At the end of September we invited 96-year-old Harry Hofmann, a pioneer of Swiss aviation and one of the last survivors from the navigator’s profession, to join us on a special tour of Zurich Airport. The “Tour de SWISS” was conducted by our tour guide and ex-Airbus A330/340 captain Mario Achermann – who was once Harry’s student, too!
Harry Hofmann passed on his knowledge of navigation and astronomy to over 3,000 pilots in his time, and carried on doing so to the age of 83. He also spent 1987 to 1992 in Gabon, running a pilots’ school on behalf of the UN (see box). Now 96, Harry still has the airline bug, and is a keen follower of all of today’s industry developments. So at the end of September his former student and current SWISS tour guide Mario Achermann took him behind the scenes at our company for an “up close and personal” view of aviation today.
It was just after 09:00 when Harry and three of his colleagues reported to the Zurich OPC. All four retirees were active with Swissair or other aviation-related companies; and they all live today in the same retirement home in Rümlang, close by Zurich Airport’s Runway 10/28. The charming gents were very impressed by the OPC: in their day, this impressive building with its state-of-the-art Meteo Schweiz weather centre had simply not existed!
The first stop was the pilots’ briefing room. And here Harry was immediately recognized by one of his former students, who reminded him of an amusing story he had once told his class of having a lion in the cargo hold of a Douglas DC-6 and giving it frankfurters to eat! Harry grinned and reminisced – about the motions of the tides, and how he had applied his seafaring knowledge to the aviation world. He was as amazed as his retiree colleagues at Meteo Schweiz’s satellite photos of the latest weather conditions, and its forecasts for all the various zones.
Next up was a visit to Network Operations Control (NOC), where the dispatcher used a flight that was currently en route to Tokyo to explain our flight planning today. Once again, Harry was clearly enthralled: in his time, he had been the one who guided the pilots aloft.
“I feel so at home here”
The NOC was followed by the highlight of the tour: a visit to one of our Airbus A340s. After a walk around the aircraft, 96-year-old Harry mastered the airstairs with aplomb. And while they left him a little fatigued, a quick breather and the chance to see the cockpit had him up on his feet again and as eager as ever. Mario Achermann, who has been serving as one of our SWISS tour guides since he retired from his flying duties, led the party through the cabin and then offered his guests a comprehensive survey of all the cockpit instruments. Harry just beamed. “I feel so at home here,” he enthused.
All in all, the special tour gave Harry and his companions a host of memories and impressions. And it certainly stirred the emotions. Harry is determined to be around for the arrival of our new Boeing 777s, too. And it was with a “See you next year!” that he said his goodbye.
Harry Hofmann’s career
Harry Hofmann was born in the Zürcher Oberland in 1918. He began his aviation career at Dübendorf Aerodrome in 1937, when he started an apprenticeship which would qualify him to be an air traffic controller.
In the Second World War Harry served as a radio operator on the newly-established Swiss Merchant Fleet. Assigned to the S/S Lugano, he attended navigator school in Lisbon and then went to sea.
The end of the 1940s brought the dawn of modern-day civil aviation. And Harry became a tower controller at Zurich’s new Kloten Airport, which opened in 1948. When Swissair began its first transatlantic services, Harry would occasionally go along when a radio operator was required. In 1956 he completed additional air navigation training. He soon became an instructor, too – a role he performed in parallel with his navigator rotations over the North and South Atlantic, and also on Swissair’s new Far East routes.
After retiring from cockpit duties, Harry remained an astronavigation instructor within Swissair’s pilot training organization until his final retirement from work. He also spent five years in Gabon in West Africa from 1987 to 1992, training line pilots under a UN-sponsored programme. And he continued to train would-be pilots on a private basis until the end of 1999. Harry was also the longest-serving member of the Joint Aviation Authorities’ International Coordination Group.
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