Aviation memories

"A high level of modesty and a deep willingness to share knowledge” were the impressions that Michael Mascarenhas, trustee of the J. R. D. Tata Memorial Trust carried away of the legendary industrialist after their first meeting in 1975. Mascarenhas was speaking on "The human face of JRD” at a function to commemorate the 111th birth anniversary of Tata (which occurs on July 29) at Taj Land’s End Hotel in Bombay on October 31, 2015. It was a chance encounter, he reminisced, as they were seated alongside each other on one of the first non-stop flights of Qantas from Bombay to Europe. "Aren’t you from the planning department?” queried the then 71-year-old Tata, leaning across and tapping Mascarenhas on the knee. Mascarenhas was then a junior officer in the planning department of Air India. The "10 very short hours” just flew by discussing aviation trends, shared the trustee who served the national carrier for 33 years and retired in 2001 as managing director.

The second interaction took place in Tata’s office in the last few years of his life when Mascarenhas went to present him with a photograph of Juhu Airport as it was in the 1930s, sent by Rolls Royce with a signed copy from the then managing director of the aircraft engine supplier. Tata was at an age when most other people would take credit for whatever they had done — and not done — grinned Mascarenhas. But the Bharat Ratna awardee did no such thing. "I don’t deserve this,” the chairman emeritus told Mascarenhas. "Nevill Vintcent deserved this,” he said softly recalling that it was Vintcent, the South African aviator who was instrumental in choosing the engine for the celebrated first ever flight of the duo of Tata and Vintcent. Tata in a De Havilland Puss Moth had carried mail to Bombay, and Vintcent then took over for the leg to Madras.
The chairman of the Trust, Capt D. S. Mathur opened the proceedings with a welcome to the audience. He set the tone for the theme of the day, "Trends in Indian aviation,” stating that the Indian airline business grew this year at 8.6% as compared to the worldwide average of 4.1%, and quoted Tata that "No success in material terms is worthwhile unless achieved by fair and honest means.” S. Venkat, joint managing director of Air India, standing in as chief guest for Ashwani Lohani, chairman and managing director of the airline, delivered the keynote address in which he stated the airline had set for itself an on-time target of 90% by 2017-18. India’s national carrier, which has its genesis in the erstwhile Tata Airlines, now flies to 1,269 destinations worldwide via its Star Alliance partners, he revealed.
Guest of honor Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief executive officer of GoAir, the airline foray of the Wadia group, laid down his wish list for vibrancy in the airline sector: sustainable growth, reduced input costs, simplified tax burden, competition between new airports and service providers, facilities for pilot training and easing of operational constraints.
Awards were presented to Rishabh Rana, best trainee pilot of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi and Thomas Pereira of Air India for best maintenance service engineer. Quiz and painting competition winners from among the children of Air India Modern School were also felicitated. Capt Russi Bunsha, executive trustee of the Trust offered the vote of thanks.
The technical session that followed the tea break was chaired by Babu Peter, also a trustee. Panelist Srinivasan Dwarkanath, managing director of Airbus India called Tata one of his idols while expressing bullishness for growth in the aviation sector. "Traffic will double in the next 15 years,” Dwarkanath said, adding that 29,230 new aircraft would be inducted into the country in the next 20 years. Panelist Kishore Jayaraman, president for India and South Asia for Rolls Royce was also bullish about the future of the airline industry in India.
Speaking to Parsiana on the sidelines of the meeting, Bunsha a second generation Air Indian explained that the Trust was set up by a group of like-minded senior executives of Air India in 1995 to "perpetuate the memory of Tata and to keep his legendary honesty and integrity alive in the public eye.” Ratan Tata was its first chairman. A group of 10 ex-Air India executives serve as trustees. Membership is open to the public and largely comprises those connected with the aviation industry.
Bunsha, who has over 16,000 flying hours under his belt reveals that the 100th birth anniversary of Tata was celebrated on a grand scale by Air India, and included the installation of Tata’s statue in the Air India complex, a proposal initiated by the Trust.