So there you are, waiting to board your flight, and two people are walking down the airport concourse with four bars of gold on their shoulders. One of them is smartly dressed with his cap perched high on his head and wearing aeronautical-design sunglasses. And in his monogrammed briefcase are the Company’s Standard Operating Procedures, Flight Information Circulars and updated Instrument Approach Charts. The other character is a bit paunchy, no sunglasses, hat askew, a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket and a messenger bag slung over his shoulder containing nothing but a book and a bottle for the night, and a change of underwear. Which one would you choose to be the commander of your flight? The answer may seem obvious, but there’s a strange anomaly here… because not everything is what it seems to be.
What makes a man (or woman) want to defy gravity as a career? Commercial pilots belong to a group of people not unlike any other group, except that they have this strange desire to “slip off the moorings of the earth and dance the skies on wings silvered with laughter,” as the old man says. poet. Yes, they must be reasonably well coordinated, their eyesight must be fairly good (not colorblind for obvious reasons), and they need a modicum of common sense, some education, and good general situational awareness. They come in all shapes and sizes, ages and abilities and it’s not always easy to spot, at first glance, who are the ‘good guys’ and who are the ‘bad guys’. Herein lies the anomaly; some of the best pilots in the world fit the description of pilot number two walking through that departure lounge because, you see, they have ‘good hands’. That’s what it’s called in the game of flying; it’s the mysterious ability to make wings and engines sentient and obedient and make the entire collection of nuts and bolts fly in close formation. It’s a bit like a golfer with ‘soft hands’.
Not everyone has this hidden talent, and oddly enough, those who do often don’t know it. But it’s always a treat to be in the same booth as one of them and watch them weave their magical spell. That’s where clothing and appearance can be so deceiving. He’s like a distracted professor at work with disheveled hair and dandruff on his shoulder. The last thing on his mind is sartorial elegance. Granted, the captain of a B747 airliner should look good; clean and tidy and professional. A DC8 freighter captain, on the other hand, doesn’t have to be quite as presentable, but his flying skills are certainly the same.
I have known crop dusters with good hands who would go to work in shorts and sandals and a bone dome, and nothing else. But look at them at work and it’s poetry in motion. The problem with ag pilots, though, is that they tend to have a wild and irresponsible streak in them and often end their work day waterskiing a Thrush Commander at the local dam or shaking off the corrugated factory roof. of sugar with its wheels.
Military pilots with good hands bring a very different dimension to flying. They tend to be highly disciplined and precise because their lives are strictly regulated by their military domain, and this is revealed in their carefully honed flying skills. They turn a flying machine into a fighting machine; extreme multitasking! But catch them after work, when the job is done. Careful! I have observed that all your discipline sometimes becomes a thing of the past!
The WWII military pilots, whom I had the great privilege of flying with in the Air Rhodesia days, were in a class of their own. Some had flown Lancaster bombers, Spitfires, Hurricanes, Typhoons, Swordfish, Blenheims, Mitchells and Wellingtons. Many had DFC, AFC, DSO, and King’s Commendation. One had the Virtuti Militari, the Polish equivalent of the Victoria Cross. A few were members of the famous Caterpillar Club and one was a guest at Stalag Luft 1, until his escape. What can be said about these men? It was a truly rewarding experience to have met them and to have flown with them. These war-hardened men joined Central African Airways (1946 – 1967), which became one of the world’s best-known and most efficient smaller airlines. CAA operated de Havilland Doves, Vickers Vikings, Douglas Dakotas, and the indomitable Vickers Viscounts. His good hands were usually gloved; it was customary in those days for the captain to wear white gloves. All very formal and ‘old school’, but not always, because there was often mischief in the air. An old skipper was known to open the cabin door periodically during the flight and let empty beer bottles roll down the aisle, just for the pleasure of seeing the reaction of all his passengers! And on another occasion he boarded his flight wearing dark glasses and carrying a white cane, assisted by a flight attendant! A terrible joker, but he had good hands.
But if you really want to know who the good, the bad, and the ugly are in the cockpit, ask a flight engineer. Engineers and pilots enjoy a bond of mutual respect, a kind of symbiotic relationship. They are the ‘fixers and benders’ who keep the whole show on the air. Any young pilot who doesn’t understand this age-old code of honor among professionals will be put firmly in their place by an engineer. A black mark on the shoulder of a pilot’s white shirt sends a very strong message to the world about what an engineer thinks of him. It’s amazing what a little fat will do to the bottom of a shoulder harness!
Unfortunately, the era of Flight Engineers (FE) is coming to an end with new developments in aviation. Strange words like ergonomics and cabin resource management are now the order of the day. But give me a pilot with good hands and a good repairman in the engine room any day.