Evening Meeting with partners and guests

A Captain at Work

Captain Mannion spent 42 years working in aviation, initially as a Navigator on the Canberra Bomber and then on the C130 Hercules. He retrained to be a Tornado fighter pilot before finishing his RAF career as a flight instructor for the Tornado. Following retirement from the RAF, Cyril retrained as a Commercial Pilot and as a Captain with British Airways flew Boeing 747 and 777 aeroplanes on long haul flights. This was not as glamorous as it appears, since BA’s rostering system meant that a pilot could be based at any airport and spend weeks away from home. Before retiring in 2010 Cyril flew a Boeing 777 for the Indian Airline, Jet Airways, on the Mumbai to London route.

Based on his vast experience Cyril gave a very interesting talk on: “A Captain at work: The human aspects of airline command”. The talk was based on what the Captain sees and does on a Boeing 777 flight deck during a flight from Mumbai to London Heathrow. We followed Captain Mannion from his hotel in Mumbai to the flight deck of the Boeing 777 as it taxied along the runway. Video footage allowed us to experience the decisions a Captain has to make as the plane reaches the critical safe take off speed and the point the Captain is committed to take off.

We similarly experienced video footage of what the Captain sees as the Boeing 777 flies over Central London and lands at Heathrow and surprisingly what could go wrong as the plane comes to park at the designated gate. Cyril explained that as Captain and “ The Pilot in Charge” he had ultimate responsibility for the operation and safety of the flight. Cyril shared with us the decisions he had to make over unruly passengers and medical emergencies.

This very interesting and informative talk was well received and appreciated by our Club Members.