There were benefits this way: limited traffic on the interstates; when I made FOUR passes through the airport and around its perimeter while attempting to locate the entrance for long-term parking, there were few cars adding to the frustration; I had passed through TSA security and found my gate prior to 7:30; opportunities to 'people watch', nap and begin a new book, and being less fatigued when I arrive.
By Atlanta, O'Hare, LaGuardia, etc. dimensions, this is not a large facility. There are the usual "Do not leave your luggage unattended", beware of "suspicious" persons routine announcements. Arrival and departure announcements are generally intelligible . . . quite different from those formerly heard in train and bus terminals. "The train for Hackenburdgsackentbridgere will be leaving from gate twentylevenbluemillion at eleventyeleven . . ."
Airplanes and airports and I have a long history. Contrary to what some might allege, I was not at Kill Devil Hills when Wilbur and Orville Wright made their initial flight. It was, however, a 'big deal' in the 1940' and 50's when our parents took my brothers and me to the old Raleigh-Durham Airport observation deck to watch the planes come and go.
Do you remember your first-ever flight? Mine was in 1962, flying from Greensboro, NC, to Lexington, Ky. At that time, the airport in near-by Winston-Salem was still a commercial facility.
Almost immediately after takeoff, the pilot began the approach to Winston-Salem, a part of the itinerary of which I was unaware. The plane shook, the retro engines whined and roared and I was sure that I was about to die.
Even so, the following year, when "Uncle Sam" began expressing an interest in having me in 'his' military service, I went to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base for tests for Officer Training School. I passed the general exam and the navigator exam. I knew that my math skills were not adequate for the pilot test. The following day, I 'failed' the vision exam. Thereafter, I joined the only Army Reserve Aviation unit in the state and my MOS (military occupation) was aircraft flight dispatch. Being stationed at the Third Army Flight Detachment in Atlanta, I often had opportunities to fly on 'hops' with the pilots. After the Cuban Missile Crisis had passed, I flew one Saturday with a couple of Captains who were transporting a "Bird Colonel" to Cape Canaveral. It was a small two engine L-23 with the door beside the co-pilot's seat. Soon after becoming airborne, the door 'popped open'. The co-pilot managed to hold it shut and the pilot received permission for emergency landing at the Atlanta airport. The door was secured (or so it was thought). Again, when we were once in the air, it reopened and we flew back to our airfield and switched to another aircraft. I am uncertain about who was more frightened, the Colonel who from his rear seat actually lunged to catch the door or the lowly Private sitting next to him.
Over the next couple of years, three friends died in crashes and my interest in flying cooled and many years elapsed before I again entered an airplane. Within the past dozen or so years, I have flown cross-country a couple of times, many several regional jaunts, and flown once to Europe. Still get a tad nervous when there is turbulence. My wife alleviated much of that with her observation that those who built the plane took into account that it would encounter occasional turbulence.
The hay-day of rail transportation has passed. But were it not for time factors, fewer routes, and other realities, trains would be my preferred mode of travel. And I am yet to hear an airplane song that can match some of the poignant railroad songs. For me, Leaving on a Jet Plane does not have the same tug as City of New Orleans, especially Arlo or Willie's versions.
An advantage of accumulated birthdays is that I no longer have to remove my shoes when going
through airport security. If you are 75 or more, the next time you fly, be sure to inform the TSA person of your special status. My mother, who was not particularly fond of air travel, had her own coping explanation. She said, "I don't put all my weight down." It 'worked' for her and has become a kind of family mantra. I recommend it.
Satchel
By Atlanta, O'Hare, LaGuardia, etc. dimensions, this is not a large facility. There are the usual "Do not leave your luggage unattended", beware of "suspicious" persons routine announcements. Arrival and departure announcements are generally intelligible . . . quite different from those formerly heard in train and bus terminals. "The train for Hackenburdgsackentbridgere will be leaving from gate twentylevenbluemillion at eleventyeleven . . ."
Airplanes and airports and I have a long history. Contrary to what some might allege, I was not at Kill Devil Hills when Wilbur and Orville Wright made their initial flight. It was, however, a 'big deal' in the 1940' and 50's when our parents took my brothers and me to the old Raleigh-Durham Airport observation deck to watch the planes come and go.
Do you remember your first-ever flight? Mine was in 1962, flying from Greensboro, NC, to Lexington, Ky. At that time, the airport in near-by Winston-Salem was still a commercial facility.
Almost immediately after takeoff, the pilot began the approach to Winston-Salem, a part of the itinerary of which I was unaware. The plane shook, the retro engines whined and roared and I was sure that I was about to die.
Even so, the following year, when "Uncle Sam" began expressing an interest in having me in 'his' military service, I went to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base for tests for Officer Training School. I passed the general exam and the navigator exam. I knew that my math skills were not adequate for the pilot test. The following day, I 'failed' the vision exam. Thereafter, I joined the only Army Reserve Aviation unit in the state and my MOS (military occupation) was aircraft flight dispatch. Being stationed at the Third Army Flight Detachment in Atlanta, I often had opportunities to fly on 'hops' with the pilots. After the Cuban Missile Crisis had passed, I flew one Saturday with a couple of Captains who were transporting a "Bird Colonel" to Cape Canaveral. It was a small two engine L-23 with the door beside the co-pilot's seat. Soon after becoming airborne, the door 'popped open'. The co-pilot managed to hold it shut and the pilot received permission for emergency landing at the Atlanta airport. The door was secured (or so it was thought). Again, when we were once in the air, it reopened and we flew back to our airfield and switched to another aircraft. I am uncertain about who was more frightened, the Colonel who from his rear seat actually lunged to catch the door or the lowly Private sitting next to him.
Over the next couple of years, three friends died in crashes and my interest in flying cooled and many years elapsed before I again entered an airplane. Within the past dozen or so years, I have flown cross-country a couple of times, many several regional jaunts, and flown once to Europe. Still get a tad nervous when there is turbulence. My wife alleviated much of that with her observation that those who built the plane took into account that it would encounter occasional turbulence.
The hay-day of rail transportation has passed. But were it not for time factors, fewer routes, and other realities, trains would be my preferred mode of travel. And I am yet to hear an airplane song that can match some of the poignant railroad songs. For me, Leaving on a Jet Plane does not have the same tug as City of New Orleans, especially Arlo or Willie's versions.
An advantage of accumulated birthdays is that I no longer have to remove my shoes when going
through airport security. If you are 75 or more, the next time you fly, be sure to inform the TSA person of your special status. My mother, who was not particularly fond of air travel, had her own coping explanation. She said, "I don't put all my weight down." It 'worked' for her and has become a kind of family mantra. I recommend it.
Satchel
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