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1976: Across the Atlantic in Three Hours

Unlike the 'jumbo', the supersonic transport - of which the Anglo-French Concorde is the first example - aims to move a few people over great distances very fast. In 1976, Concorde went into service with British Airways and Air France simultaneously, and began flying up to 100 passengers across the Atlantic in under three hours at speeds of more than 1,000 mph. A competing Soviet supersonic transport, the Tupolev Tu-144, is not yet flying internationally.

Helicopter. How a Helicopter Flies

Of all flying machines, none is quite so versatile as the helicopter’s whirling rotor blades enable it to shoot straight up in the air, hover for minute after minute over the same spot, and land on an area little bigger than a bus. It burns up fuel at a frightening rate because the engine, via the rotors, provides all the lifting force. It also takes great skill to fly, for the pilot has three flight controls to handle - rudder, "collective pitch" and "cyclic pitch" controls - one more than conventional aircraft. But it has proved its worth in many situations, from traffic monitoring to dramatic rescues from sinking ships.

A helicopter's rotor blades are really long, thin wings. The engine spins them round so that they cut through the air just like a conventional wing. In a way, the rotor is also like a huge propeller, hauling the helicopter upwards just like the propeller pulls a plane along.

Without a tail-rotor, a helicopter would spin round in the opposite way to the rotor blades. The tail-rotor acts like a propeller to resist this "torque reaction". It is also a kind of rudder, and the pilot changes the pitch on its blades to swing the tail to the left or right.

Up, Down, and Hovering

To go up or down, the pilot uses the "collective pitch" control to alter the angle or "pitch" of the rotor blades. When the blades cut through the air almost flat, they give no lift and the helicopter sinks. To climb, the pilot must steepen the pitch of the blades, increasing lift. To hover, however, the pilot must set the blades to a precise angle in between. It all works through a sliding collar on the rotor shaft called the "swashplate" which pushes up or pulls down on rods linked to the blades.

To and Fro

To fly forwards or backwards, or bank for a turn, the pilot tilts the whole rotor with the "cyclic pitch" control. This tilts the swashplate so that the pitch of each blade varies in turn as it goes round. At the point where the plate is lowest, pitch is shallow and lift is limited. Straight opposite, however, the plate is at its highest and a steep pitch gives a lot of lift. The effect is to tilt the whole rotor over in the way the pilot wants to go, pulling the helicopter with it. .

Ford

Ford is still the classic American success story. Founded in 1903, the Ford Motor Company became a national hero in less than 12 years. It did so on the sturdy back of one car - the Model T. The world's first mass production car was the embodiment of Henry Ford's hopes and dreams. In the event, he held on to it for almost too long. Over 15 million "Tin Lizzies" had been made over a period of 19 years before the Model A took over.

A very public pacifist during World War I, Henry Ford sanctioned rapid conversion to war production in 1942. When the war ended, so did Henry Ford's reign at the controls. By then well into his eighties, he'd probably stayed on for too long. Power passed not to his son Edsel -who died in 1943 at the age of 49 - but to grandson Henry Ford II. "HFII" retired in 1980, having steered the giant company to ever greater success. He did things differently to his grandfather, encouraging fresh new managerial talent instead of relying on stalwarts.

WHAT KIND OF WINTER WILL IT BE?

To answer the question, "What kind of weather will we have next winter?" is an entirely different kind of problem from saying what the weather will be like in New York or Boston tomorrow or the next day.

What makes the problem so different?

First, the daily forecast envisions the continuing development over a short period of time of a relatively local (perhaps nationwide) weather pattern. The detailed initial conditions and the important ingredients are well known by current observation. More distant conditions or physical factors do not have time to make their influences felt within a day or two.

The seasonal forecast, on the other hand, is intimately dependent on the complete hemispheric weather pattern.

Local forecasts

The average state or the nature of the weather activity in one locality can be treated in no sense as an isolated local problem. Furthermore, there is no continuous progressive development of a large-scale pattern over longer periods as there is over a short term locally.

Specific local forecasts of the day-to-day weather changes can be made almost scientifically for a day or two ahead. However, the accuracy of such forecasts falls off rapidly with time, as more distant conditions and weather control factors begin to make their effects felt in relatively unknown ways. No one to date has demonstrated ability to forecast local day-to-day weather changes with any significant degree of skill more than four or five days ahead. It follows that monthly or seasonal forecasts cannot accurately predict short-period weather fluctuations.

The Country of Wine, Macaroni and Cheese

Modern Italy is a highly developed postindustrial country. Agriculture accounts for only but 3 percent of its GNP. However, in terms of absolute figures that 3 percent is worth $40 billion. If this figure is added to the value of the food processing industry products, it would appear that Italy annually produces food worth about $100 million. A large share of that, nearly 40 percent, is exported to over 100 countries. The number of people occupied in the industry is no more than, 350,000, and the number of companies employing, them is 30,000! Despite a gradual process of merging, the sector is dominated by entities with a maximum of, 20 employees, working with various producer associations. However several very large companies do exist, for example Parmalat, which has a $6 billion turnover.

Although agriculture in Italy is highly diversified, unlike in some other developed countries, the leading, role in the sector belongs to crop production instead of cattle breeding, due to environmental conditions.

The English names of the main parts of a helicopter and their Russian equivalents.

  1. engine - двигатель

  2. collective pitch - ручка объединенного управления

  3. cyclic pitch - циклический шаг

  4. pitch controls - управление шагом воздушного винта

  5. rotor blades - лопасти винта

  6. shaft - вал

  1. swashplate - автомат перекоса

  2. rudder-педаль

  3. instrumental panel - приборная панель

  1. tail-rotor - хвостовой винт

  2. torque reaction - крутящий момент

  3. sliding collar - скользящая муфта