This is your captain speaking - interview with Tomasz Smolicz
Retired captain, Tomasz Smolicz, was the first of the plane's pilots to utter the words "Here speaks your captain" to the passengers. His passion, professionalism and tenacity of purpose led him behind the controls of an Il-62 aircraft, which he flew on one of the first flights from Warsaw to Chicago.
First flights to Chicago - memories from the flight deck
In 1972, LOT Polish Airlines purchased the first Il-62s, one of which operated on the Warsaw-Chicago route. Were you working as a first officer at that time?
That's right, I was the co-pilot in the crew of Captain Damian Zhuchowski. The plane was named "Nicolaus Copernicus." The christening was held with great pomp at Olsztyn Castle. Afterwards, a memorial book entry took place at the Copernican Observatory in Frombork. In turn, to celebrate the opening of the connection from Warsaw to Chicago, a large banquet was held at the consulate there.
Now there are two pilots in the cockpit. There used to be crews of five, but they didn't just include pilots....
In addition to the captain and first officer, there had to be a flight engineer in the cockpit; in the 1970s and 1980s, basically all Western aircraft crews were three-pilots. Later, the crew was reduced to two pilots.
At LOT we actually had a crew of five: two pilots, a mechanic, a navigator and a radio operator. And why the presence of a radio operator? First of all, his advantage was his good knowledge of English. Well, among Polish pilots, the knowledge of English was at a rather weak level. These were pilots who came from the army, that is, already in their 40s, and at that age it is difficult to learn a new language, especially when Marxism and Leninism had been put into our heads until then.
Interestingly, the U.S. unions have requested from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration - ed.) that on long-haul flights one pilot is enough. Unofficially, the idea was that the other pilot could simply sleep. The FAA did not agree to this.
And where did the navigators come from in LOT?
Navigators came to us after the Naval School, and before that from the military. Some of the School's graduates first chose to work at sea, there they worked for 2 - 3 months without a break. Challenges began to arise as the men got married. Wives said "such a long-distance husband is not what I want," so newlyweds moved to LOT, because then they would return home after a few days, not months.
What language was the flight documentation in?
In Russian. A lot was translated into Polish, but never into English.
Operating the Il-62 aircraft
Coming back to the Il-62s, what was their introduction into service like?
Each of the aircraft had a flight over (test flight - editor's note) with the manufacturer, our crew performed at most the first familiarization flight. We were all already trained in the Soviet Union - both on the simulator and on the real aircraft.
Please tell us about the navigation systems that were used before the introduction of the radio-navigation Omega.
For many years, the best navigation system has been inertial navigation. When I started flying on the Il, Western aircraft had been using this navigation system for a long time. The Il-62, on the other hand, did not have this system. I was even surprised, because since the Russians were already flying into space, they had to use an inertial system (inertial navigation - ed. note). Apparently, it didn't make the transition from space technology to aviation technology, and both the Il-62 and Tu-154 planes didn't have an inertial system, only gyroscopic systems - much less accurate. When I left Il-62 in 1989, there was still no inertial system.
How were these systems different?
The gyroscopic system was a self-contained system. An aircraft equipped with this system was sufficient for it to work well. There did not have to be any stations on land. Omega, on the other hand, which was more accurate, already required stations on land. The inertial system was also a self-contained system, but we only encountered it in Boeings.
Why was it necessary to have a Russian navigator on board during flights in the USSR?
True, there was such a rule. We flew, for example, to Japan, via the Soviet Union. I suppose that a lot of navigation points were secret, in view of this the navigator had to be Russian.
Before the launch of transatlantic routes, did the Illes also fly in Europe?
Yes, they flew wherever there were a lot of passengers. And in those years the most.
Memories from Chicago
Which approach to landing in Chicago did you like best?
For a pilot who knew himself and knew what he was doing, there was a good approach from either side. On the other hand, there was a big queue to land. Sometimes you were tenth or twelfth in line. One had to wait.
What did this waiting look like in practice?
The planes waited one above the other, each at a different altitude. The one lowest was guided to land, then the others were lowered 1,000 feet (about 305 meters - ed.). Once in New York I waited 50 minutes.
The range of the Ilovas did not allow them to fly across the Atlantic without a stop for refueling.
Yes, very frequent stopovers were in Gander (a city in Canada, on the island of Newfoundland - ed. note) and Montreal. It was already getting to Gander with difficulty.
An additional tank in the ballast didn't help?
In the basic version there wasn't one yet! It appeared only in Ile-62M. We refueled in Gander. Then we were already flying directly to Chicago in 3.5 hours.
It can be said that every flight to Chicago took a different route. And not only because of the place of refueling, but also the weather conditions.
True, over the Atlantic there were established twice-daily corridors that had to be flown. The idea was to fly to America with the weakest contrary winds, and in turn, flying to Europe, to move with the strongest winds. The winds in Europe are always from the northwest. Therefore, this corridor system was changed every 12 hours.
What memories do you have of Chicago?
I liked flying to Chicago because I had a lot of friends there. And they were friends from ski trips in Poland. We flew twice a week - we flew out on Monday, then there was a three-day layover and only on Thursday the crew would return to Poland.
And what did you do during the three-day stay?
In the winter I went skiing, of course! I'm very fond of the sport, I was, in fact, a ski instructor. I spent time with my friends from Chicago.
After the withdrawal of the I³'s from LOT, you flew on Boeing 767s. How would you compare these planes in terms of piloting?
Pilot-wise they were similar, but electronically they differed by at least 30 years. The Boeing already had an inertial navigation system and much better flight automation than the Ilyushin. As for the volant movements themselves and piloting - it was similar.
Transatlantic flights involved not only the development of the fleet, but also the service. Did you have your favorite dish on flights to Chicago?
Everything was tasty, even then LOT's catering was diverse. I didn't have a favorite dish, but at home I was laughed at for being so used to eating from a tray on my lap that I don't even eat family dinner at the table, but hold the plate on my lap just now. This habit has stayed with me to this day.
Thank you for the interview!
Interviewed by: Marta Radzikowska
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