Falcon Jet Family Breakfast:
FSI's Ueltschi Remembers First Years of Falcon Jet
Though it was 40 years ago, in May 1963, Al Ueltschi remembers
every detail of the beginnings of the Dassault Mystère Falcon
program, his close association with Pan Am's Juan Trippe and his
treasured relationship with Charles Lindbergh, his childhood idol.
"But, I can't remember where I just parked my car,"
Ueltschi quipped, much to the amusement of the 800-plus Falcon operators,
employees, suppliers and affiliates at Wednesday morning's Falcon
Jet Family Breakfast at the Peabody.
Ueltschi started his commercial flying career as Pan Am founder
Juan Trippe's personal pilot, flying a piston-engined Lockheed.
Not unlike some of today's business travelers, Trippe "wanted
the Lockheed because he didn't want people to know where he was
going and what he was doing," Ueltschi explained.
But it was too slow on westbound flights in the U.S., so Trippe
said to Ueltschi, "Skipper, we got to get a jet," according
to Ueltschi's recollection. At the time Charles Lindbergh was a
consultant to Trippe. While Ueltschi and Trippe were in Paris, they
met Lindbergh, who had inspired Ueltschi at age 10 to become a pilot
when Lindbergh completed his historic solo transatlantic flight.
Lindbergh urged Ueltschi to visit Bordeaux to see this new airplane
called the Mystère 20.
"I remember saying, 'How do they (Dassault) know how to build
(business jet) airplanes?', especially with all the new regulations
coming about," Ueltschi explained. "When I got there,
I found they knew more about the regulations than we did,"
Ueltschi said. After that, he had an opportunity to fly the Mystère
and said he immediately liked the aircraft.
The first models were priced at $650,000. "There's been some
inflation since then," Ueltschi observed with a smile. Ueltschi
continued to fly for Pan Am for another 17 years, because "I
couldn't make any money in the training business," he claimed.
Ueltschi's fortunes, though, eventually reversed and he sold FlightSafety
International to Warren Buffett.
--Fred George
Dassault's J-F Georges to Retire
Jean-François Georges, who was the chief engineer on
the Mystère, is ending a distinguished career at Dassault
that spanned almost four decades, Bruno Revellin-Falcoz, the
firm's vice-chairman, announced Wednesday. "But not completely.
We look forward to many, many more years of collaboration,"
Revellin-Falcoz added. Georges will stay on as a part-time
consultant.
Revellin-Falcoz and Georges have known each other since
being schoolboys. They jointly founded the first rugby team
at their high school. "Blood may be thicker than water,
but rugby is thicker than blood," Revellin-Falcoz reflected
upon his 50+ year relationship with Georges.
Among Georges' accomplishments at Dassault are contributions
to the Hirondelle twin-turboprop development program, the
variable stability Falcon 20 research program and work on
the 150-passenger Mercure. A true "renaissance man,"
according to Revellin-Falcoz, Georges is a veteran alpine
pilot, an accomplished mountaineer and a virtuoso saxophone
player who leads his own well-known jazz band.
Revellin-Falcoz also saluted Suzanne Georges, Jean-François'
"muse and companion" as well as his wife of 38 years.
