Originally Posted by
Bergerie1
brakedwell, That would have been Gordon Corps. He was a good operator. I flew with him several times on CofA flights.
Yes indeed. In the ARB/CAA, I see he eventually succeeded D P Davies
* as Chief Test Pilot, before moving to Airbus at Toulouse as an engineering test-pilot around 1982, in time to work on the A310 and A300-600. At Blagnac, he also assisted with the flight training of airline pilots on those types, which is how I first encountered him. (On the A310, he flew with our Captain Dave Deadman at least once, which would have looked good on the crew list.)
In February 1987, Gordon was on the A320 maiden flight with Pierre Baud, and more or less headed its successful flight-test programme to certification 12 months later. After that, he again supplemented Airbus training pilots in the flight training and line training of the early airline crews on the type, as did Nick Warner. This also enabled them to observe ordinary pilots like myself on routine operations, and get feedback. Sad that neither Gordon nor Nick Warner lived to enjoy retirement. R I P.
* For beginners: D P Davies was the ARB (British) certification test pilot responsible for Boeing having to add a ventral fin to its early B707s to improve their directional stability. (Later models employed a taller fin and, eventually, a series yaw-damper like the three on the VC10.) He also wrote a definitive book for airline pilots:
Handling the Big Jets.