True to form, the EAA Talk Show on the 8th May was overbooked by 50 people on the Monday before the show. No small thanks to Karl Jensen who, as the Host, did an impeccable job as always. Messages have again been flooding in, congratulating EAA on the “wonderful” speakers.
Paul Quick and Trevor Arnold, both Airline Captains, were EAA’s two unassuming Talk Show guests. Most of us sat in awe as they regaled us with stories of their most interesting lives including some horrific and unexpected events which caused them to dig deep into their resources of courage, experience and instinct. Wonderful, edge of your seat drama and side splitting humour were again the order of service.
An added bonus on the evening was a visit from Capt. Rob Rhodes-Houghton of Mango Airlines, representing IFALPA/ALPA, who came to present the Polaris Medal to Trevor Arnold for his outstanding achievement in saving not only his Nationwide Aircraft but also all his passengers, when one of his engines separated (fell off!) after take-off. This award is the highest form of recognition bestowed by the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations (IFALPA) for brave or heroic deeds and exceptional airmanship which was richly deserved by a very humble Trevor.
It became apparent during the evening that the extremely quick (not a pun) reactions of Captain Paul Quick in getting a passenger laden 747 SP back on the ground after take-off from Maputo, was equally deserving of such a medal. After no. 3 engine exploded and caught fire at 6000 foot on the climb out, it took him under 3 minutes to bring it to a halt back on the runway. The investigation later showed that the fire, which could not be extinguished in the normal manner while in the air and had burnt its way through large parts of the wing’s leading edge, was only seconds away from burning through into the main fuel tanks. At the time there was very little public knowledge of this event because the silence forced on everyone by, the then CEO of SAA, Coleman Andrews. There were suggestions from the audience that IFALPA should take remedial action to rectify the previous oversight.
Most of the audience regretted the closing of the show even though they were more than half an hour past our normal shut down. Karl had to forcefully terminate the questions at question time otherwise they would have been there all night.
