The way we were - Ansett, TAA, Qantas
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: New Zealand
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Their was meant to be a 3rd and 4th colour scheme. The 3rd scheme was going to be called the Goldcoaster. pictured.
For the past 5 years or so, I wish Qantas would put the rumour to fruition of painting the 4 schemes on the B717s.
Since QF love retro schemes why not paint up a 717 into the original TAA delivery colours (blue T) then another in
(blue cheatline white T) and a orange/blue Trans Australia. Plus a 737 deserves a Australian Airlines scheme.
Not asking for much. Aviation needs a splash of colour.
After all QF own the rights to all that material.
My memories of DC 9’s, 727’s and DC 10’s will always be joyful.
I miss Skywest (a big hello to all former Skywest emoyees) and flying on the F50 aircraft to CVQ. Getting served nice hot food and Dome coffee....great times. Flight time was around 1hr and 50mins to 2hrs. The CVQ ground crew were good (and still are).
I even remember flying with Ansett WA on the BAe 146 and F28 to CVQ as well. CVQ hasn't had jet operations since the early 1990s.
But yeah I still miss Ansett, still the best airline I've flown with.
Cheers.
I even remember flying with Ansett WA on the BAe 146 and F28 to CVQ as well. CVQ hasn't had jet operations since the early 1990s.
But yeah I still miss Ansett, still the best airline I've flown with.
Cheers.
It would be great to see some of that draft livery or even some old used livery replicated on some of QF’s fleet. The 717 would be perfect. It’s a concept that probably somebody like Strong James would have considered had he been QF CEO today, but unfortunately the wee Irishman would have a meltdown at the mere thought of those extra thousands of dollars.
Airfares aside, what I miss was the fantastic experience flying domestically was, a real pleasure. Today flying is to be avoided at all costs if possible, the horror starts in the car park and just gets worse from there.
Some rock up these days practically naked. The stuff that I have seen of late walking through the the forward door...there are no words.
Now you’re talking! If anything, Aussies are nostalgic (even though I am a Kiwi and now honorary Aussie). It would be great to see some of that draft livery or even some old used livery replicated on some of QF’s fleet. The 717 would be perfect. It’s a concept that probably somebody like Strong James would have considered had he been QF CEO today, but unfortunately the wee Irishman would have a meltdown at the mere thought of those extra thousands of dollars.
My memories of DC 9’s, 727’s and DC 10’s will always be joyful.
My memories of DC 9’s, 727’s and DC 10’s will always be joyful.
As for interesting liveries don't forget the Impulse cocky.
Back in the early 1950's Ansett and TAA had DC3's. At Townsville the main runway was 02 /20 which in those days ran close to the RAAF control tower and the hangars of the Lincoln squadron. Later, that runway became a taxi way and a new runway to the west of the old runway came into being.
TAA had a crazy SOP of three point landings (the chief pilot was ex wartime RAAF). Ansett did tail high wheelers. Whenever TAA were coming in the RAAF tower controller would alert the airmen working on the tarmac who would down tools to watch the TAA DC3 try for a three pointer. Invariably the landing would result in a series of tyre screeching swerves because the DC3 was not the sort of aircraft you three point unless you were quick on your feet. The troops on the tarmac would cheer at each swerve.
. The Ansett pilots would grease the tail high wheeler time and again with no drama while the troops hardly bothered looking. Eventually there must have been a new chief pilot because TAA changed to tail high wheelers to emulate Ansett and no one bothered watching anymore. This is not an old wives tale. I was there and watched the daily drama. I knew from experience the folly of trying to do three point landings in RAAF Dakotas unless you had ballast in the tail compartment.
TAA had a crazy SOP of three point landings (the chief pilot was ex wartime RAAF). Ansett did tail high wheelers. Whenever TAA were coming in the RAAF tower controller would alert the airmen working on the tarmac who would down tools to watch the TAA DC3 try for a three pointer. Invariably the landing would result in a series of tyre screeching swerves because the DC3 was not the sort of aircraft you three point unless you were quick on your feet. The troops on the tarmac would cheer at each swerve.
. The Ansett pilots would grease the tail high wheeler time and again with no drama while the troops hardly bothered looking. Eventually there must have been a new chief pilot because TAA changed to tail high wheelers to emulate Ansett and no one bothered watching anymore. This is not an old wives tale. I was there and watched the daily drama. I knew from experience the folly of trying to do three point landings in RAAF Dakotas unless you had ballast in the tail compartment.
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WHEN MEN WERE MEN AND 707's ROAMED THE EARTH
In the Age of the 'water wagon' 707's...
That jet’s smoke was from the 1,700 pounds of water injection the J-57s and freighter JT-3's used for takeoff. (Go to the overrun and suck the gear up). Those were the good ole days! Pilots back then were men that didn't want to be women or girly men.
Pilots all knew who Jimmy Doolittle was. Pilots drank coffee, whiskey, smoked cigars, and didn't wear digital watches. They carried their own suitcases and brain bags, like the real men they were. Pilots didn't bend over into the crash position multiple times each day in front of the passengers at security so that some no-class government agent could probe for tweezers or fingernail clippers, or too much toothpaste.
Pilots did not go through the terminal impersonating a caddy pulling a bunch of golf clubs, computers, guitars, and feed bags full of tofu and granola on a sissy-trailer. Wearing no hat and having granny glasses hanging on a pink string around their pencil necks, while talking to their personal trainer on the cell phone!!!
Being a Captain was as good as being the King in any movie. In my youth, all the Stewardesses were young, attractive, single women that were proud to be combatants in the sexual revolution. They didn't have to turn sideways, grease up, and suck it in to get through the cockpit door. They would blush, and say thank you, when told that they looked good, instead of filing a sexual harassment claim.
The Junior Stewardesses usually shared a room and talked about men .... with no thoughts of substitution. Passengers wore nice clothes and were polite; they could speak, read, AND understand English. They didn't speak gibberish or listen to loud gangsta rap on their IPods. They bathed, and didn't smell like a rotting pile of garbage - in a jogging suit and flip-flops.
Children did not travel alone, commuting between trailer parks. There were no 'Biggest Losers' asking for a seatbelt extension or a Scotch and grapefruit juice cocktail with a twist.
If the Captain decided to throw some offensive, ranting jerk off the airplane, it was done without any worries of a lawsuit or getting fired. Axial flow engines crackled with the sound of freedom and left an impressive black smoke trail like a locomotive burning soft coal. Jet fuel was cheap and once the throttles were pushed forward, they were often left there. After all, it was the jet age and the idea was to go fast (run like a lizard on a hardwood floor).
Except while flying over the deep oceans, "economy cruise" was something in the performance book, but no one knew why or where it was. When the over-speed clacker went off, no one got all tight and scared, because Boeing built their machines out of iron. Nothing was going to fall off and that barber pole sound had the same effect on real pilots then, as Viagra does now for today's new age guys.
There was very little plastic and no composites on the airplanes. Airplanes and women had eye-pleasing symmetrical curves, not a bunch of ugly vortex generators, ventral fins, winglets, flow diverters, tattoos, rings in their nose, tongues, and eyebrows.
Airlines were run by men like C.R. Smith, Juan Trippe, Capt. Eddie, Ted Baker, and Bob Six, who had built their companies virtually from scratch, knew most of their employees by name, and were lifetime airline employees themselves. not pseudo financiers and bean counters who flit from one occupation to another for a few bucks, a better parachute, or a fancier title, while fervently believing that they are a class of beings unto themselves.
And so it was back in the 60's when I was a young airline pilot... and like my youth, it never will be again! – Too Bad!
In the Age of the 'water wagon' 707's...
That jet’s smoke was from the 1,700 pounds of water injection the J-57s and freighter JT-3's used for takeoff. (Go to the overrun and suck the gear up). Those were the good ole days! Pilots back then were men that didn't want to be women or girly men.
Pilots all knew who Jimmy Doolittle was. Pilots drank coffee, whiskey, smoked cigars, and didn't wear digital watches. They carried their own suitcases and brain bags, like the real men they were. Pilots didn't bend over into the crash position multiple times each day in front of the passengers at security so that some no-class government agent could probe for tweezers or fingernail clippers, or too much toothpaste.
Pilots did not go through the terminal impersonating a caddy pulling a bunch of golf clubs, computers, guitars, and feed bags full of tofu and granola on a sissy-trailer. Wearing no hat and having granny glasses hanging on a pink string around their pencil necks, while talking to their personal trainer on the cell phone!!!
Being a Captain was as good as being the King in any movie. In my youth, all the Stewardesses were young, attractive, single women that were proud to be combatants in the sexual revolution. They didn't have to turn sideways, grease up, and suck it in to get through the cockpit door. They would blush, and say thank you, when told that they looked good, instead of filing a sexual harassment claim.
The Junior Stewardesses usually shared a room and talked about men .... with no thoughts of substitution. Passengers wore nice clothes and were polite; they could speak, read, AND understand English. They didn't speak gibberish or listen to loud gangsta rap on their IPods. They bathed, and didn't smell like a rotting pile of garbage - in a jogging suit and flip-flops.
Children did not travel alone, commuting between trailer parks. There were no 'Biggest Losers' asking for a seatbelt extension or a Scotch and grapefruit juice cocktail with a twist.
If the Captain decided to throw some offensive, ranting jerk off the airplane, it was done without any worries of a lawsuit or getting fired. Axial flow engines crackled with the sound of freedom and left an impressive black smoke trail like a locomotive burning soft coal. Jet fuel was cheap and once the throttles were pushed forward, they were often left there. After all, it was the jet age and the idea was to go fast (run like a lizard on a hardwood floor).
Except while flying over the deep oceans, "economy cruise" was something in the performance book, but no one knew why or where it was. When the over-speed clacker went off, no one got all tight and scared, because Boeing built their machines out of iron. Nothing was going to fall off and that barber pole sound had the same effect on real pilots then, as Viagra does now for today's new age guys.
There was very little plastic and no composites on the airplanes. Airplanes and women had eye-pleasing symmetrical curves, not a bunch of ugly vortex generators, ventral fins, winglets, flow diverters, tattoos, rings in their nose, tongues, and eyebrows.
Airlines were run by men like C.R. Smith, Juan Trippe, Capt. Eddie, Ted Baker, and Bob Six, who had built their companies virtually from scratch, knew most of their employees by name, and were lifetime airline employees themselves. not pseudo financiers and bean counters who flit from one occupation to another for a few bucks, a better parachute, or a fancier title, while fervently believing that they are a class of beings unto themselves.
And so it was back in the 60's when I was a young airline pilot... and like my youth, it never will be again! – Too Bad!
short flights long nights
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55 years ago, you know, yesterday it feels like, my Company's Managing Director and founder (retired) would meet most aircraft at the airport, call me by my Christian name and it was polite to pass him an unused Newspaper from the Aircraft.
He could have remembered my name, but as I was very new???, but he had found out and used it.
I can vouch for the above comments, the golden age pre accountants, HR, Poo%$#s, and Hostesses who knew who and what they were and made great use of the differences.
The best has long gone.
55 years ago, you know, yesterday it feels like, my Company's Managing Director and founder (retired) would meet most aircraft at the airport, call me by my Christian name and it was polite to pass him an unused Newspaper from the Aircraft.
He could have remembered my name, but as I was very new???, but he had found out and used it.
I can vouch for the above comments, the golden age pre accountants, HR, Poo%$#s, and Hostesses who knew who and what they were and made great use of the differences.
The best has long gone.
While I agree with the above sentiments you cannot pushback against change. My dear old dad (long gone) was a wartime pilot and tells me how the older pilots laughed at them flying aeroplanes with enclosed cockpits. 'Real pilots need the wind on their face' they would say. Today's crew have skills that match today's needs. In my final year of flying the heavy iron (2019), I admired the young co-pilots dexterity with the FMC, joining an arc from an off-set track and building these magenta circuits etc. I was only interested in a five mile final and totally incapable of anything complex. My initial command was the 727 and it required great care close to the ground and never called you a 'retard' either. Horses for courses I guess. The next generation, belting about in scram-jet thingies doing Mach 3 will look down on the current generation as a bunch of wimps as well. Nothing stays the same, but the one thing that does disappoint me is the drop in personal standards. I can't understand or comprehend this tattoo craze. To see a pretty girl covered in ink just breaks my heart. The good news is, she would not have the slightest interest in me and vice versa. So no harm done. If I may have a final 'boomer moment', boy did we have fun flying the best aeroplanes ever built!
I remember arriving at Townsville in 1953 to be a copilot on the old four engine Lincoln Bomber. The Commanding Officer shook my hand and said nice to have you in the Squadron. He then told me that In the air the captain was addressed as "Skipper" notwithstanding he was a Group Captain or a Sergeant Pilot. Also none of this first officer crap. He was the copilot or second dickie or sometimes the Number Two.
The copilot wasn't given a "leg". He was offered the takeoff or the landing. If given a landing it was considered good manners after landing to say "Thanks for the landing" to the skipper. Never saw that in the airlines. More's the pity because it was a nice touch and an acknowledgment that the captain still carried the can if the copilot thumped it on.
Old fashioned good manners made for a good cockpit atmosphere. There were a few pricks as in any organisation. There was none of this nit-picking and point scoring and calling each other "Mate" that occures occasionally in airline cockpits nowadays.
Exits stage left pronto..
The copilot wasn't given a "leg". He was offered the takeoff or the landing. If given a landing it was considered good manners after landing to say "Thanks for the landing" to the skipper. Never saw that in the airlines. More's the pity because it was a nice touch and an acknowledgment that the captain still carried the can if the copilot thumped it on.
Old fashioned good manners made for a good cockpit atmosphere. There were a few pricks as in any organisation. There was none of this nit-picking and point scoring and calling each other "Mate" that occures occasionally in airline cockpits nowadays.
Exits stage left pronto..
boy did we have fun flying the best aeroplanes ever built!
all the Stewardesses were young, attractive, single women that were proud to be combatants in the sexual revolution. They didn't have to turn sideways, grease up, and suck it in to get through the cockpit door. They would blush, and say thank you, when told that they looked good, instead of filing a sexual harassment claim.
With comments like that you’d fit in very well these days!
To indicate just how much times have changed; if you have an airline now with the name "Trans Australia" the "stewardesses" would look pretty but not be going off on mat leave.
I do have great memories of one Ansett 727 flights and great 767 flight.
Now flying is akin to jumping on the train or bus however sometimes cheaper!