Random Thoughts About Airplanes

This is my favorite airplane of all time.
IT was awesome!











When I was little my folks would bundle us up, and drive to the Wausau Airport (AUW) to watch the airplane(s) take off. The airport is on a bluff overlooking the Wisconsin River and a few pilots have not made their way up and away and have lost their lives off that bluff. But I have a fascination for airplanes. This one, is the first plane I ever flew in. From AUW to Chicago's O'Hare (ORD) to connect with a TWA Boeing 707 to fly nonstop to Los Angeles in 1967. Hot stuff. And I got to fly in front of the curtain too.
Whoo Hoo. That was one perk of my mom marrying someone who worked in the airline business back in the late 60's. We had a pass that had a date of 361101, seniority, I even got to see some pilots wait for me to get on board. And in the 70's that was special.

When my kids were little, we'd bundle them in the car, drive through McD's and go park at the VSP Lot now renamed Lot B at 111th and Aviation and watch the jets go screaming past us as they headed towards 25 R and 25L to land. It was as exciting for me as it was for them.

I loved to fly. I loved looking down over land and sea and thinking about who was down there at this very second looking up and wondering who was up in that plane? But sadly the airline business has suffered.

Customer service on domestic American carriers has been allowed to falter. Being a flight attendant isn't glamourous anymore, it's always been hard work, and was rewarded with decent pay and benefits. The powers that be however feel that management deserves bonuses and golden parachutes, while the employees are lucky to have a cardboard backpack to hang on to. Of course we'll never go back to the golden days of domestic travel, where even in coach you got a good meal, free music to listen to, and a seat that didn't make you feel like your knees were in your chest.

I don't have any connection to the airlines anymore. I was in the periphery when I decided to be patriotic and go to work for the organization that makes you take your shoes off. Doing that gave me a ruined shoulder and probably pain for life. But I saw how people treated other people, and how people gave up common decency for petty power.

Maybe the next trip I'll take will be on rail. I could have a lovely experience for a 1st class price, taking a couple of days, and see places from a ground level. Could be done.

Thoughts over.
Ciao.
-30-