Bryan's 747 Story
“Just before turning 18, I joined Qantas as a cadet in Feb 1969,I finished the course at the end of 1970 & headed out on secondment in General Aviation for a year to get flying experience, before returning as a Second Officer.
One of the highlights of that time was to be in Perth to see the arrival in 1971 of the first Qantas 747. Impressive; little did I know how much of an impact the 747 would have on my life.
Unfortunately, 90 of us were retrenched in 1971 & I only returned to Qantas in May 1974 becoming a Second Officer on the 707. In Aug 1977 I converted to the 747 also as a Second Officer. In May 1985 I was promoted to a First Officer & then in Feb 1990, I attained my goal of becoming a Qantas 747 Captain.
In 1991 I felt a change was needed, so I transferred to the 767 where I remained until May 1999, when I converted to the 747-400. I continued as a Captain on the 747 until my retirement on the 1st March 2016.
Although I was retrenched for three years I had an effective start date in Qantas of Dec. 1970, so my career spanned some 45 years, however, it was actually 41 years. During those 41 years, I flew for 31 years on the 747 & flew all the various models. Out of a total of 27400 hours I flew 18900 hours on the 747.
I flew to almost every port Qantas operated into with the 747. When I first started on the aircraft we flew 14 day London trips where the longest sector was Sydney to Singapore. The operation changed rapidly as the aircraft’s potential was realised & the sectors became longer, flying from Asia into Europe & longer still on the SP between Los Angeles & Sydney. Finally, for me, it was the 747-400 from Dallas to Brisbane.
I had a great life; it was fun flying with wonderful pilots & flight attendants, on a lovely aeroplane that was a pleasure to fly.
It has been said many times before, but the 747 was & still is definitely the “Queen of the Skies”
