chapter 380

4/5/2015

Pilot Error

for God's sake open the Damn door

They say Jesus tomb was sealed shut. Just wonder if Jesus exclaimed, "For God's sake open the damn door!" A little Easter humor.

I used to be admitted to the flight deck back when I was part of the airline industry. In the above 1974 we were about to depart Hilo, Hawaii on a 747 first class. First officer, co-pilot invited me up while he was doing his preflight check list. Almost forgot, I wore used to wear the USAir uniform, but that was just for the softball team.

This departure was actually from 1973 Honolulu on our first trip of five to the Islands back when TWA and Pan Am (background) were still airlines, sad. Always loved taking pictures of the planes, but it gets boring for the average viewer. Always amazed how efficient these engines are, smooth steady sailing without a hitch for 6 hours non stop 4000 miles or so with nothing but ocean below. If you asked me could these behemoths get off the ground and actually fly, I'd say definitely NO.

We took Alitalia in 1973, this leaving Rome. I thought Arturo Ferrarin was the pilot but I now see the plane was dedicated to their WW 1 pilot.

The Italian stewards in the galley readying the cocktails were very polite and accommodating. They are usually the ones to go into the cockpit for any communication with the pilots. Pilots certainly exited the cockpit on these long distance flights. Andreas Lubitz worked as one of these flight attendants before he took 150 passengers to their graves in the Alps. When Lufthansa gave us free Christmas present trip to anywhere in their system, we chose Frankfurt, Germany for a great week's trip.

We flew into the Alps five times, literally. We had enough air miles logged to have gone around the world many times. I shot the top portion from the Schilthorn Mt. The cablecar goes up through the clouds to the revolving restaurant where James Bond fought Russian spies. Just beautiful, then ski down through the clouds. I can still visualize Clint Eastwood climbing up that Eiger Mt. on the left. Back at our hotel we dine with a bunch of pilots and stewardess' from our group. Too much self aggrandizing? We seized the moment.

Just one more. The Braniff 747 engines on the way back from England 1978 above cloud cover where it's always beautiful.

During MP school in 1969 there was a lot of plane hijacking going on and the government was trying to recruit us for the U.S. Air Marshall program. It was an attractive thought, would have been exciting and good for chapters, but just wanted to get back to NY.