Captain Erwin van Versendaal is for more than 20 years captain at a KLM Boeing 747. He started flying in 1962.
After his training for commercial airline pilot he started at first with flying as a privat pilot in the bush of Surinam.
At that moment there was no place by KLM yet. At this moment he's flying for KLM for already 33 years.
He was also 747 instructor and trainer in the simulator.
In may 2011 he will retire after a beautiful period. He really loves his work.
Last sunday it was his first time to be videographed! We made an appointment and so I went to Schiphol Amsterdam Airport to film this wonderful captain by his takeoff to Mexico City.
We kept in touch about the clearance. He phoned me also out of the cockpit to teel me that runway 24 was in use for his departure.
But I was already standing at the wright place to catch him.
When he turned onto the runway he gave me a sign with the landinglights.
And there he goes with full blast and max takeoff-load to Mexico.
The special thing was that he did also the atc.
After coming back a few days later he saw his compilation. And it meant a lot to him.
The special thing is that his father was also a Boeing 747 captain. This remarkable man is still crazy about flying.
The compilation about his son was very special for him also.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7gU-riDKX4