Capt. Vette (ex-Chief Pilot of ANZ) honoured
chris...@compuserve.com
Graduation Ceremony
16'th July 1998
ALWYN GORDON VETTE
Mr. Vice-Chancellor,
By the authority of the Senate, I present to you this person on whom the
Senate desires to confer the honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering,
Alwyn Gordon Vette.
Mr. Vice-Chancellor,
Alwyn Gordon Vette is a New Zealander, born in July 1933. At the outset of
his career, he graduated as the top apprentice and the student. In 1966 he
became the youngest 4-engined airline captain in the world. There is no doubt
that Captain Vette was a rising star within his airline [Air New Zealand] and
one would have expected the normal flow of promotions and achievements to
follow were it not for two events, the latter of which would entail a heavy
price.
At 5.30 pm on december 21st 1978, a DC-10 piloted by Captain Vette, on its
way from Fiji to Auckland, received a report of a missing light aircraft. The
pilot was lost somewhere in the South Pacific in the vicinity of Norfolk
Island without navigation aids, low on fuel and night approaching. By
skillful deductive methodologies of navigation and radio range, Captain Vette
and his crew located the light aircraft and effected a rescue, with little
more than a sniff of fuel left in the rescued aircraft's tanks. The aircraft
only had enough fuel for 22 hours and landed after 23. Captain Vette was
awarded the Johnston Memorial Trophy.
On 28 November 1979, a [Air New Zealand] tourist flight to Antarctica slammed
into Mount Erebus with the loss of all on board. The accident enquiry put the
blame firmly on the crew; a result Captain Vette found difficult to accept.
His concern over the simplicity of the conclusions unlocked a passion to
investigate further and find a more explicable causation of the events that
led to the disaster. His discovery and resolution of the puzzles generated by
his approach to the accident brought to the fore his unique and enduring
strengths. He showed a remarkably single-minded and robust determination,
especially given the strong institutional and personal pressures which were
acting to oppose the direction in which his findings were leading. In
essence, he discovered that, prior to the flight, the crew were unaware that
one of the way points had been relocated, leading the crew to believe that
they were flying safely up McMurdo Sound in Antarctica.
Why then, if they were in the wrong position, would they not see the massive
mountain ahead? In that question lies perhaps Captain Vette's most
remarkable achievement producing a scientifically convincing account of why
the flight crew failed to see Mount Erebus prior to the crash. His theory,
regarding perceptual illusions most likely to have been involved, has been
endorsed by the foremost specialists in the field and represents a classic
case study in the story of aviation perceptual psychology. Captain Vette's
book of the disaster, "Impact Erebus", represents one of the most detailed
and persuasive accounts of how human and latent system weaknesses combine
with local factors to thwart the skills of experienced flight crew, and the
system's many other defences, barriers and safeguards. The book was written
at least ten years before the current intellectual climate made them
fashionable. For all this good work, his position became sufficiently
inhospitable that he deemed it appropriate to resign from his employment as a
senior pilot.
Captain Vette's generation of pilots manifested few individuals with
intellectual pretensions or ambitions given the strong, pragmatic and applied
orientation of their job. It is thus worthy of particular note that the
enquiries referred to above, brought Captain Vette into contact with
academics, were he rapidly came to grasp the significance of Psychology and
the Social Sciences to aviation safety. The realisation that Social
Scientists had a valuable contribution to make in reducing the impact of
pilot error within the aviation industry led to an involvement with academia
and aviation safety which has essentially continued in tandem from that time.
On resigning his post, Captain Vette, now with a passion for aircraft safety,
became an aviation consultant and has worked tirelessly to improve air safety
through both his own efforts and the funding of University research from the
proceeds of his book, via the Trust he established.
When the people asked the departing prophet about speech - he replied "You
speak when you are no longer at peace with your thoughts". Mr. Vice
Chancellor, Captain, Vette spoke and the price of that speech was not just
the loss of a cherished job but also the loss of some whom he had believed to
be friends. The reward, however, was that in those who stood by him, he
found enduring friendship; such friendship cannot be measured. Today, we
honour a man of undoubted integrity, a highly trained and gifted pilot, with
an inquisitive, deductive brain of high intellect. His selfless actions have
the respect of us all and he is an outstanding role model for today's
graduands.
Of all the many awards received, I am sure that Captain Vette will cherish
the one named after the Captain of the ill-fated DC-10 on Mount Erebus; the
Collins Memorial Award.
Mr. Chancellor, for all these reasons and many more, it is with great
pleasure that I now ask you to bestow the Degree of Doctor of Engineering on
Captain Alwyn Gordon Vette.
Professor R A McD Galbraith
16.7.98
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Nicola Rowe
<snipped speech about Captain Vette>
Thank you for posting that - it was very interesting
Captain Vette sounds like a person of great integrity.
Nicola
Brian Berkeley-White
Nicola Rowe wrote in message <6qch0n$a8g$1...@gwdu19.gwdg.de>...
I remember reading his book 'Impact Erebus' several years ago. He
traced very well the odd parallels and coincidences between the actual
flight path of Capt Collins' DC10, and the planned track. The final
sealer of the aircraft's fate was a problem very familiar to seasoned
pilots - "whiteout" - whereby a snowscape blends imperceptibly into the
sky. Capt Vette's reasoned, logical, and scientifically-valid arguments
against the pilot-error theory were very compelling, and it's sad that
he had to pay the price of 'going against the official line'. I
congratulate him on his honorary Doctorate.
Brian.
B J McDuff
>
> University of Glasgow
>
> Graduation Ceremony
>
> 16'th July 1998
>
> ALWYN GORDON VETTE
>
> Mr. Vice-Chancellor,
>
> By the authority of the Senate, I present to you this person on whom the
> Senate desires to confer the honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering,
>
> Alwyn Gordon Vette.
Thank you for posting that piece of news.
Does anyone know why the NZ news media have not told us this, given the
very solid reputation Gordon Vette has in this country?
Or did I miss it in the small print somewhere perhaps?
Owen McShane
>
> Does anyone know why the NZ news media have not told us this, given the
> very solid reputation Gordon Vette has in this country?
>
> Or did I miss it in the small print somewhere perhaps?
have to think of a tie but it should not be too hard.
Owen