Aviation Anecdotes

The Airline Captain who ‘Spliced the Mainbrace’! For many years the Royal Navy would issue a daily ‘rum ration’ for all sailors. In the age of sailing ships when a ship came out of a battle, repairs had to be carried out. The most challenging and dangerous was that of ‘splicing the mainbrace’. Once completed, the sailors who did the job were rewarded a double portion of rum. With passage of time, the order “Splice the Mainbrace” became an euphemism for authorising celebratory drinking. Only one airline Captain has been known to order “Splice the Mainbrace” aboard an aircraft and the unique distinction is held by Captain Gordon Vette of Air New Zealand. On December 21st 1978, a ferry pilot Jay Prochnow was carrying out a trans-oceanic ferry flight in a small single-engine aeroplane across the vast Pacific ocean. Though very experienced, due to some technical problem he became completely lost over the Pacific and his fuel reserves were being depleted. Capt. Gordon Vette...

In military parlance a ‘Bar’ to a gallantry award means that the same award has been bestowed more than once. Many of us do not know that a pilot who once flew for Air India was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra twice making it a Maha Vir Chakra and Bar. The distinguished pilot is Capt.J.M.Nath who took pre-mature retirement from the Indian Air Force as a Squadron Leader.   He is the first of the six officers of the IAF to have been decorated with the Maha Vir Chakra, India’s second highest war time military decoration.   Sqn.Ldr.Nath was first decorated with the MVC in the Sino-Indian war of 1962 for his role in reconnaissance missions which provided information on the Chinese military build-up.   Again, in the Indo Pak war of 1965 Sqn.Ldr.Nath flew more than 30 missions into enemy territory in a Canberra aircraft and obtained vital information. Although fully aware of the risks, he flew most of the reconnaissance missions instead of his juniors until he wa...

In 1910, Jorge Chavez from Peru boldly took up the challenge of flying across the Alps from Switzerland to Italy. Astonishingly Chavez made it across the mountains but as he glided down to the landing place his airplane plunged to the ground crushing the pilot in the wreckage. Chavez was gravely injured and died four days later. His last words were “Arriba , siempre, arriba” (Higher, always higher) which is now the Motto of the Peruvian Air Force.

On April 11th, 1955, a chartered Air India flight named 'Kashmir Princess' was carrying a small delegation of Chinese and East Europeans, mainly journalists, from Hongkong to Indonesia to attend the Asia-Afro Bandung Conference in Indonesia. In command was Capt.D.K.Jatar.   At about 18,000 feet a time-bomb detonated in the wheel bay of the plane, blowing a hole in the fuel tank. The rapid spread of the fire caused hydraulic failure followed by electrical failure. Air Hostess Gloria Berry emerged from the dense smoke carrying life jackets for everyone and even personally ‘fixed’ the life jackets on the flight crew members. In an effort to save the aircraft and it’s occupants, Capt. Jatar decided to ditch the aircraft in the sea. He carried out all precautionary measures for the ditching and issued orders in a cool and unperturbed manner. Though this brave decision resulted unfortunately in the self-sacrifice of the Captain, there were three survivors-the flight engineer,...

On January 13th 1982, a Boeing 737 which took off from Washington National Airport in freezing weather crashed into the freezing Potomac river due to excessive ice buildup, killing 74 people. Within five minutes all neighbouring police and fire services were responding to the emergency. But none were equipped to perform a rescue on the frozen river. Meanwhile the survivors in the freezing river were losing the use of their hands due to the biting cold and were also in danger of losing consciousness. The lone surviving flight attendant displayed great selflessness by inflating the only life jacket within reach and giving it to an injured passenger. After 22 minutes the desperate situation was relieved by the arrival of a Police helicopter. However it was not meant for rescue work and did not have a winch or other life saving gear. Undaunted by this or the hazardous weather it’s crew improvised to save the survivors. While pilot Donald Usher hovered low over the water, crewman Mel...

September 11, 2001 was a black day in the history of Civil Aviation. While some stories of that day have been told in great depth, we know little of the drama in the skies. Terrorists belonging to Al Qaeda hijacked four passenger planes and crashed two of them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. A third plane was crashed into the Pentagon. The fourth plane, a Boeing 757 belonging to United Airlines was hijacked and was headed towards Washington. The authorities then decided to launch fighter jets to intercept the hijacked aircraft. Squadron Commander Marc ‘Sassy’ Sasseville and his wingman Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penny Garcia took off in a pair of F 16s to intercept the hijacked aircraft, United 93. As they get airborne their boss, Colonel Wherley radioed them,” You are the Capital Guardians”. America was never prepared for a war in their own land then. So the fighter jets were not armed with weapons. And that meant only one thing, they had to fly a kamikaze mi...

A touching of story of human spirit in times of a tragedy! The crash landing of United Airlines flight 232 at Sioux City airport in 1989 is considered a textbook example of superior piloting skills and Crew Resource Management (CRM). The airliner lost all three of its hydraulic systems which resulted in the loss of all flight controls required to steer an airplane. Captain Alfred Haynes and Capt.Dennis Fitch drew on all their skill and experience to steer the crippled aircraft to the nearest runway only using differential power in the engines. Though they managed to reach the runway, the aircraft cartwheeled on landing and burst into flames. Of the total 296 on board 112 lost their lives but 184 survived miraculously.  The cause of the total hydraulic failure was a fan disc which sheared off from the rear engine, in the process severing all hydraulic lines. The fan disc from the engine mounted on the tail had literally spun out of its mounting, taking the hydraulics with...

Capt.Christian Marty was the pilot of the Supersonic Concorde which crashed as it was attempting to take off from Paris to New York on 25th July 2000. Though Capt Marty had crossed the Atlantic many times flying the Concorde, not many knew that he had also crossed it windsurfing. He was a very simple modest man. He was not a champion windsurfer, nor did he want to become one. Unfortunately it took his death for us to know him. Pilots flying the supersonic Concorde in Air France belonged to an elite corps. It was considered to be the pinnacle of the profession. Capt.Christian Marty rightfully belonged to this select band. The drive that pushed him to the top of his profession also drove him to indulge in many extreme sports. In 1982 Capt.Christian Marty became the first person to windsurf across the Atlantic Ocean in 37 days 16 hours and 4 minutes. On his way across the might ocean Marty struggled with seasickness, skin fungi, sunburn, boredom, fatigue, muscle cramps and sha...

Michel Bacos  was the captain of Air France Flight 139 when it was hijacked on 27 June 1976 by terrorists belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The terrorists freed the 148 non-Jewish passengers, and offered to release Bacos and his crew. They felt duty-bound to remain on the plane, and refused to leave. They stayed behind with the Jewish hostages.The captives were freed in an Israeli commando raid known as ‘Operation Entebbe’ , and Bacos was dazed in the attack. After the hijacking, Bacos took a two-week holiday and requested that his first flight back be to Israel. In 1976, Bacos was awarded the ‘National Order of the Legion of Honour’, the highest decoration in France, by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. The Israeli government awarded Bacos and his crew medals for heroism, for refusing to leave the Jewish passengers behind. In June 2008, Bacos was awarded the B'nai B'rith International "Ménoras d'Or" (Golden Menorah) in Ca...

On the 28 th  of June,1965, Pan Am flight 843, a Boeing 707, took off from San Francisco bound for Hawai. While climbing through 700 feet, suddenly the outboard engine on the starboard wing burst into flames. Shortly thereafter the engine fell off, taking a potion of the wing with it. In the cockpit the Captain, Charles Kimes wrestled with the controls and slowly steadied the plane. For a moment he considered ditching in the Pacific ocean, but then decided to head for Travis Air Force base 50 miles away. With the jet now under marginal control, Capt.Kimes clicked on the mike to talk to the anxious passengers. “Folks, we have a minor problem. Well, maybe it’s not so minor”. Everyone burst out laughing and Kimes kept up his chatter. A nurse on board recalled later that passenger panic was reduced immeasurably.     

In the early days of air travel it was very common for airline Captains to go back to the passenger cabin and talk to the passengers. Many airline managements considered this good public relations, and even encouraged it. What put an end to this practise is interesting. In 1958, a new regulatory body, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) replaced the old Civil Aviation Administration in the USA. The first FAA Administrator was a former World War II fighter pilot ansd retired Air Force General, Elwood R “Pete” Quesada. He was trigger-tempered, demanding, forceful and determined to wipe out the old CAA’s image of ineffective bureaucracy and week-kneed leniency. From the day he took office, airlines and their crews, commercial and private pilots, and aircraft manufacturers received citations in unprecedented numbers for violations. On 3 rd February 1959, a Boeing 707 belonging to Pan Am was flying from Paris to New York at 35,000 feet. Captain Waldo Lynch left his co-pilot ...