I was reading a most interesting article the other day about the Qantas pilots and
technical crew of the 50s and 60s, many of whom were former wartime flyers with
many hours of service flying to their credit.
There is no doubt that their professionalism and skill contributed enormously to the
fine reputation that helped put Qantas in the forefront of the world’s international
airlines.
Many of these veterans later undertook training roles, passing on their rigid standards
to those that followed in their shoes.

Reading the article caused me to think of the other essential component of an aircraft’s
crew, the ones that “walked to London and back”, the Flight Stewards and Flight
Hostesses.
Without them, there would have been no high standard of inflight service for which
Qantas became renowned.
There would certainly not be the whole raft of stories that are aired when Qantas,
or ex-Qantas people, gather for a social drink or two.

Names like Fred Shell, Stan Moll, Phil Penn, Syd Preece, Fred Barker and many, many
others come to mind, together with lovely ladies (I hope that isn’t sexist) Like Pat Sparr,
Dorothy Dwyer, Judy & Ann Gilkes, Mary Dolan and Helen Morgan etc. They also helped
to create the legend that was Qantas.

Bearing in mind the way that legend was created, I nearly choked on my Rum & Coke
when I heard the other day that the managers of that once fine institution were intending
to put all cabin crew on to “casual employment” by 2014. I just hope it was an unfounded
rumour. If not, Qantas runs the very real risk of losing it’s last vestige of customer service.

I am very sure that all of those other surviving staff, who once contributed to maintaining
Qantas as the world’s best airline will join with me in quoting that great line from “The
Rainmaker”, “You must be Stupid, Stupid, Stupid”!