Metropolitan Heliport Available to Purchase

ALTHOUGH the armed forces have been quick to seize upon the opportunities offered by the versatile rotary‐wing aircraft, their widespread use for civil air transport has still to be effected. The main advantage of the helicopter—vertical take‐off and landing—has been substantially offset by a number of disadvantages —low cruising speed, safety restrictions for single‐engined rotorcraft, high operating costs and high noise levels—so that commercial application on a large scale has in general proved unattractive. However, the last two years have seen vast strides in the design of helicopters for civil operation, resulting principally from the high power to weight ratio of the turbine engine, and it seems likely that when a number of multi‐engined types becomes available during the ensuing years, this country will witness a boom in helicopter travel.