Why one pilot is recognizing Alcock and Brown's flight 100 years later
Pioneers made it with a sextant and a compass — Dave Paddon had it a lot easier in his 767
Dave Paddon made a career out of flying across the Atlantic, but the similarities between the journeys he made piloting a 767 and the first flight ever to make trip a century ago end with the path they took.
"When I flew the Atlantic my most difficult choice was chicken or beef," he joked.
"It had its share of challenges with weather and turbulence and so forth, but it was nothing compared to what Alcock and Brown did."
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Floatplanes land on Quidi Vidi Lake in celebration of historic transatlantic flight
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The 1st successful transatlantic flight, 100 years ago, set to be celebrated in St. John's
That first flight across the Atlantic was in an open cockpit biplane. The electrical system failed, so John Alcock and Arthur Brown didn't have heaters.
They took off from a field in St. John's and crash-landed in Ireland 16 hours later: the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic.
Paddon is helping organize some of the events to celebrate that very first flight and the connection to Newfoundland.
Now retired from flying commercially, he flies a little two-seater floatplane around Eastern Newfoundland.
He flew it up to Labrador once, and even then he needed to stop for a pee break.
He can't imagine taking it across the ocean.
"Really, this is a bit more advanced than what they had and even if I had enough fuel to get to Ireland I can't imagine doing it in that," he said, pointing to his little yellow floatplane.
It's not very big inside; you're touching shoulders with the person next to you.
The plane itself is amateur-built, the wings are covered in fabric, and it has all manual controls and no autopilot.
But even the handheld GPS is miles ahead of the compass and sextant used on that first flight; a hundred years ago, it was only thanks to a brief clearing of the clouds that allowed Alcock and Brown to use two stars to help guide their path, hitting land within just a few miles of where they intended.
For Paddon, now that his days of flying big planes across the Atlantic are over, he's happy to stick closer to home.
"It was a great career, I loved it, but I don't miss it," he said.