Les Abend

The captain of the 767 tilted an ear toward his cockpit speaker. The controller was calling their flight number. The first officer was flying the airplane. “Transglobal 63, cross two-zero miles south of XRAY intersection at flight level two-five-zero.” The captain was about to read back the clearance, but was interrupted by another airline checking […]

Larry had a relaxed demeanor when he introduced himself in JFK Operations. He had been a Super 80 captain based in Boston for quite some time. Now he was transitioning to the 767/757. I was his check airman for the international qualification portion of his Operating Experience (OE). He had already completed the domestic portion […]

The month of August was not typical. Carol and I normally spend the summer enjoying our home in Connecticut. But on this particular occasion, we had filled part of the calendar with out of town excursions. One of the excursions was a week on Lake Powell with a handful of airline friends. The other event […]

Wedged into a middle seat of coach, I attempted to concentrate. A 767 operating manual sat on my lap. It was as good a time as any to review again. I was deadheading to DFW for my nine-month recurrent training. It would be the first recurrent training I would attend as a check airman. And […]

As I sat down, I scanned the faces in the classroom. Some faces I recognized, most I didn’t. They were all captains from my airline. I turned toward the man that was speaking. Les Bowle’s voice was even-toned and relaxed. Les would be one of my new bosses. I glanced at my partner sitting in […]

Jim, my copilot, peered at the computer screen as I tapped the appropriate codes onto the keyboard. We both glanced at the green display that appeared. Yup … our airplane was late as usual-almost 40 minutes. We were departing La Guardia, flying to Miami, and then on to Port of Spain in Trinidad. Little did […]

My copilot walked over to the counter top in JFK Operations where I had scattered various segments of the flight plan paperwork. His pace was quick. He introduced himself and apologized for his slight tardiness. He had commuted in from South Carolina to La Guardia and had taken a taxi ride through rush hour traffic […]

As we ate breakfast at the kitchen counter, Carol and I fixated on the TV in the corner. CNN was reporting, ad nauseam, on the foiled terrorist plot in the UK. An innovative plan for mass murder on commercial airliners had become part of terrorist ingenuity. For those of you who are familiar with Bomb […]

Eagerness brought me to Miami Operations an hour prior to my scheduled sign-in time. After almost 22 years with the airline, I was doing something new. I wanted a non-rushed opportunity to review material that I was not completely comfortable with. My trip was to the Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport in Paris. I was […]

My simulator instructor grinned, “So, your captain has gone unconscious. It looks like he just had a heart attack. You’re flying. What do you do?” I knew it was a trick question, but I was a probationary pilot with less than a year at the airline. I felt obligated to give him a by-the-book answer. […]