Plane Tales

RAF Form 414, Vol 35

Delving into my log book yet again I recall thatI had flown a couple of supernumerary trips to John F Kennedy airport in New York, sitting in the back of the cockpit watching how it was done but now it was my turn to clamber into the hot seat to start my line training with Virgin Atlantic.  I was also flying with the Chief Pilot so absolutely no pressure!   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/PT-DINO-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/PT-DINO.jpg Compared with the Airbus A340, the old Boeings were beginning to look a bit like dinosaurs!   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/PT-TRACKS-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/PT-TRACKS.jpg The confusion of aircraft flying over the Atlantic only really became apparent when they were all leaving contrails!   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/PT-MCDU-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/PT-MCDU.jpg With the early MCDUs it was possible to outpace the processor that was trying to keep pace with your key presses.   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/PT-HF-RADIO-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/PT-HF-RADIO.jpg Despite the plethora of satellites whizzing around the world, the world of aviation still often relied on old fashioned HF radios for communication.   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/PT-IRS1-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/PT-IRS1.jpg The data we used to plot our position on maps came from the same source as that that guided the aircraft!   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/PT-CRI-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/PT-CRI.jpg I was surprised to see that this famous airport still regularly used approach aids common in much less developed countries.   Images used under a creative commons licence with thanks to Nick Anderson, NATS, Airbus and the UK Gov.

Sabotage

From the French word saboter, sabotage refers to the act of bungling, botching or wrecking something, particularly for political or military aims.  It is derived from the French word for a wooden shoe, a sabot and likely refers to clumsy work carried out by those peasants who clattered about in such simple footwear. The world of aviation escaped known acts of sabotage until 1933 when a sleek and streamlined Boeing 247 of United Air Lines Flight 23 taxied to the departure gate at Newark Airport to allow it’s passengers to embark.  At a time when most airlines were flying flimsy wood and cloth biplanes that looked like old World War One bombers, and indeed many were, Boeing were ahead of the game. [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-B247-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-B247.jpg The Boeing 247   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-WINDSHIELD-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-WINDSHIELD.jpg An early 247 with the forward sloping windshield flying for the Royal Air Force   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-EMBARKING-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-EMBARKING.jpg Passengers embarking on a United 247 NC13345 which later crashed into a hill in dense fog and burned.   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-HEADLINE-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-HEADLINE.jpg   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-HOOVER-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-HOOVER.jpg J Edgar Hoover’s letter closing down the sabotage investigation   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Boeing, the SDASM, the RAF, United Airlines, the Library of Congress, the Chicago Tribune and the FBI.

RAF Form 414, Vol 34

I’m sorry dear listener but the logbook stories continue unabated with the next instalment. I had been inducted into Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd and, after completing the type rating technical exam we were dispatched to the heart of Airbussery, Toulouse in France, to undergo their simulator training course.  There were about 10 of us but, other than our sim partner, we didn’t have a lot of time to get to know each other with our busy month long schedule.I’d been paired up with a 340 pilot from the Northern Isles of Scotland and was all set to pick his brains on the subject until I discovered he had been flying the SAAB 340, a little Swedish twin engined turboprop. [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-LUFTHANSA-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-LUFTHANSA.jpg Lufthansa A340   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-WORLD-RANGER-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-WORLD-RANGER.jpg The World Ranger livery   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SQ-BOF-1024x1024.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SQ-BOF.jpg When your instructor says, “Bof!”   Breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner! [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-CORDES-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-CORDES.jpg Cordes [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-ESPRESSO-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-ESPRESSO.jpg   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-POOL-DRILL-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PT-POOL-DRILL.jpg Pool drill with the Cabin Crew   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SQ-QUEEN-1024x1024.jpg] The Queen opens Queen’s Building       Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to MarcelX42, Airbus, HM Gov, Heathrow Airport, Cordes tourist board, Nick Anderson Photographic and Mid Journey AI.

RAF Form 414, Vol 33

I’m sorry dear listener but the logbook stories continue unabated with the next instalment. I had been inducted into Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd and, after completing the type rating technical exam we were dispatched to the heart of Airbussery, Toulouse in France, to undergo their simulator training course. There were about 10 of us but, other than our sim partner, we didn’t have a lot of time to get to know each other with our busy month long schedule.   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-SAAB-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-SAAB.jpg The SAAB 340… a little smaller than the A340!   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-LUFTHANSA-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-LUFTHANSA.jpg Lufthansa A340, the A340 launch customer.   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-WORLD-RANGER-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-WORLD-RANGER.jpg The World Ranger paintwork   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-SIM-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-SIM.jpg A340 Sim   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-CORDES-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-CORDES.jpg Cordes, France   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-DOOR-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-DOOR.jpg Door training   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-POOL-DRILL-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-POOL-DRILL.jpg Pool training   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-UNIFORM-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-UNIFORM.jpg First time in the Black Pyjamas for real!   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-GVSKY-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-GVSKY.jpg Taking G-VSKY into the air for the first time   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-MANSTON-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-MANSTON.jpg Circuits at Manston   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-TYPE-RATING-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-TYPE-RATING.jpg Job done! Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Ronnie Robertson, MarcelX42, Simaero, Clément Gruin and Nick Anderson.

The Final Checkout

In earlier decades, the early demise of pilots was mainly based on empirical evidence and based on the well publicised news of an ex colleague’s early death. However, in 1992, the time when I was putting in my papers to leave the RAF to pursue a life as an airline pilot, the Flight Safety Foundation published a study which seemed to confirm that pilots died at a younger age than the general population. The oft quoted statistics that a retiring pilot would only have 5 years to enjoy their pensions was quoted… BUT WAS IT TRUE!   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-COFFIN-1024x574.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-COFFIN-scaled.jpg Early pilot death has been assigned to the myth that, as a work group we are prone to a tragically short retirement down to ‘flight line talk’ and that each time an airline pilot dies shortly after retiring the hypothesis of early death is reborn and reinforced in this weak minded group of grounded gossipers! (I said that last bit)   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-STUDY-1-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-STUDY-1.jpg The 1992 study which expressed mortality data as percentages is now considered an “interesting” method and apparently, dare I say it, “inappropriate”!   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-GRAPH-2-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-GRAPH-2.jpg This information is quoted by a large fiduciary investment company based in Dubai. They quote a Boeing Aerospace actuarial study of life span based on age at retirement. Boeing deny ever producing this study.   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-STUDY-2-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-STUDY-2.jpg The Flight Safety Foundation later published this study by, amont others, the Wright State University School of Aerospace Medicine and the US Federal Aviation Administration Civil Aeromedical Institute   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-OLD-WHITE-MEN-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-OLD-WHITE-MEN.jpg The comparison group of the general population used was that of US white males.   [https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-DRUNK-1024x576.jpg]https://airlinepilotguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PT-DRUNK.jpg Please feel free to discus   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Flight Safety Foundation and AI generated images.