White, Richard Newport ('Dick')

by Terry Clavin

White, Richard Newport ('Dick') (1924–2010), pilot and airline executive, was born on 21 May 1924 in Peter Street, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, the second child and eldest son of Richard White, a bank manager of Peter Street and later of Bayly Farm, Ballinaclough, near Nenagh, and his wife Mary (née Waller). In his youth he enjoyed stalking game, fly-fishing and sailing, and was first educated with his siblings and friends in his home. His schooling continued at Castle Park, Dalkey, Co. Dublin, and then at St Columba's College, Rathfarnham, Dublin, where he excelled at hockey, rugby and cricket. When the second world war began in 1939 he absconded to Belfast to enlist in the RAF. The recruiters discovered he was 15 and sent him back to school.

In 1941 he won a scholarship to study civil engineering in Cambridge, but joined the RAF before finishing his degree. Trained as a Spitfire pilot, he was transferred to a transport squadron and flew DC-3s in the Burma campaign during 1944–5. Apart from eluding enemy fighters, he also had to navigate by dead reckoning over mountainous terrain and through dense clouds and monsoons. After the Japanese surrender, the British brokered peace in the Indonesian war of independence, and he flew many of Indonesia's future rulers to negotiations, becoming friendly with them in the process.

Returning to Cambridge in 1946, he felt too old to resume his studies and continued in the autumn to Dublin where Aer Lingus was seeking pilots with DC-3 experience. Boasting over 1,600 DC-3 flying hours, more than anyone on the Aer Lingus payroll, he was hired as a second officer and made a captain within a year, piloting both the DC-3s and Bristol Wayfarers on all the company's routes. He later settled at Baily, Howth, Co. Dublin, where he lived with his wife Faith and their son and daughter. A founding member of Malahide Yacht Club, he relaxed by sailing, fishing and gardening.

From October 1953 he spent a year on secondment with British European Airways in order to gain experience with the Vickers Viscount and was the first Aer Lingus pilot qualified to fly that model. He then oversaw the introduction of the Vickers Viscount into the Aer Lingus fleet. Similarly, in early 1960 he was one of three Aer Lingus pilots who attended flying courses in Seattle for the Boeing 720 jets with a view to training in the rest of their Aer Lingus colleagues. This process required the pilots to relearn their aerodynamics and cope with more challenging approach and landing phases. Appointed chief pilot on the Atlantic route in April 1960, on 18 November of the same year he flew a 720B-48 from New York to Shannon in 4 hours 57 minutes – a transatlantic record that stood for ten days. He also broke the Shannon–Boston record in May 1962.

In February 1970 he was the first Aer Lingus pilot to operate the Boeing 747, which he lauded as a pilot's delight, particularly in comparison with the troublesome 720B. He had retired from active flying three months earlier to concentrate on his management career after promotions to flight operations manager (1962), operations manager (1966) and assistant general manager (technical) (1968). Bearing primary responsibility for flying standards, he was active in the flight-training school established by Aer Lingus in the early 1960s, which attracted trainee pilots from airlines in the developing world. Colleagues described him as modest, self-deprecating and principled. An international authority on the role of human error in aircraft accidents, in 1973 he joined the technical committee of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

In 1975 he became founding chairman of Aer Lingus's aircraft-leasing associate Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA), which initially relied on contracting surplus Aer Lingus employees by providing flight crews and maintenance workers as part of its aircraft-leasing deals. Continuing as a director, he stepped down as chairman in 1978 to assume the chairmanship of Air Tara, a new GPA subsidiary formed to handle maintenance contracts and the five leased aircraft flown by GPA employees.

Despite his significant role in GPA's early progress, White clashed with its chief executive, Tony Ryan (qv), who was eager to shake off Aer Lingus's control and frustrated by its refusal to provide more funding. Having little appetite for boardroom confrontations, and with GPA increasingly concentrating on just leasing aircraft as opposed to operating them also, White resigned from the company in 1981, citing philosophical differences with Ryan. In 1982 he became chairman of Aer Lingus's recently established aircraft engine overhaul contractor Airmotive Ireland, which thrived after a difficult start.

Aer Lingus's successful commercial diversifications drew funds and executive talent from the core airline, the day-to-day responsibility for which fell to White when he was appointed chief operating officer in October 1979. Denied the political backing needed to bridle his truculent workforce, he was reluctant to challenge the status quo and so initially failed to reverse an ongoing collapse in operating standards instanced by late flight departures, lengthy passenger queues and the aircrafts' unkempt interiors. Following a financial crisis within Aer Lingus in the early 1980s, he effected a marked improvement in punctuality, cleanliness and customer service, but these achievements were threatened in the mid 1980s by an ageing fleet and renewed staff militancy. In any case, the emphasis on providing a better service ignored public resentment at the ongoing rise in airfares.

The government's decision in 1985 to license a private competitor, Ryanair, alarmed Aer Lingus staff, allowing White to force through operational and financial efficiencies in the late 1980s. Nonetheless, Aer Lingus was struggling to cope with a rapidly deregulating aviation environment upon his retirement as chief operating officer in 1989. He remained chairman of Airmotive for another year, and continued into the early 1990s as head of an IATA task force responsible for investigating the problem of airport and airspace congestion throughout the developed world.

Dying of cancer in a Dublin hospice on 5 June 2010, White was cremated in Mount Jerome crematorium in Harolds Cross, Dublin. He was survived by his estranged wife, their two children, and his partner, Jennifer.