Qantas’ longest serving current pilot retires after 50 years and 28,500 flying hours
QANTAS’ longest serving current Captain Rick Paul has retired after nearly half a century of service. He shares his thoughts and tips from an incredible 28,500 hours in the air.
CAPTAIN Rick Paul had understandably mixed emotions after turning off his Boeing 737 for the last time on arrival at Adelaide Airport.
After just on 50 years with Qantas – and flying the equivalent of about 50 trips to the Moon – the retirement of the airline’s longest current serving captain was a landmark personal moment.
However, in the Qantas tradition, he made sure his passengers on the trip from Darwin all arrived safely and the aircraft was secure before he let any personal feelings take hold as he disembarked for the final time as pilot yesterday.
“It’s been a wonderful career but I have to admit to some mixed emotion walking off for the final time,” Capt Paul, 69, said.
“Fifty years ago in February, I walked in with 19 other cadets to start what has been a really interesting career. It’s been challenging and no two flights are ever the same.
“It’s certainly a rewarding job – in the next 10 years the projections for pilots required and aircraft on order means it is a good time for young people to be thinking about it.”
Raised in Victoria’s western districts with a schoolteacher father, a family trip to England saw the then 11-year-old invited into the cockpit during a BEA flight from Paris to London on a Vickers Viscount.
The aviation bug bit and he later won a Qantas cadetship, starting a career which included flying aircraft from DC4s to huge A380s – and his personal favourite, the famous Boeing 747.
Capt Paul has logged an incredible 28,500 flying hours.
He also had the privilege of flying the remains of the “unknown soldier”, exhumed in France and now interred at the Australian War Memorial, on the leg from Bangkok to Sydney via Singapore, arriving to a military honour guard on November 7, 1993 – by chance his birthday. “We had the flag on top of the hatch – it was a great honour,” he recalls.
Major changes in a career spanning half a century include the “glass cockpit” of high tech instruments as well as GPS, while social changes include the advent of women pilots – his two nieces are pilots.
His own two children took diverse career paths – his son Nick is a marine science professor and daughter Kristie runs an interior architecture business.
Capt Paul, a grandfather of four, said Adelaide was his favourite airport to fly into because of the flight path over the vineyards of McLaren Vale.
His other favourites include San Francisco, London and Venice.
After four years based in Adelaide living at Marino, Capt Paul and wife Claudia plan to divide their time between Mrs Paul’s native Germany, Sydney and the Sunshine Coast.
Captain Paul’s air travel tips
JET LAG: There is no easy answer. People say avoid alcohol, but if I’m a passenger I’ll enjoy a glass of champagne if it is offered. Drink lots of water, stay hydrated, wear comfy clothing, invest in a good seat if you can afford it — and I’ve discovered skin moisturiser works well. It can be especially tough on long-haul pilots who fly one way, then have to fly back the other way.
PACKING: Plastic bags are helpful — individualise things like shirts so you don’t have to unpack everything at once. And some people make a mess in hotel rooms. I find it easier if you keep things in some kind of order.
FAVOURITE CITY TO LAND IN: Adelaide. Coming in from the east coast when there is a northerly breeze, you come across McLaren Vale at quite a low altitude, and with the vineyards, it really is a picture. Internationally, flying down the bay at San Francisco is always enjoyable. London in the morning, passing the Tower Bridge, is always memorable. And flying London to Venice over the Alps and northern Italian lakes then descending is really spectacular.