this morning. He has a personal interest in coming here, but unfortunately he is in the midst of the Chicago-New York service case, and felt unable to tear himself away from that argument this morning. It is a continuing argument from yesterday. Consequently, he has designated Mr. FitzGerald and myself to present this testimony to you. The Board is very pleased to appear before you to present its views in connection with your investigation of the Washington National Airport situation and the needs of Washington for a second airport. As the chairman pointed out in his letter of July 14, 1955, to the Board, the agency of primary concern in this matter is the Department of Commerce. This responsibility is vested in the Secretary under the so-called Second Washington Airport Act of September 7, 1950, which authorized the construction, protection, operation, and maintenance of a public airport in the vicinity of the District of Columbia. The legislation was predicated upon a finding by both the Senate and House committees that in 1950 Washington National Airport was saturated, was operating at capacity, and that an additional terminal airport for the Washington metropolitan area must be constructed. Notwithstanding the primary interest of the Department of Commerce in this matter, the Board has a keen interest in the subject, which applies not only to Washington but to other points where safety of operations and adequacy of air-transportation service appear to be involved. So far as safety is concerned, the Board does not believe that the congestion at Washington National Airport has had an unduly adverse effect upon the safety of flight operations. Under visual flight rule conditions, which fortunately prevail a great majority of the time, flight patterns are laid down and are followed by the air carriers and other aircraft in taking off and landing at Washington National Airport. The Board and its staff have devoted considerable time and attention to this aspect of the problem, and in Special Civil Air Regulation SR-408 we have authorized the Administrator to designate the Washington terminal area as an experimental high density air traffic zone. Under this delegation he is authorized to prescribe additional flight rules in the interest of safety during visual flight conditions. For the committee's information this regulation is attached as appendix 1. During instrument weather conditions, flights in the vicinity of Washington National Airport are monitored by the Administration's air traffic control personnel, using surveillance radar equipment, in addition to radio voice communications. It is true that only a certain number of flights per hour can be safely handled for landing at any |