Collins Aerospace Museum

Name		Title	Text…	Contributed
Terald Lamb	read	Flying in the 1980	Before the late 1980's there was very little forma…	March '15
Terald Lamb	read	The Doppler Naviagton System	In the late 1950's and early 1960's Bendix and Col…	March '15
Terald Lamb	read	Equipment On Art's Boat in Miami	Collins hired summer engineers to allow individual…	March '15
Terald Lamb	read	Development of Flilght Control Guidance	Art Collins owned the patent on the Horizontal Sit…	March '15
Terald Lamb	read	Flight Testing the Kineplex Modem System	One of our flight test and transportation aircraft…	March '15
Russ Colton	read	Memorable Events Working with Art Collins and Dr. Lippisch	Dr. Lippisch was a German scientist who came to th…	September '12
Terald Lamb	read	The First and Last Time I Met Arthur Collins	Arthur Collins was a genius and scientist who had …	June '12

· · Flying in the 1980 · ·
By: Terald Lamb

Before the late 1980's there was very little formal security at airports or on the aircraft. People trusted each other that no one would do anything to harm an aircraft or passengers. If there was an incident, it was personal between individuals that just happened to occur at an airport or on an airplane.

When we spent time flight testing an aircraft, we wouldn't know just how long it would take to solve all the problems. If we had to stay an extra day we would get a motel for the night. One the other hand, things might go very well and we could get home if there was a commercial flight available. On more than one occasion the commercial flight would be boarding just as we finished our flight testing. Our pilot would call the airline and see if there were any seats available on the loading flight. If there was he would taxi up to the commercial airline plane, we would get off the flight test aircraft and get right on the airline plane. We would pay for our ticket when we arrived in Cedar Rapids.

On one occasion Bob Cramer and I were in St Louis flight testing the Convair. We finished flying and an Ozark DC-3 was at a departure gate about ready to depart. The Convair taxied up close to the Ozark DC-3 and we went down the Convair steps and up the Ozark steps. At that time the airlines were generous with their drinks and Bob had a number. When we got to Cedar Rapids, Bob did have a hint of alcohol on his breathe. He walked up to the Ozark counter and he said he wanted to buy a ticket. The agent recognized that Bob smelled of alcohol. She said OK, "Where do you want to go?" Bob said he wanted to go from St Louis to Cedar Rapids. The ticket agent indicated that we already were in Cedar Rapids. Bob insisted, but to no avail. She figured she had a drunk in front of her and finally said he didn't need a ticket. Finally he gave up and went away without paying.

Another time a bit of a different scenario occurred. I had a recorder called a Visicorder with me to record the electrical parameters of the autopilot. This recorder was touted as being portable. It weighed about 60 pounds and was about 10" X 10" X 14" in size. We climbed on the DC-3 and I set the recorder on the floor against the window seat ahead of my row. I took the aisle seat. The flight attendant came back and indicated that I couldn't leave this unit where it was and we would have to check it. I told her it was an expensive recorder and she needed to store it somewhere so it wouldn't get damaged. She said she could and reached over to lift it up. She could barely budge it. At that point, she called the gate agent and told him the problem. He got on board took a look at the situation and decided to leave things the way they were and told her not to worry about it. She left the recorder where it was and we took off.

—March 16, 2015

Terald retired in April 1996 after working 35 years in Certification.

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