Fasten Your Seatbelts

On leaving school, Bob Williams joined the independent airline, British Eagle, to train as an engineer, but the airline folded when he was three years into a four-year course. He completed his training with the Civil Air Transport Industry Training Board and joined BOAC as an electrical engineer on their Boeing 707 fleet. It was a ‘good job’ but in his heart he knew he’d rather fly aeroplanes than maintain them. Dan-Air sponsored him to train as a commercial pilot with Air Service Training in Perth, following which he joined them as a co-pilot on HS 748s. He later converted to the BAC 1-11, and Boeing 737 on which he gained his command. When British Airways took control of Dan-Air they made him redundant after nineteen years of service. These were turbulent years for airlines and Bob would go on to fly more than 21,000 hours for ten different companies on many types of aircraft, becoming an instructor, line check captain and chief pilot along the way.