Blenheim aviation company Safe Air is all about engineering these days, but for most of its 60-year life it was an air carrier with an iconic fleet and a reputation for efficiency.
A Safe Air chief pilot for a decade, Keith Beattie, 88, arrived at the company in 1951, the year after its inception, and the year it received its first two Bristol 170 freighters.
The company built up a fleet of 13 of the bull-nosed planes at its height and they became the symbol of Safe Air.
In 1951 the company was small with only two planes and a handful of pilots, Mr Beattie said.
The company started with a contract for the New Zealand Railways Department air freight contract over Cook Strait.
"The mechanised loading system could turn the aircraft around in about 15 minutes; that really got the contract in the beginning," he said.
The aircraft were loaded and unloaded almost simultaneously by a system which pulled the cargo from the plane on rails to a mechanised platform, which then transferred it straight onto waiting trucks.
From that beginning Safe Air began flying all around the country, he said.
Mr Beattie flew the Bristols for 23 years before transferring to the Argosies when they entered the fleet in 1973.
"They were a good company to fly for. That [the Argosy] was a nice aeroplane to fly – a turbine prop aircraft, four engine, much larger than the Bristol, and with a pressurised cabin could get above the weather a bit."
Mr Beattie was forced to retire from Safe Air by New Zealand aviation law when he turned 55 in 1977, he said.
"You had to retire from [commercial] flying at 55 ... no question about it. You reached 55 and that was it."
Noel Mangin, 79, of Witherlea, joined Safe Air as a pilot in 1966 after working as a top-dressing instructor in the North Island and as a freight and passenger pilot out of Deep Cove in Fiordland.
Two years later he was out of a job and back into top dressing after about 15 pilots were laid off from the company. However, five months later he was rehired by Safe Air and stayed until he retired in 1986.
At its height, Safe Air was a strong company with contracts and flights all over the country, he said.
There were all sorts of flights made, including the four daily mail runs, passenger services and freight carriage.
At its busiest, there were five Safe Air planes flying five "straits" (return trips over Cook Strait) a day, which took about 10 hours, he said.
It was possible to make so many trips in a day because of the speed the planes could be turned around, he said.
"From the time the aircraft landed, taxied, unloaded and loaded was 20 minutes. It was unique the loading system we had – to the world actually.
"Safe Air in its heyday was a great little company ... it was well run, and the maintenance of the aircraft was excellent. Everybody knew each other and worked in well together, and we saw the best of the flying compared to today's. Today, it's all computers and everything; it's a different outlook on what we went through."
Mr Mangin loved flying.
"I always worked on the basis that flying was better than working. Flying's more than a job. It's freedom. Top dressing was complete freedom in an aeroplane."
Mr Mangin flew the Bristol 170 freighter, which was the mainstay of the Safe Air fleet throughout its air-carrier life until they were sold in 1986.
"It was a very forgiving aeroplane to fly and it performed well – that was the main thing."
The plane was used to carry both freight and passengers.
"Freight doesn't growl at you like passengers do, but it must have been gold plated to go through some of the weather and the s... that they wanted you to take it," he said.
The pilots were astute when it came to the weather though – they knew it backwards, he said.
The Bristol could fly comfortably with a cross-wind under 40kmh and that was strictly adhered to, he said. "Otherwise, it starts getting a little dicey trying to land the thing. If your limitations are over, you don't go in, or you don't leave . If you exceed them, then you're being stupid."
When Mr Mangin retired in 1986 there were 36 pilots working at Safe Air. "I was virtually going out with the Bristols; they were being retired at the same time that I was," he said.
The company continued its air operations with the Argosies until Safe Air was reformed as an engineering company in 1990 by its parent Air New Zealand.
Twenty years after its transformation the company has retained the innovation with which it began, Safe Air general manager Heather Deacon said. "That's quite a Kiwi trait to come up with innovative ways of solving problems; because of its [New Zealand's] relative isolation, people had to make do with the resources around at the time."
The company had to ensure it stayed one step ahead of changes in the industry.
Maintenance of new aircraft was different to the work needed for older machines, Mrs Deacon said.
Safe Air also had to take opportunities presented. The Ministry of Defence White Paper released this month outlined a move toward contracting and civilianising support roles for the Air Force which was right in Safe Air's alley, she said.
The company was already looking at ways to take advantage of the change, she said.
Design was a part of the company which could be more prominent. In the past the design department was a support for the engineering workshop, but it could draw in work on its on right, she said.
An example of Safe Air's potential was a contract 18 months ago for the outfit of 12 aircraft which was worth more than the Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion and C-130 Hercules contracts combined.
Safe Air was home and dry for the contract to plan the upgrade, fit the upgrade and provide experienced staff for technical support. The company secured the contract through the high standard of its work and its ability to do the job, she said. However, the contract was scuppered by a massive 30 per cent increase in the kiwi dollar compared to the United States dollar, which the two companies could not absorb, Mrs Deacon said. "This demonstrates the ability of this company still, to go out and secure this high-value work that would see this company grow and prosper."
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