Here's the last part from Val's talk. He tells me he has some further talks he's done that he will try to get copies of to me at some point... you'll see them here when he does.
For now, Part Three (of three):
Endorsement Blues - Boeing 707/ 138, July 1959 by Capt Val St Leon. Part III.
My First/Officer sectors were on VH-EBE with Captain Bert Yates and Captain Bill Edwards, and F/O Tony Jennings with Jim Brough as the DCA examiner. These sectors as a proving flight without Pax, were:- SEA-SFO-NY-Gander-Keflavik (go around) divert-Prestwick-LHR and totaled 22.42mins. Our Navigator was Greg Parsons, who now leads the Pathfinder group on Anzac Day. On return, to Gander, we all bought a bottle of very potent local alcohol
called “Screech.”
On the third jet commercial service with Captain John Shields, VH-EAB on 1/10/1959 SFO-NY, Leaving Idlewild, (now Kennedy) for SFO on 3/10/1959, we could not retract the gear. John handed the aircraft over to me so as he could supervise, and I soon noted that I was applying more and more aileron to stay level as we started to jettison fuel off the coast on a designated VOR radial, to get down to landing weight.
The F/E, Bill Middler called “we are jettisoning fuel, only from the left (port) wing, both chutes have not extended”. This made the aircraft very difficult to fly and we never managed to extend the RH (starboard) dump chute.
However, we stayed in the air 1hr 50mins to reach landing weight only to find a gathering of hundreds as we arrived on chocks. There had been an accident with a 707 at Idlewild a few days previously and the runway had been invaded by many curious onlookers. During our problem, there had been a news flash on air that another 707 was in trouble.
When we disembarked, a large number of reporters and onlookers were gathered at the foot of the steps. John Shields, always impeccably dressed, wore a handkerchief up his LH sleeve, and having attended to this matter, handed me a cigar, lit one himself and said “We must appear nonchalant, Val!” and we descended like movie stars to be interviewed.
Stirring days. Footnote: In retrospect, while it was difficult to fly, the B707/138 by default, made us better pilots and we coped with a myriad of problems which were reflected in many changes to fuel policy, training and simulators. It did nothing to alleviate our industrial problems, and in fact
probably increased them.
My feelings with regard to the B707/338c and B747/100 and 200, were completely different as they were both delightful aircraft to fly. We must have learned a lot as my check-out time on the B747, after simulator was only 5 hours followed by 6 sectors. The 138 had taught us all about wind shear and micro-bursts.
Most of those I have mentioned in this memoire have passed on and tonight I pay homage to them, particularly our engineering staff, they were giants of the industry and Qantas was very well served by their dedication and airmanship. Those us who have enjoyed the art, science and fellowship of a wonderful industry, are always mindful of our critics, particularly the financiers.
So, I leave you with the wit and wisdom of Warren Buffet. Aviation, According to Warren Buffett, circa 1999 ‘The other truly transforming business invention of the first quarter of the century, besides the car, was the airplane – another industry whose plainly brilliant future would have caused investors to salivate. So I went back to check airline manufacturers and found that in the 1919-1939 period there were about 300 companies with only a handful still breathing today.
Now move on to the failure of airlines
and we find a list of 129 airlines that in the past 20 years filed for bankruptcy. The money that had been made since the dawn of aviation by all of this country’s airline companies was ZERO. Absolutely ZERO.
Sizing all this up, I like to think that if I had been at Kittyhawk in 1903 when Orville Wright took off, I would have been far sighted enough and public spirited enough, because I owed this to future capitalists – to shoot him down. I mean Karl Marx couldn’t have done as much damage to capitalists as Orville did.’
Any way – my point is that if a private equity firm wants to buy an airline…..good luck to them! A little prescient?
Thank you.
Capt Val St Leon