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Gulf Air: Alan Mansell retires

From a Press Release:

Quote:

GULF AIR'S LONGEST SERVING CAPTAIN HANGS UP HIS HAT

Manama, Bahrain 11 December 2006: After serving Gulf Air for 35 years, Captain Alan Mansell retired from services, having logged over 20,000 flying hours.

In a fond farewell held at Gulf Air headquarters, Gulf Air Vice President Operations Capt Hameed Ali, senior captains and colleagues wished him good luck and good life.

"I joined Gulf Air with an intention to stay for just three years but here I am completing 35 years with the airline and in Bahrain," says Capt Mansell, whose 43 years' aviation career began from his school days, when he won a Royal Air Force Flying Scholarship to obtain his Private Pilot's Licence on the de Havilland (DH) Tiger Moth biplane trainer.

"Bahrain is very much part of my life as I have enjoyed living here; people are warm and friendly."

While at Nottingham University in England he joined the University Air Squadron and flew the DH Chipmunk. It was at this point that he realised his passion for flying and switched from academics to become a professional pilot with British United Airways (BUA). He soon moved to Hunting (Aerial) Surveys where he flew several types, including the legendary DH Rapide biplane and the Douglas DC3.

"Capt Mansell will be remembered for his outright professionalism, his passion for aviation, and his wry sense of humour," recalls Capt Hameed Ali.

"His contribution to the company has been significant, be it as a training captain, or in establishing a recruitment process for selecting pilots. On behalf of Gulf Air I would like to thank him for his contribution and wish him all the very best for his retired life."

Capt. Mansell joined Gulf Air (the Gulf Aviation Company) in 1971 and started flying the DC3, Fokker F27 and Beech 18 Queenair – the aircrafts being operated at that time. But the highlight of his career began when he moved to fly the Gulf Air's legendary Lockheed L1011 Tristar which he flew for 15 years, obtaining his Command in 1979. He became a Training Captain in 1983 and a Designated Examiner in 1989, before converting to the Boeing B767 in 1991. In 1995 he switched to the Airbus A340 and later flew A330 when it was introduced in 1999.

For the last two years he has used his experience to establish a successful selection process for pilots wishing to join Gulf Air.

He will be leaving Bahrain to settle in Cyprus, where he owns a property.

http://www.ameinfo.com/images/news/0/33270-gulfair.jpg

Good luck Alan!

I'm sure most who have gotten their jobs with Gulfair through Alan would agree with me on this one.
Thank you Alan for your great nature, professionalism, humour, friendliness and most of all, the opportunity to work with gulfair. May they find someone with similar attributes to fill your shoes.

Big shoes to fill I might add, 35 years of tongue biting and utter patience, thats a f**kn loooong time. Good on ya, happy retirement good ol Mansell. u will be missed. toast ya'll!! cheers.......:D

so who is instead of alan mansel now

i believe a bahraini chap ahmed saleemi has been groomed for the last few months to take over the recruitment role. nice fellow. he has been a captain for a long time with gulfair and was medically retired from flying.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sal-e (Post 3022908)

Relative of yours, this Sal-eemi chap?

Good on Alan saw him cash-in-hand as he left the property..now we all know where to go if we get stuck in LCA....:ok:

Quote:

Originally Posted by LDG NO BLUE (Post 3023005)

Relative of yours, this Sal-eemi chap?

afraid not old chap. i'm from at least 7500nm away from bahrain to be related to anyone. i've met ahmed on a couple of occassions and he seemed like a likeable fellow.

what is ahmeds email

i'm sure if you applied through the normal gulfair recruitment website, he'll be the first one to read your application.

ALAN Mansell a good man???

Hey Guys;

I am not sure what you are talking about, but I met this guy! Nothing short of a shark or a snake...

So Alan is gone they have Saleemi who is a good guy with his head on his shoulders but all who have been in the business long enough know that the nice guys do not last.. Actually they have a Brit who recently started to participate in the selection program.. I thought he was an a**hole and somehow I have the feeling that he will take over soon...

Well, I know that different people have different opinions about the same people.

However, a guy who has retired after 35 years of service with a company deserves his gold watch and a little bit of recognition. During my encounters with Capt. Mansell, I've found him to be approachable and friendly. He managed one of the most sensible recruiting programs that I have experienced as a professional pilot, quite in contrast to that of another well known Asian airline to which an entire Forum seems to be dedicated to at this website.

However, there everyone is entitled to their opinion, just as there are people who like me and who dislike me too.

Well now that Alan is gone ,it's an oppturnity for the local guys (omanis & bahrainis) to re-apply ,cause most of the locals i meet or come across at JJ's say the guy was r***st .:confused:

Quote:

Originally Posted by REACH-69 (Post 3028848)

Well now that Alan is gone ,it's an oppturnity for the local guys (omanis & bahrainis) to re-apply ,cause most of the locals i meet or come across at JJ's say the guy was r***st .:confused:

He couldn't have been because I'm as coloured as they come and I found him very pleasant to chat with.

good news for the local pilots

good news for the local pilots, they can all apply now and have a fair chance, Alan was good, but did not believe the locals are capable, good luck for him after 35 years on a B contract.

35 years or not, this guy was one of the worst sim trainers I have ever seen, I watched him almost totally destroy a guy on a Cmnd upgrade. and suprisingly the guy was not white!

He never did me any harm but please lets not go overboard with the praise!
He was one of a large crowd of mainly Brits who thought they were gods gift and gulf nationals and non europeans were a waste of space...thank goodness they are just about all gone.

Not to kick a guy TOO badly after he leaves your place, but many of the "locals" seemed to be unfairly bypassed by a certain selector. Hopefully that changes for you guys now.

I have flown with many "locals" in that part of the world and consider a great many local pilots truly the best of the best flyers. Yes, there ARE a those you shudder when you are flying with them, true! (Of course you could always pull rank if you are not happy with things and fly the entire lot of the sectors - which thankfully would RARELY happen...and this goes for locals OR expats!)

It would be terribly wrong to generalize about local pilots. Some expats can fly like crap too!

Speaking of cleaning house at "The Gulf Club" of the "Gods Gifts Brits" - is that crotchety, overly-pedantic geezer who retired then became a secretary at your HQ's Ops still around trying to babysit everyone?

Cheers,
R.D.

Lots of European pilots get jobs in the Middle East but when it comes to local gulf pilots to find jobs in European countries they ignore us and even in are Owen country Make fun of us. Does any one what’s to comment about that.
:p

Ho-ho-ho-hold your horses!

Hello there,

I can't comment if AM was giving locals a hard time on the sim. Maybe yes, maybe no.

On the other hand there are some local captains that will make you sweat on the sim if you're an expat.
There was one A320 examiner failing expats systematically on the sim. His preference was so obvious that he was called in the office and warned to change his attitude some years ago.

Every outfit seems to have this clash of groups. Go to Emirates, Cathay and you will find aussies x brits x americans x locals. In companies experiencing merges, you will clearly see an undeclared war of parties.

In my personal experience with GFA, I couldn't really say until now that my examiner was giving me a hard time because of my race, or my religion.
Nevertheless, I can assure you that as an expat pilot with GFA, I fell only tolerated in the cockpit. :ok:

LNB

you are/were definitely in the minority LNB maybe it was you, not the others???