AVIATION: The Self-Supporting Helicopter

The first U.S. helicopter designed specifically as a commercial airliner last week showed off its flying ability outside the Sikorsky Aircraft factory in Stratford, Conn. For helicopter airlines, the S-61 promises to do what the famed Douglas DC-3 did for regular airlines: make hauling passengers a profitable business.

Traffic on the nation's three helicopter airlines in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, which shuttle passengers from one airport to another and from outlying airports to downtown areas, has steadily increased from only 152,000 passengers in 1957 to 461,919 in the first ten months of 1960. But the helicopter lines make no...

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