I was flying in Gove when he was running the bauxite mine and I flew him across to Weipa a number of times. I found him then to be a friendly passenger who was very interested in the aircraft. From memory he took a few flying lessons with the Gove Flying Club in those (early 80's) days.
When he joined Qantas and was aboard an aircraft I was flying he always would come up the front and always addressed me by name, recalling our flights in Gove.
Did I agree with the way he ran the Qantas business? No, not always/often, but he remained a good communicator and usually made an effort to present information, good or bad, directly to the staff and I don't mean from a Pulpit or giant TV screen in 'The Street'.
As for the crew on the QF1. I'm not sure about the F/O and S/O but the Captain remained a line Captain on the 744 until his retirement a couple of years ago. For me, he was one of the best Training Captains I've flown with, but his methods didn't always appeal to everyone.
Last edited by C441; 26th Feb 2018 at 00:00.