Giving Back To Our Community
Education and Science Days with Des Lines
Starting from a C172 and finishing on a B747-400 From about age 12, I was fortunate enough to know what I wanted to do when I “grew up” but, of course, had absolutely no idea how to achieve it.
Put simply, I just “wanted to fly”.
My opportunity came when the North Otago Aero Club started bringing a C172, on a semi-regular basis, over to a strip carved out of a tussock-covered paddock at Patearoa. By then, I was in High School at Ranfurly, and when I sought my parents’ permission to start learning to fly, they begrudgingly gave their consent - provided that I paid for the lessons myself. This seemed a formidable hurdle but I was fortunate enough to obtain a job after school in the local general store, filling shelves and delivering groceries. The money from that job allowed me to finance half an hour’s flying every three weeks.
After finishing High School when I was 17, I applied for, and gained, an administrative job as “office boy” with NAC in Christchurch. My flying continued with the NAC Flying Club in an Auster J1B in which I gained my PPL. With 120 hours and a PA18 Piper Cub rating, I became a glider tow pilot with the Canterbury Gliding Club at Wigram and began building hours for my CPL. Three and a half hours of “free” flying usually involved about 35 take offs and landings per day, so I got to know my aircraft very well - as one can well imagine - particularly in a nor’wester, which the glider pilots loved!
I obtained my CPL in February 1964 and eventually got a position as a DC3 First Officer with NAC, starting the training course in September 1964 on my 21st birthday. We all did a combined multi-engine instrument rating and DC3 type rating which involved about 16 hours flying because no pilots of that era had a multi engine instrument rating. This was a fairly steep learning curve, as I hadn’t flown anything much bigger than a Piper Cub or an Auster and only had basic panel instrument flying experience.
My 10-year apprenticeship as a First Officer was served on the DC3, Fokker F27 Friendship, Vickers Viscount V807, and the Boeing 737-200.
My first command was on the Fokker F27 in 1975 and I was on this aircraft during the period when NAC and Air New Zealand Mk1 (formerly TEAL) were merged to form the present Air New Zealand. This also gave me an opportunity to transfer out of Wellington where I had been based and to purchase a few acres in North Canterbury, at Swannanoa.
I spent eight years on the Fokker F27, as a Check and Training Captain, which involved the line training of new First Officers and Captains. The F27 operation was similar to the regional flying that is presently carried out by Air NZ Link (formerly Mt Cook and Air Nelson).
During my time on the F27, I was involved in ferrying three ex-Air New Zealand aircraft that had been sold to Tunisavia. Initially, the plan was to take them to Tunisia but due to political complications, we ended up taking them to Sanaa in the North Yemen. The route was via Norfolk Island, Brisbane, Mt Isa, Darwin, Bali, Singapore, Bangkok, Calcutta, Bombay (Mumbai), Muscat, Riyadh, Cairo, Athens, Hodeidah to Sanaa.
From the F27, I then progressed to the Boeing 737–200 where I spent five years during the mid- to late-1980s flying the main trunk, and was once again involved in check and training activities.
My international flying began in July 1989 when I converted on to the Boeing 767–200, spending a relatively short period of two and half years operating around the Pacific Islands region and Honolulu.
Long-haul flying began in 1992 with my conversion on to the Boeing 747–200, otherwise known as the “classic”. A flight engineer was an essential crew member on the flight deck, with a massive panel of instruments to monitor. The flight engineer was also responsible for the orderly feeding of fuel from the seven fuel tanks to keep the aircraft within its structural limitations. This operation took me through Los Angeles, to Frankfurt, as well as the Asia Pacific destinations of Australia, Japan, Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Fiji, Tahiti and Samoa.
Whilst flying the B747-200, I was posted for three months to Manchester, England, working for British Airtours which had chartered an Air NZ B747 for its peak summer season. We carried tourists out of Manchester, Cardiff and Belfast to Orlando in Florida, Montego Bay in the Caribbean and to Tenerife.
I also did another three-month posting to Jakarta, working for Garuda, the Indonesian airline, which had chartered a B747 for the annual Haj pilgrimage. This involved carry Moslem pilgrims from Indonesia through to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and then returning them to Jakarta.
In 1999, I began flying the Boeing 747–400. This aircraft saw the flight engineer being replaced by computers – in fact, computers and automation had transformed the entire aircraft. Aerodynamic improvements to the wing, plus the operational capability to auto land in fog, made this aircraft one of my favourites. It was a sad moment stepping out of the cockpit for the last time after spending five years on this wonderful aircraft.
Retirement at age 60 was brought about by the international restriction of not being able to operate as pilot in command in the airspace of countries such as the USA, Britain, France, and Japan. The retirement age has subsequently been increased to 65. Although I was still enjoying the flying and company of the guys I worked with, it was probably a good age to quit.
I used to call long haul flying my “night job” as almost all of the flying involved long hours of boredom, flying through the night, when your body clock was telling you that you should have been in bed asleep. The challenge was always to remain alert when faced with an arrival into the busy airspace of airports such as Los Angeles or London Heathrow, after being awake for the previous 20 hours or more. The benefits of a multi-pilot crew operation come to the fore in circumstances such as these and all pilots closely monitor the actions of each other and make a call if something has been missed.
Since retirement, life seemed to have just got busier. I created a programme of aviation-related science and physics for intermediate-aged school children and successfully had more than 3000 children plus teachers and helpers participate. I also worked with an older group of students, and every Tuesday evening I ran free tutorials for the PPL theory exams, with ten Year 12 and 13 high school pupils attending. The first part of the evening involved the study of a technical subject and the last part is what I called personal development. By that I mean, an introduction to public speaking, using Toastmaster type exercises such as impromptu talks, and also job interview practice using mock interviews.
Visits from various car clubs, scouts, guides and community groups to my airfield at Swannanoa occurred on a fairly regular basis, and I am fortunate in having a good number of like-minded fellow aviators who helped me with many of these activities.
The wheel has now gone full circle and I have returned to flying the same types of aircraft that I began with as a young boy – Austers, Cubs, Tiger Moths, etc, although, 50 years on, these aircraft are now considered to be “vintage” and the pilot could be said to be in the same category!
Test flying newly constructed homebuilt aircraft and first-of-type new import microlights still provides me with a few “challenges” in aircraft handling analysis and defect rectification.
When the CAA introduced the increased Fees, Levies and Charges legislation, I was incensed about the exorbitant level of these charges, and in particular, the medical application fee. A young pilot who was still in high school, and paying for his flying lessons by working after school in McDonalds, emailed me and pointed out how many hours he had to work on youth pay rates just to pay the medical fee. I was then prompted to take up the battle on behalf of other GA pilots against the downward spiral we now find our GA industry in, with small aero clubs struggling to stay operating and some already closing down. Aero clubs supported and trained me as a young man when I was at the bottom of the career ladder, and I’m determined to continue the fight to help these clubs and their members survive this present downturn.
To conclude, I have been asked many times whether I miss my old airline job. To answer the question, at times I do. I miss the aircraft and the company of the many captains, co-pilots and flight engineers who I have been privileged to fly with over the years. I do not miss the sleep deprivation that goes with long haul flying and the long periods away from home. Today, I get equal satisfaction from feeling the lift as I fly along a mountain ridge in the open cockpit of the Tiger Moth or the wheels gently kissing the grass as the sun is about to set.
The cockpit was my office. It was a place where I experienced many emotions and learned many lessons. It was a place of work, but also a keeper of dreams through long dark nights. You learn much about pride and humility, the fear of the unknown and how experience conquers that fear. I saw much from that office in the sky and continue to do so.
Written by Des Lines
