D P Davies Handling the Big Jets
 

I'm sure many people here have heard of D P Davies who wrote, "Handling the Big Jets". He died many years ago. I am trying to find out

1/ Who was his successor was as chief test pilot of the CAA?
2/ Who is the chief test pilot of the CAA today?
3/ When was the Air Registration Board abolished?

I have tried to contact the CAA but there are NO e mail addresses on their website! Seriously! All you get are forms to fill in if you want to do business with the CAA. It seems remarkable to me that despite being the government body responsible for the certification of all civil airliners in this country, there is NOTHING about it at all online except in obituaries for Davies which state that he was its chief test pilot. The only other mention of it I can find anywhere is on the cover of his book. It must have been abolished shortly after he retired in 1982. If anyone knows any of the answers to the above three questions please reply either here or to me personally on [email protected] Many thanks.

I don't know who succeeded DP Davies directly, but I've worked with several CAA CTPs. The last of them was Paul Mulcahy - last because despite very little real flight test skill within EASA and some obvious imperatives to maintain a national skillset, Andrew Haines the then CEO decided late 2013 that CAA did not need a flight test department and made them all redundant. Paul is now project test pilot for the PC24 at Pilatus; his predecessor was Jock Reid who was in post circa 1997 when I first started working with that department, but I don't know for how long before and who preceded him.

I can't see Jock in any of the usual directories, and hadn't heard from him for years, so have no idea if he's still alive, I can only assume he's not in any kind of professional practice any more, which would be unsurprising given he must be 70++ now.

Presumably as we leave EASA this will be one of the various skillsets to be re-established: hopefully one of the excellent Brits at Airbus Toulouse or BAe Warton can be persuaded to take the role, or even Paul himself although he seems extremely happy in Switzerland.

G

Dan Griffith was also in CAA FTD,and also Chris Taylor.... I also was an `approved` TP for ex-mil jets and GA aircraft,and some flight testing on AA`s Cessna,Electra and Convair at Coventry.
G .... Think `they` might find it a bit difficult after Br. unless there`s someone in the pipeline at a `school`.

And Nick Warner and Peter Baker as well as Jock Reid.

Chris was made redundant the same time as Paul but at least is in the UK and in practice.

I don't think that you'd want a CAA CTP to be straight out of a school, any more than you'd want CTP at Boscombe to be straight off TPS. There's much too much on-the-job experience, in CAA's case especially about civil certification needed post qualification as a TP needed.

I've no idea the present citizenship of the British TPs at Toulouse, but I can certainly think of a couple of names I'd trust in the role at Gatwick; the present CTP Heavy at Warton and a couple of his colleagues also. Whether anybody wants the job is another question altogether.


G

Jock Reid did a guest lecture for a module at Cranfield University in October 2015. I briefly chatted to him afterwards, he appeared to be in good health then.

I emailed him a few months ago and he seemed OK

3/ When was the Air Registration Board abolished?

The Air Registration Board was incorporated into the Civil Aviation Authority in 1972. The CAA was established in 1972, under the terms of the Civil Aviation Act 1971, following the recommendations of a government committee chaired by Sir Ronald Edwards. The CAA has been a public corporation of the Department for Transport since then. D P Davies remained as Chief Test Pilot until he retired in the late 1970s.

Successor candidates could include Gordon Corps, subsequently Airbus.

Nick Warner, subsequently Airbus.

Mike Bell, thence CAA senior management.

Oh dear, I forgot Gordon Corps

You could always start at [email protected]

Jack

Very glad to hear that Jock appears to be well, thoroughly enjoyed working with him back in the day.

G

IIRC Head of Flight Test Dept after Mike Bell was David Chapman followed by Terry Newman.

Worth mentioning that CTP and Head of FT were two different roles, the latter usually being held by an FTE.

G