June ’70. Eight sessions of simulator thence first class Pan Am Boeing 707 Sydney – Nandi – Honolulu to train with Hawaiian Airlines.
Pan Am Boeing 707 first class; now this was the way to travel; a delightful small semi circular lounge at the left front of the aircraft opposite the galley where, after a sumptuous evening meal our group gathered playing cards, telling tall tales with the then young gorgeous Pan AM `hostess’s’ placing full bottles of scotch, gin, etc on the table, trays of fresh sandwiches and hors d’oeuvres on the galley serving ledge, “beer is in the galley, help yourselves”.
Somewhere behind the curtain (you mean there are seats and people back there?) were seated our wives enjoying delightful economy fare, gracious in their acceptance of being invited to accompany us for this 14 day sojourn. Forever mindful of their plight, we prevailed upon the Pan Am Hostess to take champagne back to ease their journey.
Aloha! Hawaii, Hawaiian Airlines provided excellent hospitality, facilities and training, first class hotel close to the beaches & shops, car provided for travel and sightseeing with much to see and do.
Five four hour training sorties where I was fortunate to share a Hawaiian Airlines instructor pilot by the name of Joe Tacker; best instructor pilot I have ever had; flew sailplanes and Hawaiian National Air Guard F105 Thunderchief (Mach 2 capable, nuclear armed) on his days off. Each sortie was planned to a different island in the Hawaiian Island chain with the training detail completed within 3:45 allowing 15 minutes for sightseeing around the island mainly done at 500 to 1500 feet. Well, sometimes we had to climb to, or above 500 feet plus!
Returning to Honolulu, the Island of Oahu, on the completion of the last flight to runway 08, clear for descent thence cleared to land by the tower at 10 DME however, Joe insisted we maintain 2500 feet and 210 kts clean??? With sight of the runway disappearing well & truly out of sight below the aircraft nose, Joe quietly said “You can land now”. Yeah, Right; mad scramble for landing gear, slats & flaps pushing the nose over to find the runway with a sink rate we had been repeatedly warned about during training on how to fly these new fangled jets. 400 feet, on glideslope, on bug, spooled up 40% N1 sweat pouring from a fevered brow; “Ah easy, piece of cake!’ Well it ain’t over just yet; 250 feet the right engine thrust lever is closed; thrust lever on the left engine increased to maintain speed, right engine failure identified, “Landing” with the sweat level increasing to flood proportions.
Debrief a quiet, simple “you can see what the aircraft can do, what you can do and (importantly) a demonstration of the aircraft and your limitations. Have fun.”
Leaving only the return Pan Am Boeing 707 flight home HNL – SYD direct, all up weight, lots of runway (no reduced thrust in them days) with a right turn after takeoff as soon as practical (as the sign at the start of take off roll says) meaning Rotate, roll into the turn and gear up; and we did!
27 sectors of line training with one G Hitchcock, a true gentleman and good driver thence loose on the line with a list of names representative of the sound, good and great pilots TAA was blessed with, all who contributed to what was without doubt one of the best, if not the best airline of its type in the world in its day.
October ’70 saw a few short months for hard, great fun flying come to a close when I transitioned to true love, the Boeing 727, but then, that’s another story.
DK