For airnav

[DC10FE]

Kurt,

Could you send me your email address again? I found that article on SR111 that crashed off the coast of Newfoundland.

Don R.

[airnav]

Hello Don,

It's [email protected]

Hey! Tell the story to everyone on Herkybirds about the A1C who became a Skipper on the L-100 and loved to throw his former rank around.

Kurt

[davis]

This should be a great story are (THIS AINT NO BULL S**T):D

[DC10FE]

Well, it's not really much of a story, but "there we were."

Back in 1985, when I was flying out of Khartoum to the Darfur region with St. Lucia Airways, my captain was an ex-Transamerica capitan named Fred Kreppein, aka Non-sked Fred. He spent 4 years in the USAF as an instrument specialist and got out as a 2-striper. That was back in the early 1960's. After getting all his flying certificates, he started flying as a Connie FO up on the North Slope of Alaska. He also flew Khadaffi's C-130's, Bird Air's C-130's & some other "interesting" stuff for Southern.

Anyway, to make a very long story a little shorter, he used to love wearing his A2C rank insignia pin, especially when he had some retired colonel pulling the gear for him. In Africa, he used to jump all over them whenever an African controller would ask us what type of airplane we were. If the colonel said we were a C-130, he would go ape-s**t & jump on the radio & say we were an L-382 since, as a C-130, the controllers would assume we were military.

Don R.

[DC10FE]

Kurt,

I just tried to send you the SR111 article, but the mailer demon bounced it back saying your address was "unavailable or access denied." WTF?

Don R.

[airnav]

Sorry Don,

Try [email protected]

Thanks again,

Kurt

[davis]

Well, it's not really much of a story, but "there we were."

Back in 1985, when I was flying out of Khartoum to the Darfur region with St. Lucia Airways, my captain was an ex-Transamerica capitan named Fred Kreppein, aka Non-sked Fred. He spent 4 years in the USAF as an instrument specialist and got out as a 2-striper. That was back in the early 1960's. After getting all his flying certificates, he started flying as a Connie FO up on the North Slope of Alaska. He also flew Khadaffi's C-130's, Bird Air's C-130's & some other "interesting" stuff for Southern.

Anyway, to make a very long story a little shorter, he used to love wearing his A2C rank insignia pin, especially when he had some retired colonel pulling the gear for him. In Africa, he used to jump all over them whenever an African controller would ask us what type of airplane we were. If the colonel said we were a C-130, he would go ape-s**t & jump on the radio & say we were an L-382 since, as a C-130, the controllers would assume we were military.

Don R.

Thanks for the back in the day story.:cool:

[Bob L]

To add to Topgun's storey about Fred K. What he said and much more is all true. The guy has been there and done that. LM presented him a 25,000-Hour Certificate and Plaque back in November 1992, and before retiring, he probably logged another 6 to 18 thousand hours; no telling how many he really flew without logging. On the ending note, Fred is a great guy and one of the best Herc pilots ever.

[DC10FE]

Bob,

You're right -- Phred is an icon in the gray world of the non-skeds. He's probably got way more hours than the 25,000 hour plaque you guys gave him, although he hasn't flown in quite a few years. I think the last airplanes he few were Botswanan B-models; around 1997, I think.

Don R.

[Guest]

Someone should invite him here.

[DC10FE]

Casey,

I've thought about inviting him here, but Phred is a man of few words when it comes to a keyboard. Emails from him consist of the barest of essential words -- like "called you - no answer - call me." He'd rather use his phone to call a friend in Johannesburg than an email.

Don R.

[DC10FE]

Kurt,

Did you get the article on SR111 that I emailed & if you did, what did you think?

Don R.

[GV-1]

Well, it's not really much of a story, but "there we were."

Back in 1985, when I was flying out of Khartoum to the Darfur region with St. Lucia Airways, my captain was an ex-Transamerica capitan named Fred Kreppein, aka Non-sked Fred. He spent 4 years in the USAF as an instrument specialist and got out as a 2-striper. That was back in the early 1960's. After getting all his flying certificates, he started flying as a Connie FO up on the North Slope of Alaska. He also flew Khadaffi's C-130's, Bird Air's C-130's & some other "interesting" stuff for Southern.

Anyway, to make a very long story a little shorter, he used to love wearing his A2C rank insignia pin, especially when he had some retired colonel pulling the gear for him. In Africa, he used to jump all over them whenever an African controller would ask us what type of airplane we were. If the colonel said we were a C-130, he would go ape-s**t & jump on the radio & say we were an L-382 since, as a C-130, the controllers would assume we were military.

Don R.

I flew for Transamerica from 1977-1986. I flew the Herc from 1977-1982 before going on the DC-8. I knew Fred. Back in early 1982 I flew out of Khartoum/Port Sudan down to Malakal and El Muglad hauling oil drilling rigs for Chevron. I was there a month ensconced in the Khartoum Hilton. I knew Fred well. He was a legend in his own mind. Those were fun times. No FAA, flying world wide into some of the most un godly places. Short dirt strips, no weather available, no approaches and no communications. Spent time in Angola flying supplies to the diamond mines during the civil war.

[DC10FE]

Another funny tale about Non-sked Fred. We both got hired by St Lucia Airways at the same time (10/85). As we were taxiing to the Khartoum terminal on the Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt, I heard Fred mutter, "Oh crap." (Fred muttered a lot.) When I asked him what the problem was, he replied that there were 2 Transamerica Hercs loading up on the ramp. He then said he was on a medical leave of absence from Transamerica and this was gonna be a difficult thing to explain. It all turned out OK, though.

Don R.

[skyguy]

Hi all,

First time on this forum. I found it while browsing through the FAA Airman Data Base looking up former students and work colleagues; in particular Fred "non-sched Fred" Kreppein. I did a Google search and came up with this site.

Fred certainly was a legend in his own time. I first met Fred when I was flight instructing at Sierra Academy in OAK back in the late 70's. Fred was an ATP student of mine and had just recently gone to work for TransAmerica. Of all of the many students that I had, Fred was probably the most memorable, a great, funny guy and also a "good stick." I really looked forward to our training sessions as there was sure to be some type of interesting "war story" to be told.

Later, when I became a "Freight Dog" myself, flying for Emery, Purolator and UPS, I ran into many people who also knew of "non-sked Fred", all having an interesting tale about him; I especially remember someone telling of having run into Fred at CDG. he was carrying a Silver saddle that belonged to Gaddafi. He was flying his Herk. I recall when he was my student, he had mentioned something about maybe flying Herks SINGLE PILOT in Lybia!

Garrett M.

[DC10FE]

Garrett,

Fred lives in the MIA area now. He married a woman from Botswana. A few years ago, he had an operation to remove some cancer from hi lungs, but they've returned and he's been on chemo for the last few months. Knowing Fred, though, he's probably still smoking. I think he only lit one cigarette a day from a lighter -- all the rest were off of his previous cigarette. Luckily, when I flew with him, I was a smoker, too.

Don R.

[skyguy]

Garrett,

Fred lives in the MIA area now. He married a woman from Botswana. A few years ago, he had an operation to remove some cancer from hi lungs, but they've returned and he's been on chemo for the last few months. Knowing Fred, though, he's probably still smoking. I think he only lit one cigarette a day from a lighter -- all the rest were off of his previous cigarette. Luckily, when I flew with him, I was a smoker, too.

Don R.

That sounds like Fred. If you are in contact with him, tell him "Gary," his ATP instructor from Sierra Academy sends his regards.

Fred was some what of an inspiration to me. We were talking about flying large aircraft, I having not flown anything larger than a Cessna 310, was wondering how difficult it would be to make that transition. Fred said "sh*t, nothing to it, an airspeed indicator and an altimeter are the same as in a cessna 150, just fly the gauges!"

BTW Don, do you recall the Transamerica Cafunfo tragedy? I'm sure you do. The F.O. that was a casualty, was a friend of mine- Bill Reid. I had been Chief Pilot at West Air Airlines in the early 80's, flying Cessna 402s up and down the CA coast and had hired Bill as a Captain. He had just been R.I.F.ed out of the A.F., and had gone through a divorce when I hired him. He flew at West Air and eventually got hired at Pacific Express, which was a part of West Air holding, which was also the parent company of

West Air Airlines (later to become a UAL regional). Bill had tried desperately to get on with P.E., which was flying BAC-111s. They then leased a B-737 and put it into passenger operations. Bill was so determined to work for P.E. that he bought a B-737 type rating, after which he was hired by P.E. He was on his first I.O.E. trip on the 737 when they closed their doors! Talk about a string of bad luck: RIFed, divorce, lost job at P.E., reminds me of the character in L'il Abner with the constant dark cloud over his head. Anyway, shortly after that, I ran into him and told him that the gal that had been in personnel at P.E. (cannot recall her name) was now in personnel at T.A., and that he should contact her. He did and was hired. Some time later, I ran into Bill and he was telling me about how great it was to fly the Herk in Africa. That was just before the ill fated trip to the Diamond mine, and I guess you know the rest.

Garrett

[DC10FE]

Garrett,

I haven't been in touch with Fred for a few years.

I flew with Bill Reid when he was a C-130 co-pilot at Dyess AFB, TX. Nice guy. If you go to the gallery, check out msn 4101. There are photos taken by Hank Bathey (the TA VP of Operations) a week or so after the incident. Bill was killed when the UNITA rebels fired into the open ramp and door. The captain was a German named Gerhard Von Opel. They had been instructed not to land unless there was contact with the ground. They never made contact, but Von Opel elected to land anyway. The crew was captured and forced to walk 600 miles to the UNITA base in Jamba. They arrived 2 1/2 months later.

There's an article about it in the December 2007 issue of Airways magazine.

Don R.

[skyguy]

I remember those 2 1/2 months, His family went through hell not knowing exactly what was going on. Bill had just remarried before going to TA and his wife was, understandably, a mess through this whole ordeal. There were all kind of rumors about what had happened to the crew, not knowing exactly, until finally, the remainder of the crew had walked out to civilization. There's also an article about this whole ordeal in "Air Line Pilot" Sept 1985 issue by C.V. Glines.

Cheers,

Garrett M.