THE TWENTY THOUSAND HOUR CAPTAINS

To have flown over 20 000 hours takes dedication and skill. To have spent over a quarter of a century flying for one airline company requires dedication, perseverance and loyalty. Nineteen MMA captains clocked up 20 000 hours or more and two more captains who flew with the airline for part of their careers also reached over 20 000 hours.

Some of these pilots got their initial flying experience during World War II and started flying with MMA in the decade after 1945. Almost all of them then were still flying during the 1980s when airline flying had changed radically. When these pilots started flying with MMA the airline’s main aeroplanes were ex-war Avro Ansons, Douglas DC-3s. When MMA went to turboprop and pressurised Fokker Friendships in the 1960s these pilots converted on to them and when MMA introduced the pure jet F-28s a decade later they again stepped up to them.