Three pilots from Queensland, Australia, left Fiji for Sydney after completing two years of training pilots in the country.
Captains Terry Doyle, Trevor Congram and Eamon Gaffney were involved in the training of Air Pacific (now Fiji Airways) pilots to fly 474s and ATR 42s.
The ATR, which stands for Avions de Transport Regional, first went into service in France in 1985.
An article in The Fiji Times on February 2, 1989, stated Fiji was in need of pilots who were able to fly these new aircraft.
In describing the aircraft, Captain Doyle said the aircraft was a very new plane with the latest in technology and fuel efficient engines.
He said Air Pacific wanted two of these aircraft at the end of 1986 but was unable to secure any at the end of 1988. Air Queensland then leased two surplus ATR 42s to Air Pacific.
Part of the agreement involved the provision of six training captains contracted on a two-year rotational basis.
“The idea though was to maintain three captains here who would rotate with the other three from Australia,” Captain Doyle said.
Air Pacific had at the time an ATR 300 passenger-seater flying craft. “Our involvement is now complete and we had been waiting to see our family in Australia.
“We achieved what we came to do – that was to leave Fiji with their systems self-sufficient with their own captains.”
Air Pacific chief executive Andrew Drysdale said the airline had tried to have the pilots’ contract extended. This proved impossible because of commitments from the pilot’s side.
Air Pacific was training eight local pilots to fly the newly-bought ATR 42 air craft. Their training was expected to be completed by the end of June that year.
