WHO’S WHO

Successfully Yours: Captain Vagn Christensen

by Dr. Iain Corness

Vagn Christensen, a retired Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) pilot from Denmark is an average sized man with a larger than life heart. He has been instrumental in bringing over 80 million baht of charity contributions to this country, yet has done so without fanfare or looking for personal kudos. In fact, most people in Pattaya would never have heard of him. This article will hopefully redress this situation. People such as Vagn Christensen deserve to be recognized by the rank and file as well as by those in “high places” already in the know.

He was born in Aalborg in Denmark, the home of Danish Schnapps. His father was an electrician and when Vagn was 16 years old he was apprenticed into the trade. “It was natural,” he said. He embarked on the 4 year apprenticeship.

However, the young Vagn’s teacher at school had been a pilot. “He made it sound so interesting.” With this in the back of his mind, he gave up his apprenticeship after 3 years. “I ran away to become a fly boy,” he said mischievously.

Each year there were over 1200 aspiring pilots and only 40 pilots’ seats to be filled. His was successful and he became an air force pilot, staying with the Danish air force for 7 years, including a stint in Canada, but mourned the loss of many of his pilot buddies, losing 42 colleagues in that time. In those early days of jet planes, it was not the safe profession that it is today.

Vagn Christensen then joined SAS as a pilot, and ended up staying with them for thirty-three and a half years! He considers that SAS was the best working place in Denmark, but also says that, “If you pick work you enjoy, you never have a dull day in your life.” That is probably the most sage advice that could ever be given to the youth of today.

At SAS he rose through the ranks, finally being a Captain Flight Instructor, passing on his knowledge and expertise to the younger recruits. “That was the most interesting time in all of my flying. I saw the female pilots coming in. They had to be 25% better than the males just to get in. They studied very hard and knew the basics. They were serious.” With his blue eyes twinkling, Vagn also added, “I always enjoyed their company.” However, it should be pointed out that he is still a happily married man, having married an air hostess. (I always suspected more goes on at the flight deck than we are told about!)

With the expansion of SAS into Asia in 1976, Captain Christensen was one of their lead pilots on the Bangkok to Manila route, which then returned to Bangkok via India. With the schedules in those early days, it meant that after each round trip he then had 7 days off in Bangkok. “It was a paid vacation.”

This idyllic state lasted for 18 months, during which time he met Father Ray Brennan of the Pattaya Orphanage. This occurred at a Rotary International meeting Vagn attended in Bangkok. The Rotary connection was also something that Vagn had picked up from his father, who was not only an electrician, but also a Rotarian in Denmark.

This resulted in Vagn and his wife visiting the Pattaya Orphanage. In those early days there were 18 children living there, all sleeping on the bare floor. His first words to his wife were, “We have to get some beds for these kids.” This he arranged through other Rotarians who worked in SAS, and the Pattaya connection became strengthened.

To raise money for the charity work he envisaged in Pattaya, Vagn Christensen did not spend his time shaking a collection box under people’s noses. He devised money making schemes that appealed to people, and used his own expertise and connections. The answer was sightseeing flights, such as over Jutland in a 747 at 1,500 feet, giving the passengers a once in a lifetime opportunity, and the profits from these flights were then the opportunity for life for some needy children in Pattaya.

For one of the trips he even rented a Concorde, which took everyone on board over Scotland and back in under an hour, flying at more than twice the speed of sound. And how much did it cost to rent a supersonic airliner? “1.198 million new francs. I can still remember signing the contract,” he said. By the way, that converts to something under 7 million baht. A tidy sum to have to put your name to and be responsible for.

In this way he has raised enough money to build, amongst other projects, the Deaf School for Father Ray, who acknowledged this by making the school uniform colours the red and white of Denmark. There is also a Danish flag which flies in the courtyard of the school.

His continuous charity work has led to the formation of the Ronbe Rotary Club Pattaya Foundation and a strong core of supporters of the Pattaya Orphanage who through monthly commitments send 250,000 baht each month for food for the children. His personal commitment has been so strong that this charity work has now gone beyond just Rotary and now includes the Lions organization as well. This commitment has been noted and a few years ago he was presented with a Friend of Thailand award, but to meet this self effacing man, you would not know it.

I asked him about his own ambitions, but he said simply, “I live from day to day. I’m satisfied with what I have.” That in itself is surely the hallmark of success.

Now 68 years old, the retired pilot comes over three times a year as a tour facilitator from Denmark, dispensing charity as he sees the need. The Rotary creed includes the statement - Service Above Self. Vagn Christensen is the embodiment of that ideal. I was humbled in his presence.