AVweb Classics

It isn’t often that an airline flight crew has time to go to a football game during a layover. Many years ago when I was a plumber on the old DC-8 we used to have beacoup Detroit layovers, which meant we were laying-over in Ann Arbor at the venerated Ann Arbor Inn.Those layovers were seasonal […]

A Boeing 767 can taxi up a shallow-grade taxiway on one engine and no additional power. I should know — I have been taxiing big airplanes up the hill in Atlanta next to Delta’s Jet Base for over 28 years now.The key to the whole conga-line taxi thing is to take your time and not […]

Ladies and gentlemen, I said on the PA, I know this defies belief, but we aren’t delayed in any way today. There is no gate hold, no ATC delay, and we have all the necessary paperwork to dispatch this flight.The catering, such as it is, was placed on board 20 minutes ago and all of […]

Our airline had come out of bankruptcy and all of us were still alive. Poorer financially, yes, but wiser to the ways of the world and just how much credence to give to the promises of politicians and managers from both sides of the labor/management divide.With any reorganization, changes are bound to come. Our pilot […]

The company had issued a call, asking that employees bring in ancient artifacts of an airline gone by — ours. The company’s museum was expanding. Now that we were almost out of bankruptcy it was time to start spending money irresponsibly again before we forgot how.The museum is a wonderful place, situated in a corner […]

“I can’t figure it out,” said Sid, my co-pilot. “The airplanes keep getting bigger but the coffee cups keep getting smaller.” He was looking askance at his shot-glass-sized coffee that the flight attendants had just brought up.”I wonder why they are so stingy on coffee. The passengers are just going to bug them for a […]

Animals and aviation have always had a close relationship. You’ve got your Flying Tigers, your Mustangs, and even the venerable B-52 has earned the name “the BUFF,” although I don’t think that name refers to the American Bison.I was thinking these thoughts recently at a dog agility trial where our Corgi was preparing to absolutely […]

I always enjoy going to pilot retirement parties because they make me feel so young. Tonight’s party was no different. There was the retiree, Paul, who had just gotten off his last flight from Tokyo and was beginning to celebrate his newfound non-captain-ness. Others in the group included the ubiquitous happy family, old pilots who […]

It was the kind of night that people always think of when they envision airline flying. Clear and a million and smooth as a baby’s backside.There was no moon and as we headed east over the west side of the Rockies, the only interruption from the star-filled darkness was the occasional meteor entering our atmosphere. […]

If you snuggle down deep, a La-Z-Boy recliner can actually begin to feel warm. This is especially true if you cover yourself with an unfolded newspaper as you try and snooze in a cold pilot lounge. We were trying to out-wait a mid-December snowstorm and I was trying, in vain, to nap the time away.It […]