Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Oct 8, 2016 13:27:05 GMT 12
from Fairfax NZ....
Flying has ‘lost its romance’ says aviation veteran Guy Clapshaw
Pilot and author Guy Clapshaw flew for Air New Zealand in the 1960s
— back when “air travel was dangerous and sex was safe.”
By ASHLEY ROPATI | 12:17PM - Saturday, 08 October 2016
Guy Clapshaw has enjoyed an expansive career in aviation.
FOR British-born aviation veteran and author Guy Clapshaw, now in his 80s, the “golden years” of air travel are remembered fondly.
“A tremendous amount has changed,” said Clapshaw, on the back of his third book release.
“In those days, flying took training, skill and a little bit of luck. You carried the flight engineer and the navigator, the flight engineer looked after the engine and all of the systems. The navigator kept a track of where you were. Nowadays, if a computer can do that, it gives you an idea of how far we've come,” he said.
“A navigator could fix your location maybe (on average) three times an hour? A modern computer can do it 16 times a second. So although flying was very glamorous in the 1960s, and exciting in those days, nowadays it's boring — but incredibly safe. We have advanced, but the romance isn't quite there.”
In 1965, Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL) became Air New Zealand.
From the early 1940s to 1950, the national carrier operated a single route, from Auckland to Sydney with its Short flying boats. By the mid 1950s, an additional route flying from Christchurch to Melbourne and Wellington to Sydney, were also offered.
“The navigator kept a track of where you were, nowadays, if a computer can do that,
it gives you an idea of how far we've come,” said pilot Guy Clapshaw.
Air New Zealand hostesses way back when the national carrier was called TEAL.
By the early 1960s, flight services to Brisbane from Auckland and Christchurch followed. The carrier extended its route to Wellington and onwards to various parts of the Pacific, establishing the now iconic Coral Route.
The French later restricted air travel to parts of Tahiti, terminating the TEAL flight in Pago Pago. However by 1967, the now re-branded Air New Zealand was permitted once again to continue flying the famous Coral Route.
After an incredible and expansive career in air travel, including a stint in the Royal Air Force, Clapshaw is now firmly focused on his third book release, “Tasman Echo Alpha”, after a 19-year hiatus between his second and third novels.
“I was having such a good time flying,” he said of the downtime between books.
“I showed my book to an accountant friend who said it was ‘a load of rubbish, I wouldn't pay for this’, so I put it away. Later, another friend, who's a children's author, saw the book and told me ‘look, this needs to be published’ and put me in touch with her publisher. The rest is, history.”
Clapshaw's novels detail the adventure, humour, excitement and thrill of air travel during the 1960s from a pilot's perspective. His first novel, 1995's “A Likely Story”, became a fast favourite among aviation buffs.
The novel details Clapshaw's time in the National Service in the RAF in the 1950s: “This is not precisely how it was, but it's how I like to remember it,” he writes.
At the tender age of nine, a student of English public school Charterhouse, Clapshaw enjoyed his first flight shortly after World War II.
“I think fans of my previous books can expect a similar narrative,” he said. “Some technical interest, some humour, some excitement, some romance — and just a good entertaining yarn.”
An Air New Zealand 747 Jumbo jet takes off for Auckland International Airport.
Has the business of air travel completely lost its glamour?
As for Clapshaw's advice for young would-be aviators? A little confidence will get you far.
“Have faith in yourself,” he said.
“If anybody tells you that you can't do it, because you've only got one leg or one good eye, I know people who've flown with impairments like that. If you convince yourself that you can do it, you'll convince the people that are hiring you that you can do it, too.”
“So have confidence in yourself and keep on trying.”
www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/85107735
