by Nick Anderson | Apr 7, 2025 | Plane Tales
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I’m sorry dear listener but the logbook stories continue unabated with the next instalment. I had been inducted into Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd and, after completing the type rating technical exam we were dispatched to the heart of Airbussery, Toulouse in France, to undergo their simulator training course. There were about 10 of us but, other than our sim partner, we didn’t have a lot of time to get to know each other with our busy month long schedule.
The SAAB 340… a little smaller than the A340!
Lufthansa A340, the A340 launch customer.
The World Ranger paintwork
A340 Sim
Cordes, France
Door training
Pool training
First time in the Black Pyjamas for real!
Taking G-VSKY into the air for the first time
Circuits at Manston
Job done!
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Ronnie Robertson, MarcelX42, Simaero, Clément Gruin and Nick Anderson.
by Nick Anderson | Apr 7, 2025 | Plane Tales
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In earlier decades, the early demise of pilots was mainly based on empirical evidence and based on the well publicised news of an ex colleague’s early death. However, in 1992, the time when I was putting in my papers to leave the RAF to pursue a life as an airline pilot, the Flight Safety Foundation published a study which seemed to confirm that pilots died at a younger age than the general population. The oft quoted statistics that a retiring pilot would only have 5 years to enjoy their pensions was quoted… BUT WAS IT TRUE!
Early pilot death has been assigned to the myth that, as a work group we are prone to a tragically short retirement down to ‘flight line talk’ and that each time an airline pilot dies shortly after retiring the hypothesis of early death is reborn and reinforced in this weak minded group of grounded gossipers! (I said that last bit)
The 1992 study which expressed mortality data as percentages is now considered an “interesting” method and apparently, dare I say it, “inappropriate”!
This information is quoted by a large fiduciary investment company based in Dubai. They quote a Boeing Aerospace actuarial study of life span based on age at retirement. Boeing deny ever producing this study.
The Flight Safety Foundation later published this study by, amont others, the Wright State University School of Aerospace Medicine and the US Federal Aviation Administration Civil Aeromedical Institute
The comparison group of the general population used was that of US white males.
Please feel free to discus
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the Flight Safety Foundation and AI generated images.
by Nick Anderson | Mar 13, 2025 | Plane Tales
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So the logbook tales continue. I am out of the RAF and seeking an airline job but in the downturn there are few available. In the meantime I am working for British Aerospace flying Tornado F3s on trials flights. I had also been given the chance to deliver a Hawk 100 series trainer to the Royal Malaysian Air Force. I left you at Bangkok having turned a brand new aircraft into a blow torch and nearly cooking an inquisitive guard.
Flying the last leg to RMAS Butterworth
We complete our 7,000 NM to Malaysia
Chasing the towed decoy trials
Some of Hoppy’s aircraft had parted company
We soon passed 600 knots and slipped through the sound barrier without a ripple
I went off to a little commercial uniform shop to pick up my first of the 4 different Virgin Atlantic uniforms I would wear over the next 25 years.
The Flight Crew Operating Manuals, from which they picked facts at random to put into the question paper.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Mid Journey AI and Nick Anderson.
by Nick Anderson | Jan 24, 2025 | Plane Tales
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Colin will be visiting California in a few weeks and will speak at the Voices of Valor Gala Dinner, A Tribute to the Greatest Generation, to be held at the Palm Springs Air Museum California Gala Dinner on the 8th of February 2025. https://palmspringsairmuseum.org/gala/
Colin Bell telling us his story
The cockpit of a Mosquito
The Canadian Mosquito factory at Downsview, near Toronto, Ontario
RAF bomber crews eating their traditional breakfast after a mission
One of Chilon of Sparta’s famous quotes
Colin beside a painting of his Mosquito
Female German Army personnel and an AA gun battery
The dreaded white light indicating the presence of a Luftwaffe Me262 night fighter
Colin standing by an Me262 jet fighter showing us what he thought of being chased by one
The book of their exploits written by Colin’s navigator’s son
Images shown under a Creative Commons licence with thanks to Fotoafdrukken Koninklijke Luchtmacht, the Royal Air Force, the IWM and images in the Public Domain.
by Nick Anderson | Dec 27, 2024 | Plane Tales
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This Tale is a continuation of the interview of World War II pilot Flight Lieutenant Colin Bell DFC. At the age of 103, Colin recalls with perfect clarity what it was like to fly his De Havilland DH 98 Mosquito bomber into action as part of a Pathfinder Squadron. This Tale is the second part of the interview with Colin, the opportunity for which I have to thank my old friend Bob Judson. Having had a high ranking career in the RAF, Bob is now a consultant in the field of psychological, life and executive coaching and has a podcast, Leading 4 Life, which explores leadership in the stories of his own life and those told by his many illustrious guests, such as Colin. Bob was kind enough to allow me to share in this opportunity to interview Colin. If you want to take advantage of Bob’s services or listen to his free podcast then check out his website, here: https://www.leading4life.co.uk/ and his great podcast here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2227500
The Nissen Hut was wartime emergency accommodation with a single coal burning heater. It was notoriously cold in the winter.
A No 608 Squadron Mosquito, B Baker March, takes off from RAF Downham Market
Bomber Command aircrew mission briefings
RAF Bombers attacking Berlin with Pathfinder flares below them
Most of Colin’s bombing attacks were made as individual aircraft
Colin Bell talking to us during his interview
Hanover under attack from US forces during a daylight raid
Germani Anti Aircraft Artillery
A Mosquito formation
A period description of how OBOE functioned
The bar of the Crown Hotel Downham Market
A Focke Wolf FW190A similar to the type that employed the Wild Boar tactic
Jimmy Stewart who flew the B17 and B24 in operational missions and became a Brigadier General in the USAF
Colin stands beside one of the few remaining Mosquitos
Images shown under a Creative Commons Licence with thanks to Mark Vickers, Colin Bell, the RAF, Bert Verhoeff, the Australian War Memorial collection, the IWM, RAF Bomber Command, German Federal Archives, the USAF and the USAAF.
by Nick Anderson | Dec 27, 2024 | Plane Tales
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You are sitting in your airliner and the handsome, pretty or in a non-binary sense cute, elegant, lovely or in a non exclusive way charming, fine, interesting or personable flight attendant is standing in front of you to demonstrate the safety features of your aircraft. Hopefully if you enjoy the airline pilot guy enough to be listening to this you might have more than just a passing interest in what safety equipment there is onboard the average big, well equipped, airliner.
Most airlines show the gender-specific pronouns that are typically used to refer to people in the way they identify
Door Arming controls
Girt Bar system that can be found on older style aircraft
Steph beside ‘her’ emergency exit
Slide use in theory and in practice
Disobeying safety instructions can lead to increased danger and possible loss of life
The early days of air travel
Jack Grant, an Australian, who invented the modern inflatable slide and won the Cumberland trophy
Aircraft safety equipment
Halon (halo-genated hydrocarbons) are the world’s best fire extinguishing chemicals but banned from manufacture
Safety cards through the history of aviation
Images are used under a Creative Commons licence with thanks to Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd, Airbus, Oleg Bkhambri (Voltmetro), Boeing, Dr Steph, Marc-Antony Payne, Qantas Airways Ltd, John Collier, the Library of Congress, The Museum of Civil Aviation and SOC.
