Remembrances Of Times Past-Your 1st Airport Experiences

[KMEM]

They managed to fly that Lear into the ground while in the clouds so likely your last sight would be during the take-off.

 

My most memorable flight tends to be the last one I made which was Friday to ROC (Rochester, NY) where to no one's surprise, it was snowing.

 

Over the years, some airline flights are more memorable than others. I remember flying a 747SP from SFO-HKG (San Francisco to Hong Kong) and thinking I was going to get wet after being more than an hour late and flying for about 13.5 hours. Then connecting to a Cathay Pacific 707 for the flight to Brunei during which the crew very kindly let me ride in the cockpit.

 

I delivered a lot of aircraft to Europe and especially England and I was thrilled when Sir Freddie Laker "sold" to IATA the idea of standby one way tickets for a very attractive price. Riding the DL L1011 from Gatwick to ATL and connecting to MEM shaved 6 hours off my return home trip and cut the cost about in half.

 

Riding F in a UA 747-400 from LAX to SYD courtesy of a friend who was an employee of UA was pretty special. Now, of course, they do it in a 777.

 

Best regards,

KMEM

[josephga]

I have never even been on a plane

[+ purplekow]

I have never even been on a plane

It's just like being on an elevator but a bit higher and with less leg room.

[+ Axiom2001]

In 1962 I had landed my first teaching position in Cleveland, Ohio. For Thanksgiving I'd wanted to spend time with family in Kansas City, Missouri, so I decided to fly home. I adorned myself in the most beautiful green roughly woven fabric blazer, black pants, and some rather striking black shoes which were done by a company whose product I abhor today because now it's far too conservative. Then it was unusual and well designed.

 

We flew from Cleveland onward to Chicago before reaching MCI. On the flight from ORD to MCI were some very hot college guys from Notre Dame and a few other universities. I cruised them but was uncomfortable because I had "not" acknowledged my sexuality at that point. One cutie who sat next to me kept talking about the plane's crashing which made it harder and harder for me to adjust. I continuously attempted to change the subject and managed to put a halt to his foolishness, and after awhile my sanity prevailed.

 

In looking back all that I can say is that I did enjoy the "eye candy" on this flight in spite of my fear, and as you can read-- we apparently made it safely in order for me to reflect and to write this!

[KMEM]

In 1962 I had landed my first teaching position in Cleveland, Ohio. For Thanksgiving I'd wanted to spend time with family in Kansas City, Missouri, so I decided to fly home. I adorned myself in the most beautiful green roughly woven fabric blazer, black pants, and some rather striking black shoes which were done by a company whose product I abhor today because now it's far too conservative. Then it was unusual and well designed.

 

We flew from Cleveland onward to Chicago before reaching MCI. On the flight from ORD to MCI were some very hot college guys from Notre Dame and a few other universities. I cruised them but was uncomfortable because I had "not" acknowledged my sexuality at that point. One cutie who sat next to me kept talking about the plane's crashing which made it harder and harder for me to adjust. I continuously attempted to change the subject and managed to put a halt to his foolishness, and after awhile my sanity prevailed.

 

In looking back all that I can say is that I did enjoy the "eye candy" on this flight in spite of my fear, and as you can read-- we apparently made it safely in order for me to reflect and to write this!

 

Interesting that you flew into MCI 10 years before it opened. In 1962 the only airline airport serving Kansas City was MKC in "downtown" Kansas City. Perhaps you are just disremembering the name, etc.

 

When MCI opened I was spending a lot of time in KS. MCI was in the middle of nowhere on a road that went from downtown KC and nowhere else. One had to turn around and go back. Now, one can continue on west and join various other roads to elsewhere.

 

MCI was at the time one of the few airports that ONLY supported airline traffic. There was no general aviation FBO and no place for GA to park, etc. Soon they realized there was a necessity for GA traffic and first allowed them to park at the US Post Office and eventually they allowed an FBO to be established there which could fuel and offer ground transport for GA aircraft. However, this did not occur overnight and took more than a year to accomplish.

 

Best regards,

KMEM