5 Comments on “”

1. katry Says:

   
   September 1, 2016 at 12:52 pm

   Cecelia Ahern quote
2. minicapt Says:

   
   September 1, 2016 at 5:38 pm

   The Logan Story:
   https://www.bostonglobe.com/specials/insiders/2014/09/24/bgcom-archives-logan/Q3p9nPoYBa8Vbqrne3VeJO/picture.html?p1=Article_Gallery
   … three DC-3s, probably all American Airlines.

   Cheers
   • katry Says:

     
     September 1, 2016 at 6:00 pm

     minicapt,
     My grandparents lived in East Boston. My uncle, only two years older than I, took my brother and me to Logan. It was quite the hike. I was probably 10. I remember Logan was mostly one giant Quonset type hanger. You could walk from one airline to another. I paid my dime and stayed at the roof lookout for a long time. I really wanted to fly somewhere on any plane.

     My mother was so angry she blustered.
3. Bob Says:

   
   September 4, 2016 at 11:53 am

   Think of how far we have come in just 60 years. Passengers walked on the tarmac to and from the aircraft. No security at all. Passengers wore suits and ties and woman wore heels and hats. You could accompany the passengers to the gate and everything was mechanical and analog. Traveling on an airplane was expensive and was a big deal. Most people rode trains, drove or took the Greyhound bus.

   One of my good friends helped restore a Continental Airlines DC3 and flew it to air shows before 9/11. It turned out that his father in law flew the same airplane when he was a pilot for Trans Texas Airlines in the 1950s. His father in law told me that a typical day’s trip was to depart Dallas Love Field in the morning and fly to Tyler Texas, then Longview, then Lufkin, then Port Arthur and finally Houston Hobby Airport for lunch. Then fly the trip back in reverse order in the afternoon. They didn’t have weather radar or pressurization and would bore through thunderstorms by turning up the cockpit lights full bright to keep from momentarily losing their vision from a lighting strike and tighten up their seat belts. They hand flew the trip because there were no autopilots. The stewardess would pass out the barf bags on taxi out and collect the full ones on arrival. His retired flight attendant wife called those flights, “The vomit comet”. The last DC3 came off the production line in 1942 and some are still flying today somewhere.

   While giving me a tour of the DC3 in 2000, I remarked that this airplane was from the era when aviation was dangerous and sex was safe. 🙂 Unfortunately, my friend who also flew internationally as Captain in a B777 for Continental passed away from cancer two summers ago in his early 60s. RIP Joe.
   • katry Says:

     
     September 4, 2016 at 12:29 pm

     Bob,
     In some places walking on the tarmac is still the only way to get to the terminal. It was that way in Morocco, in Marrakech, and that way in Ghana. I’m figuring there are probably more places like that.

     People now are so sloppily dressed. I remember being able to walk to the gate to greet people arriving. We used to wait for my sister to come from the jetway.

     I started traveling by plane in college. I used to go to New York for the weekend and once in a while flew from Boston to Hyannis. My first big flight was from Philadelphia to Ghana with a stop in Madrid for fuel.

     I haven’t had any trouble with being sick on a plane. It would gross me out to have people throwing up around me.

     Great story about your friend and the DC3.

     It is always horrible to lose a friend. I’m sorry.

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