My father, my resident expert of all things aviation, wondered in an e-mail to me about the recent 'extended' Northwest flight from San Diego to Minneapolis.In case you hadn't heard, a pilot and co-pilot overshot the Minneapolis airport by more than 150 miles when they were otherwise occupied (some say sleeping, some say arguing and today they said they were reading on their personal computers) and simply missed their airborne exit ramp.
So my father wonders, what with all the new airline fuel and baggage fees, if Northwest will now bill the passengers on the flight for the extra fuel used in the sightseeing flight over Wisconsin. You know, with all the airlines bad public relations, it wouldn't really surprise me if they tried.
By the way, my father is a docent (and a darn good one) at the Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport near D.C. He gives a great tour. My father served in the Army Air Corps in World War II and was a general aviation pilot during my formative teenage years.
Unfortunately for him I never got the 'flying' bug and when he asks me what kind of aircraft I flew on during a trip, he gets very frustrated when I say, "a big one with two or three engines." Not that I don't love flying, my favorite assignment remains the assignment and story on my flight on the B-24 "Liberator" bomber that visited Flint.
He wants details and I give him, well, not details. Above is a photo of my Dad during a tour he gave my wife and I at the museum. Its a great museum with some really great exhibits. One of my favorites is the Enola Gay, the bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
2 comments:
He still looks great, like he did in the Intuit ad. If we ever get back to D.C., I'll make it a point to have a tour! Was it the DC-9 he liked so well ? DC-6 ? DC-something??? I can imagine he's having a great time with the tourists!
My father has an unhealthy romance with the DC-3. But you were close. Yes, he's in great shape, much better than me. Works out every day at the gym and, of course, walks a lot at the museum.
He loves his docent duties, even though they pay him nothing.
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