Vale George McDougall
 

George McDougall - TAA pilot from 1949 til 1983 has passed away (30 March) one week short of his ninetieth birthday. George was the sole crew member to survive the 1954 Viscount training crash at Mangalore. He went on to fly DC3, F27, Viscount, Electra, DC9, 727 and A300.

Back in the late 70s I had 6 weeks as part of my ATC training, flying with TAA. I remember George by the one white glove he always put on for takeoff. I found out later that was probably from the Mangalore crash. His son Bruce was one of my 1st training officers in Sydney. RIP.

RIP George, it was a pleasure to have known and worked with you.

There were actually five survivors, one of whom was a seven year old boy. However, George was the only pilot who made it out. The three killed were all senior captains two of whom were undergoing endorsement training.

George who was a F/O at the time was standing behind the pilot that was occcupying the jump seat, and ran towards the rear of the aircraft as he observed the loss of directional control. The airspeed was below VMCA...

I had the pleasure of flying with him some years later when he had his command on F27s. A real gentleman.