Check out this photo! So you might be wondering why I’m showing you a picture of some skinny-legged kid. Well, that kid grew up to be none other than Wandering Justin! Pretty crazy, eh?
Wandering Justin meets the captain and poses for a photo. Unfortunately, those days are long gone.
So aside from that being a much-younger me, there’s a bigger point here. Or really, several!
1. I’m having my photo taken with a pilot. This photo shows how the role of pilots has changed. Someone in 1979 snapped this photo of me, and I was clearly pleased to pose for a snap with a pilot. And he was clearly not put out by the effort. How many 5-year-old kids these days (incorrectly) view pilots as more than glorified bus drivers? I’m hoping a pilot will speak up on this point. Unfortunately for kids these days, the era of visiting the cockpit and posing outside the plane for a snapshot with the pilot is long-gone. It’s not like pilots’ skills have diminished – automation has changed things, but they still have to know how to fly and work all the flight management computers. Don’t believe me? Get yourself a copy of Laminar Research’s X-Plane simulator and just try getting the 747 to do anything. Multiply that difficulty times a thousand and you’ll get some small idea of what a pilot does.
2. We’re outdoors! I really love airports where you’re not confined to the indoors constantly. I love using the moveable staircase rather than the jetway. You get to see the outside of the plane. You feel the place you’re in. In the last five years, I’ve only done this in a few places: Belize City (Belize City), Brisbane (Australia), Gove (Australia), Nelson (New Zealand), Quepos (Costa Rica), Wellington (New Zealand). There’s something fun about it. The sights, sounds and smells are totally cool.
3. You’re looking at a TWA 707, a truly classic piece of hardware. Remember TWA? Ah, those were the days. Pan-Am, Braniff and its crazy liveries, PSA and those crazy-grinning planes of theirs … I thought it was all so cool. I guess the times, colors, names and many of the planes have changed. But one thing stays the same – for me, a huge part of the fun is just getting there. I may be 6’2 now, but I’ll happily squeeze myself into economy class for a 14-hour class and nary a whine will escape my gob.
The only thing I don’t miss about this golden age of air travel is the smoking section. Gak! That was the worst. Someone once said that a non-smoking section in a restaurant is like a non-peeing section in a pool. That goes triple for airplanes.
Justin! How’s life been treating ya? You know, I took you up on that dare. Fired up that demo, and pulled off a barrel roll right after takeoff. Problem is, I crashed in the middle of it. All 240 virtual passengers on board were killed.
But I digress. Looking forward to catching up on your posts.
Deft! Life is bueno. Good to see you back online. Are you back to blogging?
Yes and no. Omicron might start getting updated again, but I’m sure it’ll be sporadic. I’m sort of burned out on fiction writing. I also have a template in place for something new, but that’ll likely be sporadic as well. My 1st year of blogging taught me that I’ll never be good at it, in that it’s not something I can enjoy doing consistently for long periods of time. But it’ll be here if I get the itch, and that’s good enough for me.
Glad to hear you’re doing well!
Your post has given me a thought to write a post.
Best thing I guess was in those days we could still take our security for granted and get to enjoy an air travel to the fullest. These days, I wonder whether one is allowed to go to the cockpit. the barrage of security checks already makes you so tired. !! Times have changed.
It really is a different world, Tanmoy. I wonder how many kids would be so much more interested in science and aviation if they could see inside the cockpit. Or would it look so much like a computer game that it wouldn’t impress them at all? The gauges and dials in the older planes were a world apart, and so fascinating! My first intercontinental flight was from Chicago to Germany on Lufthansa, and I remembered that trip to the cockpit above all else (that, and the entire crew spoke like my dad). Food for thought.