The Airline Captain who ‘Spliced the Mainbrace’!


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 who was flying a DC 10 in the vicinity heard about the lost pilot and volunteered to search. Capt. Vette apart from being a pilot was also a licenced navigator. And there was another First Officer on board Malcom Forsyth, travelling as a passenger who also happened to be a qualified navigator.
 
Using very rudimentary navigation techniques they were able to locate the small airplane which was lost in the Pacific and guide him back to safety. The small plane which was fitted with ferry tanks had by then flown for 33 long hours.

Capt.Vette continuing the similarities between the seafarers and aviators, adopted an old naval tradition and ‘Spliced the Mainbrace’ ordering complimentary champagne for all the passengers on board.

The Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators awarded Gordon Vette and Malcolm Forsyth the Johnstone Memorial Trophy for outstanding air navigation. McDonnel Douglas the manufacturer of the DC 10 also awarded them certificates of commendation for displaying the highest standards of compassion, judgement and airmanship.

Capt. Vette is also known for solving the mystery of the Air New Zealand crash at Mount Erebus which was initially blamed on Pilot Error. In July 1988, the University of Glasgow awarded Vette with a Honorary Engineering Doctorate in recognition of his services calling him “ an outstanding role model and a man of undoubted integrity, a highly trained and gifted pilot, with an inquisitive, deductive brain of high intellect”. In 2007 he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to aviation. In 2009 the International Federation of Airline Pilots Association awarded him a Presidential Citation.

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