dated November 1, 1951: Where the Helicopter Stops:

From the Editorials: ``Helicopters have come to stay, if one may use that word to describe progress registered in that department of flying. In 1907, Louis Breguet made the first flight ever in a helicopter. But, in 44 years since, developments have been slow seeing that the objective is to combine safety with speed. England has held the lead, and its countrymen now go by helicopter from London to Birmingham, and from Liverpool to Cardiff. The services do not yet pay for themselves, but the Ministry of Civil Aviation is confident that as experience, skill, and economy grow, they will do so. Meanwhile, experts are concentrating on improving conditions in which helicopters operate. Aerodromes are still located distantly from cities, and passengers feel that fast trains between two cities are preferable to going by helicopter, taking into account the time taken on journeys to and from aerodromes. Flat roofs on building tops, not over-large, are needed right inside cities for helicopters to land and take-off. Britain is preparing to introduce a regular helicopter service, each machine having two engines to improve safety, and capable of flying at 150 miles per hour with a range of 300 miles. Britain's Minister of Civil Aviation is thinking so far ahead that literary men were invited to a meeting to choose a name for helicopter passenger stations - clearly marked off from aerodromes. The name ultimately selected was `Air Stop'. The word is simple and quite useful. Civic and local bodies in the United Kingdom are to go ahead with reserving sites for air-stops in their future development plans.''

English usage developed so that `air stops' did not catch on. Aerodromes became `airports' (after the example of seaports), which paved the way for helicopter stations to be called `heliports'.

Marching Geologically ahead:

Mr. F. M. Fisk, a drilling specialist from Australia, was due in Bombay on the 3rd, to start a programme of technically advising the Drilling, Mining, and Rare Mineral sections of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) in Calcutta. Mr. Fisk's visit was part of a national scheme to step up geological research. The GSI, one of the oldest of such survey institutions world-wide, had an important role to play in independent India's development endeavours.

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