WAKE vortices are horizontal tornadoes that stream corkscrew-like from the flaps and wing tips of aircraft. Those created by large aircraft can present a severe hazard to smaller aircraft (快猫短视频, 24 November 2001, p 13). Given the nightmare of a problem that air traffic control centres must have in sorting out aircraft over major cities, I suggested to the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions that wake vortices were a problem worthy of urgent consideration
I was delighted that Stephen Byers, the hard-pressed Transport Secretary, took time to address these concerns himself. He agreed that all aircraft produce wake turbulence in the form of vortices trailing back from the wing tips. The magnitude of the effect is proportional to the size, weight and wingspan of the aircraft. It is, therefore, important that aircraft keep sufficient distance apart, taking into account the mass of any aircraft ahead.
Byers went on to say that the vortices are normally invisible, so pilots have no warning that they are flying into them. For this reason the International Civil Aviation Organization has strict rules about the permitted spacing between aircraft, based on their sizes. National Air Traffic Services (NATS), the company responsible for air traffic control in British airspace, holds to these separation standards. In addition, NATS has been monitoring wake vortex issues since 1972, said Byers.
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Clearly, weather conditions are often different in, say, the US from those generally experienced in Britain. But wake vortices are not well understood, and are difficult to study. Who would blame pilots for not wanting to fly close behind larger aircraft at low level to study the effect? However, it is good to know that research is continuing on both sides of the Atlantic, and that Britain鈥檚 Civil Aviation Authority has assured the Transport Secretary of its concern.
WESTMINSTER HALL debates are a parliamentary activity that deserves far more media attention than they tend to get. The Houses of Parliament are built upon what remains of an 11th-century royal palace. Westminster Hall is one of the few parts of that palace that remain and is now used for ceremonial events and for House of Commons adjournment debates.
Certainly, if any parliamentary event deserved media attention, it was the Westminster Hall debate that MP Thomas Clarke organised recently. The focus was an important report to the Chief Medical Officer of an independent working group on ME, sometimes called chronic fatigue syndrome. Sadly, it went largely unnoticed by the media, but that was perhaps not surprising given that it was a lunchtime debate.
Clarke explained that 150,000 people in Britain suffer from ME, which often seems to be triggered by a viral infection in the inner ear. The symptoms can be bewildering: total and overwhelming exhaustion, severe muscle pain, debilitating problems affecting concentration and short-term memory, digestive difficulties and, sometimes, intolerance to food, light, alcohol and even medication.
Jacqui Smith, the health minister with responsibility for social and long-term care, replied that the government wants all ME sufferers to receive the treatment and care that they need, when and where they need it. 鈥淟ike the patients quoted in the report, we want those with ME at least to be listened to when decisions are being made about the treatment and care that would best meet their needs.鈥� She went on to say that the government welcomed the publication of the report as the start of the process of improving awareness and understanding of ME.
I recommend that any reader interested in ME read the Hansard report of the debate (6 February).