Jumpseat

It wasn’t very often during four years of aviation training at Purdue University that my eagerness to attend class was less than enthusiastic. But it waned on the bad-weather days when the substitute for flying an airplane was the 1950s or ’60s Frasca simulator. After an airline career of referring to a sophisticated, multimillion-dollar Level […]

The focus of my 34-year career with the airlines has always been passenger safety and comfort. But on this particular flight to London, the focus went to the dogs. My copilot, Steve, and I were the links in a safety chain that prevented the early demise of one beloved collie. Unbeknownst to its owner, the […]

One of the most common questions asked of me as an airline pilot—and now as a former one—is, “Did you ever have any really close calls?” My coy response is usually, “The espresso maker on the Triple Seven quit just as we reached our North Atlantic oceanic entry point after departing from London.” The inquiries […]

As the Diamond DA42 Twin Star climbed northeast over Florida’s coastline after departing Daytona Beach’s Runway 7L, I grinned empathetically as Will Romualdo’s multiengine CFI student dealt with the process of correctly managing a simulated engine failure from the right seat. How many years had it been since I recited, “Dead foot, dead engine, mixture, […]

Even nonpilots can look at an F-104 Lockheed Starfighter and see it as the quintessential definition of a fighter jet. The shockingly short, almost straight wing is a contrast to the delta and swept designs of its day. The leading edge is literally razor-sharp, a characteristic that compelled Air Force mechanics to utilize a cover […]

After moving full time to northern Florida, attending Sun ’n Fun in Lakeland was an easy proposition. My Connecticut friends were making the traditional trek from the Northeast, which made the event even more desirable. They are a motley crew with diverse experience levels from aerobatics to corporate jets, with me being the only airline […]

Paul Holmes and I first met back in the late 1990s at Miami’s infamous Columbus Day Regatta in Biscayne Bay, a boating weekend of craziness. The regatta actually involves a sailboat race, but most are unaware because of their participation in the side event, which is a massive overnight rafting of boats in all sizes […]

The airplane looked absolutely the same. It was the same Piper Arrow II with the blue-and-silver accent ribbon that flowed from the tail to the nose against a white background. It was the same airplane that was displayed on almost 200 hours of my logbook pages. I smiled knowing that my former career as an […]

As I glanced down the parallel taxiway of JFK’s Runway 31L, the idea that this would be the very last time began to resonate in my psyche. The thought wasn’t debilitating by any means, but the concept hadn’t really taken hold until that moment. No more 777. No more trips to Heathrow. No more Cat […]

Although it’s old news, the accident involving a joyride by a ground service employee flying one of Horizon Air’s Bombardier Q400s from Sea-Tac Airport on August 10 still resonates. The flight terminated in a fireball on Ketron Island, approximately 30 miles southwest of Seattle. After almost four decades as an airline pilot, I’m left shaking […]