Vale Ted Lang
Just Binos
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,397
Likes: 0
From: Mackay, Australia
I rarely log into these parts anymore, which is why I am late finding out about Ted's passing. Desertgirl's course photo in 1990 had me scratching my head until I realised he must have been there as an instructor, because I know I trained him on SMC in BN Tower in 1983, and therein lies a faintly interesting story.
There was a Senior Tower Controller at that time who didn't have a great deal of time for ex-FSO's (of which I was one btw) and he gave Ted a hard time for having awful trouble saying the wind on the ATIS as 050 degrees 15. Ted seemed to have it in his mind that the word knots had to appended, and the STC involved was almost ready to give him the boot for this stupendous failure.
I took Ted down to the Hammo one day after work and we had a bit of a chat about things. He was delightfully honest in admitting he was no ace and was struggling with the tower environment. I went home and printed out a sheet of about two hundred wind values and told him to come to work half an hour early the next day, when we went through every item until he finally stopped his automatic impulse to append "knots" to everything.
He got through his tower training with a grudging pass from the STC concerned and as far as I know steered clear of towers for the rest of his career. The irony of course lies in the fact that the powers that be, in their desire to harmonise with ICAO, overnight introduced a change that specified the word "knots" must be appended to all wind values. Ted made a point of emailing me with the change, and we had a good laugh about it.
The point? I don't know, I'm still coming to terms with somebody being given out so early in his career when he had so much to offer as a man and a friend and a person. Others have said it better than I, but though I was transferred shortly after training him and didn't see much of him from that time on, he wasn't an easy man to forget. His willing smile, his love of a drink and above all, at least in my experience, his reluctance to get down in the gutter to fight with those who chose the gutter as their home made him a special person and one who will be sadly missed.
My condolences to his family, whom I never met. RIP Ted, you were one of the good guys.
There was a Senior Tower Controller at that time who didn't have a great deal of time for ex-FSO's (of which I was one btw) and he gave Ted a hard time for having awful trouble saying the wind on the ATIS as 050 degrees 15. Ted seemed to have it in his mind that the word knots had to appended, and the STC involved was almost ready to give him the boot for this stupendous failure.
I took Ted down to the Hammo one day after work and we had a bit of a chat about things. He was delightfully honest in admitting he was no ace and was struggling with the tower environment. I went home and printed out a sheet of about two hundred wind values and told him to come to work half an hour early the next day, when we went through every item until he finally stopped his automatic impulse to append "knots" to everything.
He got through his tower training with a grudging pass from the STC concerned and as far as I know steered clear of towers for the rest of his career. The irony of course lies in the fact that the powers that be, in their desire to harmonise with ICAO, overnight introduced a change that specified the word "knots" must be appended to all wind values. Ted made a point of emailing me with the change, and we had a good laugh about it.
The point? I don't know, I'm still coming to terms with somebody being given out so early in his career when he had so much to offer as a man and a friend and a person. Others have said it better than I, but though I was transferred shortly after training him and didn't see much of him from that time on, he wasn't an easy man to forget. His willing smile, his love of a drink and above all, at least in my experience, his reluctance to get down in the gutter to fight with those who chose the gutter as their home made him a special person and one who will be sadly missed.
My condolences to his family, whom I never met. RIP Ted, you were one of the good guys.
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 545
Likes: 0
From: Live in Taupiri, Waikato, work in the big smoke, New Zealand
Great photo of Paul and Glenny in a previous thread...I too was at Mackay and would like to add my condolences to the list. Ted was always ready with a witty comment (not always kind!!), I remember with fondness my interactions with Ted at both IFATCA and CivilAir functions.
Have a cheeky red for me!
Have a cheeky red for me!
