Ian Pursey on taking the controls of a Wessex, with no flying training.
In 1975 I was posted to Kai Tak in Hong Kong, regarded as the best posting in the RAF.
As an Aircraft Mechanic – Propulsion (or ‘engine basher’) my initial role was in the hangar as part of the Wessex Servicing Flight. After a few months I was transferred to the line where I did before and after flight checks.
One day a pilot reported ‘a vibration’ on his Wessex, so the team went out to check for anything amiss. Nothing was found and the pilot was asked to take it up again to see if the problem had gone. It hadn’t.
More checks and adjustments were made and the pilot again took it up. Same problem. After numerous attempts – one of which involving the Officer Commanding engineering himself – we could still find no issue, and the pilot was spoken to about wasting the engineering team’s time.
Matter closed? Not quite. A few days later the Line Chief called me into his office. I was informed that I was now an ‘Air Test Observer’, and that if a pilot reported a problem I was to go up in the aircraft with him straight away.
My role was to observe, make notes when when the problem became evident, then ask the pilot to back off. At that point I was to take over and fly the aircraft to the same point at which the problem was reported! It was then up to me to decide if there was a problem or not. If there was, I had to have diagnosed it by the time we landed so it could be swiftly rectified.
As a 22-year-old Senior Aircraftman with no flying training I was somewhat dubious about this. ‘Oh well, Chief knows best,’ I thought, ‘so who am I to argue?’
A week later the Chief stuck his head around the crew room door: “Ian, you’re up!”.
I kitted up and was soon airborne in the same Wessex – and with the same pilot – which had previously reported the vibration. After a while he again reported a vibration. After making notes I asked him to back it off, then said the words “I have control”.
Nervous? Just a bit! But as I held the controls I could… yes, I could feel it too, a vibration, just as the pilot had said. Carefully I handed back control, but my job was only half done.
En-route back to base I had just a few minutes to work out what was wrong. What I had felt made me think it was the tracking on the main rotors – an airframe issue, and not really my area of expertise. Upon landing I reported this to the Chief, so we took the aircraft off the line to check.
After an apprehensive wait I was glad to see the tracking flag show one blade tracking low. Adjustments were made and soon we were back in the air. We repeated the procedure and, to my great relief, the pilot reported that the vibration was now gone.
I don’t know, and probably never will know, why I was chosen for the task when there were more senior ranks available in my trade, but I was delighted to be able to tell the Chief the aircraft was once again serviceable!
Ian Pursey beside an RAF Wessex ©Personal archive
Ian Pursey served in the RAF from 1972 to 1978. He is a member of the Association’s Northampton and District Branch. ©Personal archive
