BY SHANE DAVEY
The Boeing 747 retires from the skies later this month and First Officer in the cockpit, Pokolbin’s Ewen Cameron, says the pending final journey has prompted plenty of time for reflection.
Ewen has spent several years in the cockpit of this icon of the skies and he says his selection to be part of the final flight crew is a tremendous privilege.
Qantas’ first female pilot Sharelle Quinn will captain the flight from Sydney to Los Angeles but it will be Ewen who will be taking the final 747 on its second and final flight.
“I will fly off to the desert and park it there,” Ewen told The Hunter River Times.
“It will be a great honour to shut that last engine down.”
He is also prepared for the emotion as he takes that final step off the aircraft.
“It will be very sad, my wife and I have talked a lot about it, the 747 has been a large part of my life, our lives,” he said.
“The plane has been like a second home, I have literally spent several years sitting in it,” Ewen said.
The Qantas career pilot said the 747 is the only large commuter jet he has flown and describes the aircraft as the gentle giant of the sky because of its size, power and stability.
Ewen’s father, Lin, was also a pilot and is probably responsible for steering him towards his flying career.
While being a pilot wasn’t a childhood dream, Ewen admits he has always had a fascination with flight.
Back in 1971 he remembers watching the first jumbo jet fly above his school and looking at it in amazement.
In 1974 he had a nasty accident and ruptured his spleen playing football and Lin had to leave his 747 endorsement to rush to his son’s bedside.
“Six years after that we found ourselves side-by-side in the pilot seat.
His take on flying is that it is a feat of engineering many take for granted?
Ewen has been the pilot in every Boeing 747 Qantas has ever owned and he has travelled to every Qantas destination in the world from London to Los Angeles.
“I marvel at the fact we are travelling at three quarters of the speed of sound, that there is no oxygen outside, that it is minus 57 degrees celcius out the window.
“I also marvel how I can be having breakfast in the morning in Pokolbin and then, 48 hours later, I can be having coffee with my cousin in San Francisco, the time is different, the weather is different, it is amazing.”
