Hello all,
As foreshadowed
here, below is the first installment of an account written by Capt NV St Leon regarding his experiences converting on to the B707-138 in July 1959.
I asked Val if I could post this - which first appeared in the Sydney branch newsletter of the Royal Aeronautical Society in February, following a talk on the subject late last year - after reading Regle's account of something similar with Sabena on the other thread.
Val was in the RAAF as a fitter in WWII and first joined Qantas as an engineer before remustering, but as he was not wartime aircrew I thought it would be better if this had its own seperate thread, with a link from the Military aircrew forum. Here goes then:
Endorsement Blues - Boeing 707/ 138, July 1959 - Val St Leon. Part I.
I was long term based in SFO from 1958 to 1961 as a Senior F/O, during which time a conversion to the B707/138 became necessary, consequently refresher technical courses for both gas turbines and the 138 were completed in Sydney. The original courses had been completed about 12 months previously. It was essential to train London and SFO groups first, to inaugurate the new jet services and it was a masterpiece of organization to replace them, and still maintain existing services. I was in the first group to train on VH-EBA to enable services to proceed across the USA to LHR.
There is no doubt the advent of the B707 changed our professional lives both in airmanship and career prospects and we approached the re-training with enthusiasm. The new jet fleet could achieve the same capacity and halve the flying time on existing route structure. An added bonus was reliability. During my five years on this type, only one engine failure was experienced while during eleven years on the Constellation types, one trip alone, to LHR and return showed five engine failures. Our F/Supt. Torchy Uren regretted its passing, saying “The Constellation was a fine 3 engined aeroplane”. We had been comfortable with Otto and his Cycle, Kermode’s Flight Without Formulae and Sutcliffe’s Meteorology but now, BHP and BMEP had disappeared from our mystique, we were resisting changes. Throttles had become “thrust levers”, lights were “illuminated”, fuel was “jettisoned” and not “dumped” and there were mysterious references to “Dutch Roll”, “the back side of the power curve”, “region of reverse command” and more frightening, “coffin corner”.
My last service on a Constellation L1049 (VH-EAC) was completed in the LH seat VCO-SFO, by courtesy of Capt Lyle Richardson, on 11/7/59. Training started immediately on arrival in Sydney on 17/7/59. The simulator was difficult with much emphasis on longitudinal stability and “runaway stabilizer” and “stab trim” with your right thumb. I emerged quite shaken from my first session having put the machine into SFO Bay at the San Mateo outer marker, being unable to control an aerodynamic problem called “Dutch Roll”. Kermode was not helpful. Later in 1969, “Handling the Big Jets” by David Davies FRAeS of the Air Registration Board would have helped, if it had been published in 1959. I was quite shaken and approached the American Boeing Instructors, Harley Beard, Russell Baum and Ed Hartz and asked them if the aircraft flew like the Simulator. Ed Hartz was a tall laconic Texan, who had flown B29s from Guam during WWII and Russell Baum, who later died, during a training accident, recovering from violent “dutch roll”. They had shaken two engine pods off and went into Lake Seattle. Pan American had already suffered a similar accident over France. In later years we always seemed to meet Harley Beard in various places, all over the world. All were fine instructional pilots, but with very little airline experience. Russell Baum replied, “Say Val, if we could get the ‘plane’ to fly as good as the simulator we would not be having any failures down at Avalon!” After further questioning, he told me, that the backside of the power curve meant, “putting on power to go slower!” Then I was convinced, I too would fail, as many were failing at Avalon.
Soon I was told I would be teamed up with Capt Ross Horne, an old friend and gifted pilot, as my “crash mate”. We were both considered somewhat eccentric, not playing golf and Ross had his own individual ideas about Qantas uniform dress code. Twenty hours in the simulator were completed adequately, if not brilliantly and we were passed on to Avalon Training with Capt Bill Edwards and F/O Tony Jennings from London on the 31/7/1959.
Fifty years had passed since Louis Bleriot flew across the Channel from France to Dover on 25/7/1909. Avalon training depot bore numerous nick names such as “Disney Land South” or more descriptively, as the “Bay of Pigs”. It had an atmosphere similar to the “crewing up politics” of an Operational Training Unit during wartime. On arrival, as we drove through the gates, we noted the single runway oriented due 359* N and 179* S with the windsock, horizontal from the west and gusting. “Be careful of the tigers” our driver remarked, and we noted 7 snake carcasses on the barbed wire fence. We checked in and were dismayed to find we were on the next training session with Ed Hartz. Outside, we watched VH EBA “dutch rolling” on final approach and we both blanched.Our session was about to start.
...more to follow!