thedrifter
03-06-06, 07:50 PM
Charters: Fun flights and somber stories
USA
Is there something you want to know about air travel? Send Captain Meryl Getline an e-mail, and she may publish it in an upcoming column. By e-mailing her (include your name and town), you are agreeing to have your question shared.
Question: Is it fun working charters? I've read many moving stories from World, TWA and Pan Am crews about how memorable those flights were during the Vietnam war.
—Rick Garner, San Francisco
Answer: I suspect much of the flying public doesn't realize how much charter work is performed by the airlines. The answer is I personally find flying charters a lot of fun, but sometimes it can be a wrenching experience as well. I'll get to that later, but first the fun stuff.
Some of the most entertaining charters I've flown have been for various sports teams, such as the San Francisco 49ers. At the time I flew the 49ers' charter, I was "plumbin' on the 10." (Translation: I was a DC-10 flight engineer, sometimes referred to by pilots as "plumbers.")
I was on reserve, which meant I got called to do flights which were not assigned to more senior pilots. If there were charters to be flown, they often went to management pilots and/or reserve pilots. Although I'm not a huge football fan, it was a thrill to meet Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Bill Walsh and the rest of the team on their way to the Superbowl.
It was not considered polite to ask for autographs, but what was acceptable was to post a team picture near one of the airplane galleys that team members could choose to sign as they walked by. I have a gorgeous full-color photo of the team which I cut from a newspaper the day before the flight, which was indeed signed by many of the players.
There was an unusual aspect to that flight. The captain, a manager for the airline, thought it would be just the thing to spiff up the airplane and he took it upon himself to hire a crew to paint "49ER LINER" on the side of the airplane the night before the charter. He didn't ask for permission before he did it, and when he did get around to asking, it's my understanding the airline told him no. Too late as the paint job was already done, and the airline kept it for years after. It made me smile every time I saw it at various airports.
One of the most exotic charters was from Honolulu to Tahiti for one of the major cruise lines. Another one was flying a baseball team to Berlin, long before my airline flew to Europe on a regular basis.
Once, when I flew a Chicago Bears charter, it was the dead of winter and insanely cold. I was still a second officer (flight engineer) and it was my job to do the mandatory walk-around inspection of the airplane before we departed. As I walked out the door, bundled up to the hilt to try and keep from freezing to death, two of their linebackers insisted on escorting me out the door and all the way around the airplane as I did my inspection. They were just the thing to block the wind and some of the biting snow, and they even gave me some chemical warmers for my hands, the kind that warm up when you hold them. At the time, I had never seen such a thing and was so intrigued I left my gloves behind and used these instead.
During the Persian Gulf War, so many B-747's were used for military charters that it left somewhat of a shortage of planes on certain routes. I was sent to Auckland, New Zealand for a few weeks to fly back and forth to Sydney, and occasionally to Honolulu as a result of this shortage. Since the DC-10 didn't normally fly these routes it was quite exotic for me although I did not forget the reason I was there, especially as a veteran myself.
More recently, some months ago I flew a military charter to a drop-off point in the Middle East. Here is a picture of the entire cockpit flight crew as we were leaving a U.S. military base on our way to Germany. Notice who is holding the box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, donated to us by the base along with some other goodies for the flight. The troops would stay on board while the flight crew laid over in Frankfurt. The next day we would fly a different set of troops to the Middle-East drop-off point and pick up another load for the return to Frankfurt.
It surprised me how upbeat most of them seemed to be, even more so when I learned it was the second or even third tour of duty for many. Here is a photo of Captain Jimmy Smith, saying goodbye to the cockpit crew after landing at the Middle East drop-off point. I befriended him on this trip and have kept in contact during his mission in Iraq. You can see in this photo how cheerful he looks even though he's headed off to war:
When the door first opened at the drop-off point, a young, attractive female captain stepped inside, took the public address handset and boomed, "Welcome to the sandbox!" That got a big laugh and immediately eased any initial apprehension. A casual observer would have thought we were dropping them off at summer camp, but it gave me a jolt to keep remembering the dangers this group was about to face.
After all the troops had deplaned, Major General Webster, who flew onboard this trip and whom I've since occasionally seen on the evening news reporting from Iraq, posed with my entire crew and gave me his permission to include this photo in my column:
On this flight we had four pilots for the long round trip flight from Frankfurt to the Middle East drop-off point. When I was introducing all of us to the troops, of course I mentioned that all four of us were either currently or formerly in the military services, including the Air Force, Marines, Navy and Army. This brought a very loud round of applause and I'm sure they appreciated knowing all of us up front had also served military time (one was still flying in the Air Force reserves and may still be, as many airline pilots do.)
One of the last of the troops to deplane gave me a giant flag, signed by many of the troops onboard. Today it hangs in my house and my thoughts are with all the troops every day.
An interesting upshot of that trip was that instead of having the regular layover in Frankfurt, usually around 26-30 hours, this trip gave us 50 hours on the ground. I could not resist taking the eight-hour train ride to Innsbruck, Austria, to see if I could find the family that played host to me when I was a teenager. If you're interested, you can read my account of this trip, along with other stories about airline life, on my blog site.
Read previous columns
Meryl Getline is a pilot, author of the award-winning book The World at My Feet and a keynote speaker for corporate and other gatherings. She also publishes her own websites, fromthecockpit.com and flyingfearless.com. All opinions expressed in this column are exclusively those of Capt. Meryl Getline. If you have a question, send it to her at travel@usatoday.com, acknowledging she may use it in a future column.
Ellie
USA
Is there something you want to know about air travel? Send Captain Meryl Getline an e-mail, and she may publish it in an upcoming column. By e-mailing her (include your name and town), you are agreeing to have your question shared.
Question: Is it fun working charters? I've read many moving stories from World, TWA and Pan Am crews about how memorable those flights were during the Vietnam war.
—Rick Garner, San Francisco
Answer: I suspect much of the flying public doesn't realize how much charter work is performed by the airlines. The answer is I personally find flying charters a lot of fun, but sometimes it can be a wrenching experience as well. I'll get to that later, but first the fun stuff.
Some of the most entertaining charters I've flown have been for various sports teams, such as the San Francisco 49ers. At the time I flew the 49ers' charter, I was "plumbin' on the 10." (Translation: I was a DC-10 flight engineer, sometimes referred to by pilots as "plumbers.")
I was on reserve, which meant I got called to do flights which were not assigned to more senior pilots. If there were charters to be flown, they often went to management pilots and/or reserve pilots. Although I'm not a huge football fan, it was a thrill to meet Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Bill Walsh and the rest of the team on their way to the Superbowl.
It was not considered polite to ask for autographs, but what was acceptable was to post a team picture near one of the airplane galleys that team members could choose to sign as they walked by. I have a gorgeous full-color photo of the team which I cut from a newspaper the day before the flight, which was indeed signed by many of the players.
There was an unusual aspect to that flight. The captain, a manager for the airline, thought it would be just the thing to spiff up the airplane and he took it upon himself to hire a crew to paint "49ER LINER" on the side of the airplane the night before the charter. He didn't ask for permission before he did it, and when he did get around to asking, it's my understanding the airline told him no. Too late as the paint job was already done, and the airline kept it for years after. It made me smile every time I saw it at various airports.
One of the most exotic charters was from Honolulu to Tahiti for one of the major cruise lines. Another one was flying a baseball team to Berlin, long before my airline flew to Europe on a regular basis.
Once, when I flew a Chicago Bears charter, it was the dead of winter and insanely cold. I was still a second officer (flight engineer) and it was my job to do the mandatory walk-around inspection of the airplane before we departed. As I walked out the door, bundled up to the hilt to try and keep from freezing to death, two of their linebackers insisted on escorting me out the door and all the way around the airplane as I did my inspection. They were just the thing to block the wind and some of the biting snow, and they even gave me some chemical warmers for my hands, the kind that warm up when you hold them. At the time, I had never seen such a thing and was so intrigued I left my gloves behind and used these instead.
During the Persian Gulf War, so many B-747's were used for military charters that it left somewhat of a shortage of planes on certain routes. I was sent to Auckland, New Zealand for a few weeks to fly back and forth to Sydney, and occasionally to Honolulu as a result of this shortage. Since the DC-10 didn't normally fly these routes it was quite exotic for me although I did not forget the reason I was there, especially as a veteran myself.
More recently, some months ago I flew a military charter to a drop-off point in the Middle East. Here is a picture of the entire cockpit flight crew as we were leaving a U.S. military base on our way to Germany. Notice who is holding the box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, donated to us by the base along with some other goodies for the flight. The troops would stay on board while the flight crew laid over in Frankfurt. The next day we would fly a different set of troops to the Middle-East drop-off point and pick up another load for the return to Frankfurt.
It surprised me how upbeat most of them seemed to be, even more so when I learned it was the second or even third tour of duty for many. Here is a photo of Captain Jimmy Smith, saying goodbye to the cockpit crew after landing at the Middle East drop-off point. I befriended him on this trip and have kept in contact during his mission in Iraq. You can see in this photo how cheerful he looks even though he's headed off to war:
When the door first opened at the drop-off point, a young, attractive female captain stepped inside, took the public address handset and boomed, "Welcome to the sandbox!" That got a big laugh and immediately eased any initial apprehension. A casual observer would have thought we were dropping them off at summer camp, but it gave me a jolt to keep remembering the dangers this group was about to face.
After all the troops had deplaned, Major General Webster, who flew onboard this trip and whom I've since occasionally seen on the evening news reporting from Iraq, posed with my entire crew and gave me his permission to include this photo in my column:
On this flight we had four pilots for the long round trip flight from Frankfurt to the Middle East drop-off point. When I was introducing all of us to the troops, of course I mentioned that all four of us were either currently or formerly in the military services, including the Air Force, Marines, Navy and Army. This brought a very loud round of applause and I'm sure they appreciated knowing all of us up front had also served military time (one was still flying in the Air Force reserves and may still be, as many airline pilots do.)
One of the last of the troops to deplane gave me a giant flag, signed by many of the troops onboard. Today it hangs in my house and my thoughts are with all the troops every day.
An interesting upshot of that trip was that instead of having the regular layover in Frankfurt, usually around 26-30 hours, this trip gave us 50 hours on the ground. I could not resist taking the eight-hour train ride to Innsbruck, Austria, to see if I could find the family that played host to me when I was a teenager. If you're interested, you can read my account of this trip, along with other stories about airline life, on my blog site.
Read previous columns
Meryl Getline is a pilot, author of the award-winning book The World at My Feet and a keynote speaker for corporate and other gatherings. She also publishes her own websites, fromthecockpit.com and flyingfearless.com. All opinions expressed in this column are exclusively those of Capt. Meryl Getline. If you have a question, send it to her at travel@usatoday.com, acknowledging she may use it in a future column.
Ellie