VEH o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-11-04 published
Bob MacWILLIAM,
Aviator: (1937-2005)
Pilot became aviation detective who sifted through the evidence
for royal commissions that investigated two fatal air crashes
By Danny GALLAGHER,
Special to The Globe and Mail, Friday, November
4, 2005, Page S7
Toronto -- As a young child, Bob
MacWILLIAM loved to build model
airplanes. He realized his boyhood dream of becoming a pilot,
logging more than 20,000 hours with the Royal Canadian Air Force,
Qantas and Air Canada.
Air
Canada thought so much of Mr.
MacWILLIAM, he was hired to
be a trainer and check pilot. His expertise also made him a renowned
hired hand at special hearings, commissions and tribunals. When
fatal air crashes took place in Cranbook, British Columbia, and
in Dryden, Ontario, Mr.
MacWILLIAM was hired as a technical adviser
to the royal commissions of inquiry.
Mr. MacWILLIAM joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in the mid-1950s
and stayed for 10 years. He flew CF-100s, all-weather fighter
planes, in Baden-Solingen, Germany, during the Cold War of the
late 1950s. He married his wife, Nancy, an Royal Canadian Air
Force nurse, while posted in Germany.
In 1962, he completed his flight instructor's course. "I used
to envy Bob a lot because he loved his job so much," his widow
said.
He retired with the notion of joining Air Canada but there were
no openings, so he headed to Sydney and flew for Qantas, Australia's
national airline. Less than two years later, Air Canada offered
him a job. For the next 31 years, he flew as captain of the Airbus
A-320, Boeing 767 and 727, and was chief instructor for the 727.
Along the way, Mr.
MacWILLIAM helped design and implement the
pilots' safety awareness program for Air Canada, a scheme that
includes a system of anonymous incident reporting.
His expertise was also required when Transport Canada, through
initiatives of Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau and transport
minister Otto Lang, came up with the idea that air traffic controllers
should be bilingual. Mr.
MacWILLIAM was appointed technical representative
for the Canadian Airline Pilots' Association at a commission
of inquiry. His report to members was unflattering.
"French is not the international language of the air," Mr.
MacWILLIAM
said. "Imposing the use of two languages into air traffic control...
constitutes a degradation in the safety of the Canadian air traffic
control system. To impose, for political reasons only, the use
of another language into that environment is irresponsible."
His remarks made their way to the 1976 annual meeting of the
International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations, where
they were endorsed by 65 member countries. Because of that, Canadian
Airline Pilots' Association declared Canada's air traffic control
system unreliable and
on June 19, 1976, the pilots went on strike.
Air traffic controllers had already declared job action and for
nine days nothing moved at Canada's airports.
"Bob was my technical safety expert from 1974-78 when I was president
of Canadian Airline Pilots' Association," said Ken
MALEY, then
a senior captain with Canadian Pacific. "Trudeau was interested
in bilingualizing everything in Canada. Bob and I and the pilots
wouldn't accept this idea. The issue festered for about 18 months
and we drew the line and decided to close Canadian air space
for safety reasons. I felt it wasn't safe for the pilots to fly
when we didn't know if the air traffic controllers were working
or not working."
On February 11, 1978, a Pacific West Airlines Boeing 737 crashed
at the airport in Cranbook, British Columbia, while trying to
avoid a giant snow blower. Forty-two people died and Mr.
MacWILLIAM
was made the senior technical adviser at the ensuing Dubin royal
commission of inquiry. In his report, Mr. Justice Charles
DUBIN
criticized the Ministry of Transport for its procedures regarding
clearing aircraft to land at airports that do not have a control
tower. He also was critical of the fact that the company operating
manuals and training did not inform pilots that once the "reverse
thrust" was applied after landing, the throttles could not be
advanced to take-off position for a "go around." Much of the
technical data had originated with Mr.
MacWILLIAM.
"The people involved with that inquiry thought the world of Bob,"
said Fred VON
VEH, then legal adviser to transport minister Don
MAZANKOWSKI.
In 1989, Mr.
MacWILLIAM served a similar role after an Air Ontario
Fokker F-28 jet crashed in Dryden in March of that year, killing
24 people. The plane had been headed for Winnipeg but crashed
shortly after takeoff. It had sat on a runway under an accumulation
of snow and then tried to get airborne. The crash prompted another
royal commission, one headed by Mr. Justice Virgil
MOSHANSKY.
The inquiry became the definitive study on the problems of deicing
aircraft. Among its recommendations, the report said planes should
be deiced at the gate holding area and then the process repeated
before they queue for takeoff.
"Bob was very helpful... really smart. He brought a lot of expertise
to the table," Judge
MOSHANSKY said from Calgary.
After he retired, Mr.
MacWILLIAM formed Macavia Aviation Consultants
and was president of both the Canadian International Air Show
and the Canadian National Exhibition.
Bob MacWILLIAM was born October 26, 1937, in Salisbury, New Brunswick
He died of respiratory failure stemming from pulmonary fibrosis
on July 22, 2005, in Toronto. He is survived by his wife Nancy,
sister Valerie, daughter Barbara and sons Casey and Michael.
V... Names VE... Names VEH... Names Welcome Home