Pilots chosen by rank

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32929, 30 May 1972, Page 3

Pilots chosen by rank

<N.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON, May 29.

Rank has been pulled to crew the first DCS flight carrying passengers and cargo into and out of Wellington Airport on Thursday, and the last Electra flight out of the capital on Wednesday. Both the first Air New Zealand DCB and the last Electra will be piloted by the chief captains. An Air New Zealand spokesman said there had

been .considerable competition among air staff to take part in the flight on Thursdav. and it had been resolved by appointing the senior people. So far 100 training landings by DCBs have been made, with 23 pilots at the controls.

The senior captain supervising the training flights, Captain G. Vette, will land the DCB from Sydney when it touches down at 1.40 p.m. on Thursday. His co-pilot will be another senior captain, Captain J. Johnson, who will take the aircraft out at 2.45 p.m. The comfort of the passengers, who will include

many V.I.P. travellers, will be looked after by the senior air hostess, Miss P. Lamason, of Wellington.

The last Electra out on Wednesday at 8 a.m.—and the last Electra that will fly in New Zealand—will be piloted by the senior Electra captain of Air New Zealand, Captain J. Tanner. His copilot will be another senior captain, Captain B. Gordon. This morning the Electra Aotearoa, the first Electra to land in New Zealand, made its final take-off. It flew to Sydney, and will leave there on Wednesday for California —where it came from—for delivery to the yard of an aircraft broker.

The first DCB on Thursday afternoon will load four to five tons of cargo, an appreciable increase on the average of one to two tons carried by the Electras.