Interview conducted by Mauree Jane Perry on October 22 and November 15, 1999.
Final transcript
The interview describes Captain Wood Alexander Lockhart’s career a Second Officer, First Officer (Copilot), and Captain (Pilot) with United Air Lines beginning in 1965; early interest in flying; training and licensing as a private and commercial pilot; decision to work for United; requirements for employment, hiring process, and training; airplanes he flew: Lockheed Lodesta, Cessna 140, Douglas DC-3, DC-6, DC-7, Sud Aviation Caravelle VI-R, Vickers Viscount, Boeing 737, 767, 747, and 757; routes he flew: Chicago to Newark, Detroit, Lansing, South Bend, Fort Wayne, Des Moines, and Pittsburgh, and San Francisco to Hong Kong; experiences with United; effect of seniority; United’s decline in fortunes in the late 1960s; comments on the management styles of William A. Patterson, George Keck, and Richard Ferris; issues behind pilots’ strike against United in 1985; describes United’s programs to improve the culture among flight officers; changes in the industry through his career; experiences with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the union’s role in promoting aircraft and airport safety, and his service on various safety committees; earning his Ph.D. in Art and Architectural History from Northwestern University in 1972; dissertation on airport design and safety; relationship between airline safety and carrying capacity, the importance of safe runway design, and the effect of existing airport designs on the development of new airplanes; thoughts on the runway configuration at San Francisco International Airport (SFO); service on national and international committees on airline safety: chairmanship of ALPA’s Airport Standards Committee, the International Federation of Airline Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA), IFALPA’s Aerodrome and Ground Environment Committee, and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Aerodrome Design Study Group; awards and citations: ALPA Certificate of Appreciation (1974), the ALPA Presidential Award for Outstanding Service (1982), the ALPA Air Safety Award (1996).
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