Bright sunshine from historic Ferihegy

I guess young people to-day are enjoying their days working at Budapest Ferihegy Airport as we did when we were young and felt that the whole world was ours. There was bright sunshine in those narrow corridors even on rainy days, making even the government-issue gray office doors look somehow inviting.
Of course the sphere came not from the building but the people working there, the people who often did not feel the need to take a holiday because they liked their work so much! We were an enthusiastic lot that is for sure.
It is difficult to pick any one person to write about and not worry that I hurt the others, after all, they all had a story to tell that would deserve a place on Roger-Wilco. Come to think of it though, there are a few who were so well liked and so completely part of the scenery that writing about them would feel natural to everyone else.
The story of Istvan Toth (nickname in Hungarian Totyi) will no doubt bring back memories for most of us old-timers and perhaps give some guidance to those belonging to the younger generation.

Totyi was hired by Malev on 17 December 1969 and he started work in the department that provided the air traffic control service in Hungary. Yes, back then the national airline was running ATC… When the Air Traffic and Airport Administration (LRI) was set up in 1973, he continued there and finally retired on 1 February 2008 from HungaroControl, the ANSP that was formed from the ATS parts of LRI in 2002.
He has spent 40 years and 155 days in aviation and I think that he was one of the best known people at Ferihegy Airport. You know, the kind of guy who, if seen standing next to the pope, would have visitors asking: who is that guy next to Totyi?

He was the ultimate administrator and a superb troubleshooter. He also knew aviation in general and Ferihegy in particular inside and out so it was easy to explain to him what the problem was and one could be sure that he would devise and implement the best solution possible in the circumstances.
A pilot complaining about the way ATC handled them? Totyi was dispatched to talk to him and in no time at all any plan to file an official complaint was off the agenda, replaced by an enthusiastic exchange of airplane pictures and other memorabilia.

Totyi still has what is probably one of the biggest airplane picture collections in the country and his air force pilot insignia collection is also second to none. But above all, his enthusiasm about the business and honesty was what won people over.
When we introduced a new badge system at the airport, running the small lab that produced the badges was entrusted to him for the initial period when several thousand new badges had to be issued within a few weeks’ time with new photos made in place. The ID making machine from Polaroid was on the export control list and it was not possible to buy it on the open market. A bit of fancy footwork solved that problem with an Austrian company happily delivering it a few days later. Totyi organized the whole ID making process with skill and nobody had to wait in line too long to get his or her fancy new badge. The airport was divided into operating areas for the first time, color coded with the colors also on the badge to show who was authorized to access which areas. This did create some grumbling because it was the end of free roaming on the airport during work time. It was several months later, with the initial badge making operation over and the lab transferred to the security department that we discovered that a few (unauthorized) people did have badges that allowed them to go anywhere… Remember, this was decades before 9/11 and there was no possible harm in this. It was simply a bit of “quid pro quo”…

I think no other person before or since was absent from his desk so often and was so difficult to find as Totyi. Mobile phones were still to be invented and he never carried a portable radio wandering airport folks usually do. He just disappeared and then reappeared in his own good time like magic. Yet no boss would dream of complaining. Totyi never ever missed a second from work even when he was on one of his rounds of the airport. He made a point of knowing everyone and being known everywhere and his network of contacts was an asset of immense value.
A walking encyclopedia of aviation knowledge, he was always ready with information for old hands and newcomers alike. If there was anything frustrating about him it was how often he was right in his answers.

Aviation enthusiasts are not normally expected to have a poetic side but Totyi was extraordinary also in that respect. He wrote poems and articles in the company paper and ran matinee shows where he hosted well known celebrities. He travelled far and wide and added what he learned from other people to the basic wisdom he brought with him to begin with.
Totyi’s contribution to aviation in Hungary has been recognized already while he was still active and this included the Golden Ring awarded after 25 years of continuous service and the commemorative plaque given after 35 years.
When I talked to Totyi while preparing this article, he sounded cheerful as always and full of appreciation of the nice things the future can still bring. I did not expect anything less!
On occasion when I hear airport colleagues complain about problems, I am always tempted to say: if only you had your own Totyi…