FLYING FOR AIR NEW ZEALAND - Part two by Arthur Gatland

In his memoire, Arthur is now busily moving up the seniority ranks at Air New Zealand and today he talks about his days on the International circuits. Go get ‘em, Arthur!

Boeing 767 flying:

In March 1987, after 1 year as a Flight Instructor on the F27, I decided for various reasons to transfer to the relatively new B767 and start mid to long-haul flying. 

The B767 flying was very interesting and varied.  I did nine years as a First Officer followed by nine years as a Captain. During my F/O days, Air NZ introduced the Training First Officer role, and I was appointed into this position – another interesting and rewarding role.

The B767 routes expanded over the years, with domestic, trans-Tasman and Pacific Islands flights widened to Perth, Honolulu, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Taipei, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Seoul. All fascinating destinations.

(Melissa here. With the arrival of the B767 fleet, it caused a few hassles determining which Cabin Crew complement should fly it. The two groups were divided into Domestic and International up to this point. After a bit of furious discussions around the union table, it was finally agreed that the designations for Cabin Crew would become divided along Long Haul and Short Haul lines rather than the previous two designations. The short haul crew would fly the aircraft anywhere within a 4000km radius of Auckland and the long haul crew would fly it anywhere else).

B767-200 series circa 1987

The B767 being a twin-engine airliner operated under ETOPs (extended-range twin-engine operations) which required us to remain within 120 minutes of a suitable airport, based on weather, runway length, navigation aids, lighting etc. The 120 minutes was increased by 15% on certain operations, and then to 180 minutes as engine design and reliability continued to improve. Air NZ was the first airline in the world to operate to 180-minute ETOPs, reflecting the huge amount of trans-oceanic flying we do. When we first started flying the B767 from Honolulu to Los Angeles, an across-water distance of 2400nm (4,400km) it caused a bit of a stir. A few USA airlines upon seeing the Air NZ twin-engine B767 in Los Angeles asked “Where did you guys come from? How did you get here?”

B767 Command Course:

When my B767 Command slot came along in March 1995 (based on seniority), a colleague and I were sent to United Airlines in Denver, Colorado, USA for a short B767 command course.

We had time for sightseeing during the day and our flight simulator training sessions each evening. After completing the course, followed by some line training back in NZ, we were checked out as Captains. After three months, I was appointed to a Flight Instructor role once again, on the B767.

Swiss World training, Geneva:

Air NZ was asked if we could provide a Boeing 767 flight instructor for a short-term contract training position in Geneva, Switzerland for Swiss World, a new airline. I was the only flight instructor available to do this so it was agreed that I would take up this opportunity, initially using forthcoming 3 weeks leave. I submitted appropriate paperwork and was issued a Swiss airline pilot’s licence with instructor privileges. Swiss World’s procedures were almost “standard Boeing” and very similar to Air New Zealand procedures.

I worked with the Chief Pilot to fine-tune their procedures in a few areas. I also checked their initial computer flight plans for the planned Geneva to New York flights, which were subcontracted to an outside flight planning provider. I checked their ETOPS emergency fuel allowances and using a “rule-of-thumb” it seemed a bit light on fuel, and I concluded the computer flight plan was not adding the fixed fuel reserve (an instrument approach and 15 minutes holding fuel). Further investigation proved it had been programmed incorrectly. It was lucky I picked it up – and my credibility was established on Day 1.

On Day 2 I commenced training their pilots with short 1-hour local training flights around parts of Switzerland, France and Italy. The scenery was spectacular. On the first flight, I had a safety First Officer in the observer seat, another Kiwi; one of several contract pilots. Shortly after take-off he started laughing. I asked what was funny. He said: “After take-off you made a radio call to Radar Control and instead of calling yourself Swiss World 1, you said ‘New Zealand 1’ – and without hesitation the Swiss controller replied, ‘New Zealand 1 you are cleared to climb to 9,000 feet!’”

The operation commenced with just one B767, and there were five Swiss pilots under training. I was designated as Captain for the inaugural Geneva to New York flight (actually Newark New Jersey airport) on 10 September 1998, training a Swiss Captain, with a French Training Captain as support pilot.

The 8hr 45 flight went well. We arrived at the designated crew hotel, and the cabin crew – many of whom were new to airline flying – said “What do we do now?” Thinking fast, I said “Let’s all have a glass of champagne to celebrate the first flight, then at 6pm we will all meet in the lobby. I will arrange a shuttle bus to a local shopping mall, where we will shop for 1 hour, then we’ll all meet for dinner at a local restaurant, which I will research and book.” Agreed and carried out, and this became the standard procedure thereafter.

I operated a total of 27 flights for Swiss World during my short contract, which included 6 return flights to New York. It was fantastic experience.

Swiss World B767 against Mont Blanc

This is actually a leased Air NZ aircraft with new colours.

B767 Lightning strike:

We had departed from Sydney for Auckland, climbing through 20,000ft in solid but harmless looking cloud. I thought I saw a flash in my peripheral vision, maybe lightning. Immediately my flight instrument screens went blank, apart from Airspeed Indicator (ASI) which rapidly increased!

The aircraft (on autopilot) pitched up, and the First Officer’s ASI started losing speed quickly. I disconnected the autopilot, and looking over at the F/O’s instruments, I pushed the nose back down to 7° climb attitude (where it was before) and said to the F/O “you have control, just hold 7 degrees while we sort this out.”

It transpired that the lightning had fried the Left Air Data Computer leading to erroneous airspeed indications. We carried out the appropriate checklist and continued to Auckland using the Right Air Data (plus standby instruments), rather than fly back through the weather to Sydney.

One of my favourite training expressions is “never stop monitoring the flight path – it can go from ’all good’ to utter chaos within 3 seconds.” Fortunately this is very rare!

The flying was always interesting, with relatively few significant challenges. One challenge I recall was a short evening Christchurch to Auckland flight. Auckland weather was marginal, Wellington and Ohakea closed, but Christchurch forecast was very good – or so we were told. After take-off, ATC said “The fog is rolling in, Christchurch is now closed.” My First Officer with some alarm said, “what do we do now?” This was before Cat III (Autoland) approaches were approved for Auckland, however I calmly said “We go to Auckland and fly an ILS approach, and if we don’t get visual we will just Autoland. Easy.” Actually, we saw the runway right at 200ft so we didn’t need to bend the Rules!

Research showed that our most significant cause of flight diversions was passenger medical events, totaling more than all other causes of diversions combined.  I had several of these.

One example was on a B767 Auckland to Hong Kong flight, and we diverted into Cairns to get the sick passenger to hospital, before refueling and continuing to Hong Kong.  

Another cause for diverting into Cairns once was when we ran out of drinking water! Apparently, a drain tap had not been turned off by engineering. A quick fix and we continued to Hong Kong again.

I enjoyed the B767 flying immensely, enhanced because it gave me opportunities to go windsurfing on trips to Perth, Rarotonga, Nagoya, Bangkok and Honolulu – and lots of other great sightseeing trips.

In September 2005 I said goodbye to the Boeing 767 for good. I had flown it for 18 years and for just under 8000 hours. It had been a great aircraft and a great network of interesting airports.

Part three drops on Friday!