AIRPORTS SERVE THE COMMUNITY

This 1960s color film advocates the importance of how small airports serve the community. It is a Jack Robinette Production. It opens with a Piper Comanche landing and the control tower and controllers shown (:28-:45). Travelers leave their cars in the parking lot, carry suitcases into the terminal, and board a plane (:48-1:14). Airports serve the community other than passengers. A large container of boxes is unloaded from a plane. Baby chicks are unboxed after shipping (1:15-1:50). The control tower has weather instruments on top. Inside the air controllers communicate with pilots by radio or by flashing a signal lamp (the film says they are called baker lights) (2:22-3:08). A Shell fuel truck pulls up to a plane and refuels it (3:10-3:30). A student pilot checks the mechanical parts of a Piper Cherokee (3:32-3:59). A Piper PA-30 (N8771Y) is hand-towed into a hangar for an annual inspection and its engine shown (4:00-4:25). The student pilot and female instructor get in the Cherokee and check the instrument panel (4:26-4:53). Hobbyists fly vintage planes, such as the 1940 Waco UPF-7 (N30141) (4:55-5:07). A family gets out of a Piper with their dog (5:09-5:32). A salesman looks over a map with the female pilot to take short flights to sales calls. Shown behind them is a Champion 7KCAB (N5156X) and a Piper PA-28-140 (N8153N) (5:33-6:10). A helicopter lifts off. Passenger disembark from a LA Airways Sikorsky helicopter (N305V) before it lifts off again (6:12-7:00). This is a Sikorsky S-61L, and it's still in service in Australia according to the Internet. The L.A. Airways fleet served Disneyland from LAX World Airport. Passengers board an Air California 737 and their luggage is loaded. The plane is shown taking off from the control tower’s point of view (7:02-8:18). A Piper PA-28-140 (N5575F) calls the control tower with engine problems and requests permission to land. Emergency fire vehicles are sent in preparation to the runway. A fireman dressed in a flameproof suit sits on top ready to spray the plane, which safely lands (8:19-10:15). Los Angeles Airways (LAA) was a helicopter airline based in Westchester, Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles Airways offered services to area airports, as well as Disneyland[2] from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and the heliport at the Newporter Resort, Newport Beach, California, now the Hyatt Regency. LAA had several firsts, including the first regularly scheduled helicopter mail service on October 1, 1947. Service to Ontario and San Bernardino was initiated on December 17, 1953. In April 1957 they scheduled 17 weekday departures from LAX to 11 heliports from North Hollywood to San Bernardino to Santa Ana to Long Beach; they didn't fly to downtown Los Angeles. The OAG doesn't say what helicopter, but the drawing shows an S-55. LAA was the first civil operator of the Sikorsky S-61, introducing it on March 1, 1962, purchased at a price of $650,000 each. Los Angeles Airways ceased operations in 1971 after failure to consummate a contract in which it would have been purchased by Golden West Airlines.Passengers boarded, in thousands, scheduled flights only: 30 in 1957, 39 in 1960, 396 in 1967, and 62 in 1970. Air California, later renamed AirCal, was founded by William E. Myers and Bill Perrera, a partnership of Orange County businessmen. It began as an intrastate airline operating solely within California. Air California was headquartered in Newport Beach, California.The airline's "home" airport was Orange County Airport, now known as John Wayne Airport. Scheduled passenger operations commenced on January 16, 1967. Air California's initial route was a nonstop flight between Orange County Airport (SNA) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO), a previously unserved route. Two Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprops were used to make five daily round-trip flights. Following the federal Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, Air California expanded its service to several destinations in neighboring states. In the 1980s, in addition to its California routes, it was flying to Chicago (ORD), Seattle (SEA), Anchorage (ANC), and Vancouver, B.C. (YVR) as well as to other destinations in the western U.S. The airline was renamed AirCal in 1981, and it was merged into American Airlines in 1987.

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Transcription

[Music] [Applause] [Music] this is a community airport there are thousands of other airports like it across the country community airports furnish transportation and communication to the people of the community [Applause] passengers fly from one community to another and from small towns to large cities what are some of the other ways the airport serves the community Industrial cargos electronic instruments are transported swiftly to all parts of the world medical supplies and food can be flown anywhere in the country in just a few short hours these baby chicks will be flown to their new home in a city 400 miles away they're only a few hours old and need careful handling to arrive at their destination safe and healthy Orange County ground control to request taxi and ifr clearance to Los Angeles the control tower is the center of the airport it's easy to recognize it's tall with large windows on all sides so the men inside can see the sky and the ground in all directions the men in the control tower direct the traffic on the ground and in the air they use radios to talk directly to the pilots who are landing and taking off they also use lights to signal airplanes that do not have radios they are called Baker lights [Music] getting fuel for the airplane is different from getting gasoline for the family car here at the community airport the gas comes to your airplane some people come to the Community Airport to learn to fly before taking off this student pilot is checking the mechanical parts of the plane under the supervision of his instructor mrs. Pennock this is called the pre-flight inspection a student learns that safety comes first in the air as well as on the ground for every pilot safety must be a habit this plane is being rolled into a building called a hangar for its annual inspection highly skilled aircraft mechanics keep it in perfect working order like automobiles airplanes need regular maintenance to keep them in first-class operating condition the instructor has approved the pre-flight inspection and boards the plane with the student pilot all set they fasten their safety belts and check the many instruments in the cockpit before they're ready for takeoff mr. rich Turkey 8 1 5 3 November ready for takeoff there are many people who fly just for the fun of it some people rebuild and fly old planes as a hobby [Applause] the Watsons a flying family returned from a trip with their dogs some small planes are used like taxis to take people from town to town just yesterday mrs. Pennock was hired to fly a salesman to an important meeting in another community by flying in a small plane this salesman did twice as much business in one day as he could have done driving his car from town to town [Applause] helicopters served the community airport to this helicopter carries passengers to and from the big jet Airport in the city 40 miles away some planes are like buses they take passengers to other towns with small airports and larger planes take more people to the jet Airport in the city Air California flight 37 is ready for takeoff and requests clearance to play one-niner right [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh sister [Music] [Music] 6:46 darling six worried Roger and rice shopping for Emily one-niner right reporting this is the control tower we have an alert one the skyline for two six four eight is having engine trouble on its approach role emergency crew to one-nighter right over [Music] [Music] six or eight we're on the ground thank you very much for your help we're okay now at this Airport there has never been a serious accident but the airport emergency crew is always ready just in case people in the community use airplanes to travel long distances in a short time to do special jobs and to enjoy flying how does the airport serve the needs of your community [Music]

Sources

16mm Filmography (legacy record) — title, year, format, description, catalog record, video

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