New plane delivered

Press, 7 January 1983, Page 4

New plane delivered

Janet Ferguson has visited almost every country in the world, but ‘ she admits to having seen very little of the countryside. Her schedule and job are such that she sees only the airports where she lands and the route to her hotel if she has time to stay overnight.

Yesterday she flew in from Switzerland and last evening she was on her way to Sydney en route to London.

Miss Ferguson ferries planes all over the world. She finds flying a plane easier than poaching an egg. and is more at home in a cramped cockpit with puffy white clouds below than stretched out in an armchair with her feet up watching television.

Miss Ferguson flew into Christchurch yesterday to deliver a Swiss-built 10-seater aircraft for Mount Cook Air-

lines. She set out from Switzerland on December 23 and after more than 20 stops in Italy, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Australia she landed at Christchurch about 10 a.m.

Flying about the world may seem an exotic occupation but 10 hours in a claustrophobic cockpit would dampen many an appetite for such flights. “It can be very tiring if you are on a long flight and encounter turbulent conditions, and there are also times when it is boring, but I would not want to do any other type of flying," she said.

Miss Ferguson has been flying for 31 of her 54 years, but it was only by chance that she became involved in ferrying aircraft. “I used to be an instructor for an aero club in England.

One day a friend asked if I would accompany him on a flight from the United States to North Africa as a co-pilot. “A year later I did another job for the company and the work load gradually grew until I was employed fulltime.

“I have now been flying planes all over the place for 17 years." Flying different types of aircraft is not like getting from one make of car into another and driving off. “Each one is completely different. One plane may be propeller-driven, another tur-bine-powered, and then there are the jets. Some planes have a nose wheel and others a tail wheel.

“Not many modern pilots have had a lot of experience with planes with tail wheels,’’ Miss Ferguson said.

“I brought a Bristol

Freighter out here in 1966. That is the biggest plane I have transported. “During that trip I had to dash off again without seeing anything, and it has happened again this time. From what I have seen this is a very beautiful country, and so the next time I am down this way I am going to make sure I have a good look round."

Mount Cook Airlines will soon have the new 10-seater plane in service at Mount Cook to take tourists on to the snow and the glaciers. The $500,000 Pilatus Porter has been stripped of its longrange fuel tanks and radio equipment by engineers. The plane will get its New Zealand registration in Christchurch, and will then be flown to Queenstown where it will be fitted with skis and painted in the Mount Cook colours.