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[[image - photograph]] Harold R. Harris President, NWA During a visit to the annual exhibit of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors at Farnsborough [[Farnborough]], England, I boarded one of the Vickers-Armstrongs Viscounts on a scheduled British European Airways flight to Rome. My chief purpose was to make a firsthand study of this turbo-prop transport plane. Yet as I sat in the cockpit I could not help making another study as well—that of the English captain who flew the ship so expertly. It occurred to me then that, no matter how radically airplanes may change from type to type, the pilots always will be able to handle them. Throughout the years they have provided a competence and versatility to keep pace with engineering research and inventiveness. I feel quite sure that when jet airliners, in the coming decade, bring about another drastic change in flying techniques, the men at the controls will be coolly in command. A pilot myself, I take great personal pride in the craft. As aviation passes through various phases, pilots seem to have in abundance the qualities needed to keep the ships flying. In the pioneering era, they showed the daring of ancient explorers. In the barnstorming period, they flaunted a spectacular showmanship and an aerial skill that were uncanny. [[boxed]] Pilots and Defense "Please accept my congratulations on the publication of this issue of the Air Line Pilot magazine commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Powered Flight." "The mutual cooperation that exists between MATS and the air line pilots, a great majority of whom are Air Force and Naval Reserve officers, has been of benefit to all concerned. It has, I am sure, contributed to the progress of American aviation which the 50th Anniversary commemorates." Sincerely, Joseph Smith Lieutenant General, USAF Commander [[/boxed]] They licked the weather before navigation aids were set up. They developed new routes. As commercial aviation settled into a more established and substantial industry, they demonstrated a solid dependability. There was a day when the pilot could almost be an airline in himself. That time is past - for now an airline is a complex business, whose operation depends upon many persons with a variety of skills. Yet he is still the indispensable man. Perhaps, at some future date, push-button controls will be so complete there will be a robot instead of a captain up front. But who, in remote mastery, will push the buttons? The pilot, no less. [[image - photograph]] C. C. Sherman President, California-Central It is altogether fitting that the airline pilots should stand side-by-side with the aircraft designers and engineers as the spotlight of world attention is focused on the 50th Anniversary of Powered Flight. As a commercial airline and military pilot myself, I can fully appreciate the skill and technical knowhow that has been--and still is-- demanded of airline pilots since the advent of powered flight. Most certainly it is an unending task of mastering the constantly improving techniques of one of man's most amazing conquests. Without question, the airline pilots have helped shape in a large degree the strong and dependable network of commercial aviation as it exists today. They are part pioneer, designer, inventor, researcher, and, in the final analysis, prover of the high-flying fancies of others. Many of the aircraft modifications on California Central Airlines fleet of post-war Martinliners including instrumentation, communications, and other phases have been conceived by our pilots. They perform their duties with but one prime thought--the responsibility to the public which rests squarely upon their shoulders. In this respect, we at California Central Airlines are justifiably proud of our pilot corps as their diligence has contributed greatly to our safe operational record of flying 622,475 passengers 193,146,933 safe passenger miles since this company began scheduled operations nearly give years ago. Truly, I am more than pleased to raise my voice in tribute to the airline pilots of the world. [[image - photograph]] Stanley C. Kennedy President, HAL In my opinion, one of the finest tributes we at Hawaiian can pay to our pilots is to point to the face that Hawaiian Airlines holds America's all-time safety record and the fact that HAL has received the National Safety Council's Aviation Award each year since its inception. It in no way diminishes the contribution made toward our record by our maintenance men, dispatchers, communications and weather reporting men and all other ground employees to point up the ultimate responsibility and achievement of our pilots. I might add that as a naval aviator in World War I, I share with the men of ALPA a lack of enthusiasm for the phrase "pilot error." It would be impossible to measure the contribution of our pilots from the days of our survey flights preceding the beginning of scheduled service November 11, 1929, the laying out of flight patterns and airports, the equipment changes over the years from the first 8-passenger Sikorsky S-38 amphibians to the 16-passenger S-43 amphibians, then the 24-passenger Douglas DC-3's and finally, in January of this year, the 44-passenger Convair 340's. Our pilots have been flying the first scheduled air cargo service in the United States since March, 1942, transporting everything from orchids to planeloads of fresh tuna and live cattle as well as flying a 1,000,000 pound "Pineapple Lift" when a whole planation was transplanted from the Island of Maui to the Island of Hawaii. We at Hawaiian have always looked on our pilots as Good Will Ambassadors Extraordinary and I can say without qualification that we are proud of the job they have done and are doing both in the air and on the ground. Page 16 The Air Line Pilot
