MEMBERSHIP STATUS
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WEBMASTER HISTORY
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I began the aviation business working as a Junior Design Engineer at Boeing.
I was manning a draft board all day long drawing brackets
for emergency equipment on the B-747. It was boring. Then my Lead Engineer got
me a tour of the SST mockup. Boeing was in the running then for the contract
and had built a sales mockup. It was built out of plywood and was simply
beautiful. Full scale – the wings swept and the nose drooped. I sat in the
cockpit and could look out the windows at a huge picture of an airport. It felt
like we were on final approach, and I was hooked. I joined the Boeing Flying
Club the next day. After 25 hours of Cessna 150 time, I was ready for the Big
Leagues. I called up Pan American and Eastern asking for a job. They asked me
how much time I had and I replied: “25”. They said “2500 is pretty good”. When
I said: "No it was 25", they both laughed and told me to join the Air Force, so I
did. Out of pilot training, I was assigned to C-141s out of Travis Air Force
Base in Northern California. I thought I had died and gone to heaven, but it
was short lived. After four years of flying to Southeast Asia, I decided to try
for plan A again.
It took 15 months but Braniff finally called and I found
myself in Minneapolis as a rookie Flight Engineer on the 727. It was a small
crew base and everyone knew each other. We had a wonderful time. I moved up to
the right seat in 3 years and was really enjoying it. Along came deregulation.
Mr. Lawrence put our airline on the pass line and rolled snake-eyes. It looked
great for a while then began tumbling down. On May 12, 1982, I found myself out
of work. I had plenty of time now but no ATP and trying to compete with a lot
of former Captains. I bought a type rating on the B-737-200 and tried to get
another job. Four months later, I found myself in Atlanta flying for an upstart
charter company called Aerostar. They had 3 leased B-727-100s from Eastern and
flew mostly to the Caribbean. It was fun, but the pay was low. There were no
health benefits, no retirement plan, no sick leave and no trip rigs. The
overnight accommodations consisted of two rooms, one for the pilots and one for
the flight attendants. We had to flip for the roll-away.
I had flown 3 trips when Piedmont called. Not much of a
decision. It was simply wonderful. Most of the new-hires then were ex-Braniff
pilots. We were starting at the bottom but loving every minute of it. It
was like a magic carpet ride back then with new Captains being trained every
month due to the incredible growth. I spent 6 months at the Flight Engineer
Panel then checked out in the right seat of the B-737-200. A year later, I was
hired by the training department and spent a year and a half as a Check Engineer
and Chief Engineer. Three years from walking in the door, I got a bid as an
F-28 Captain. Eight months later, they closed the crew base and forced me to
take a slot as a B-727 Captain. It felt like nothing could go wrong. However,
on March 9, 1987 the merger with USAir was announced, and I knew that nothing
would ever be the same again. I served with the Pilot Merger Committee as a
computer programmer for the entire process and testified at the hearings a year
later in Washington D.C. I did learn one thing, NOBODY is happy with the
results of a merged seniority list. We lost the Piedmont call sign on August 5,
1989. The airline was actually merged on January 1, 1990. Life did go on just
a lot differently. I lost my block holder status with the merge and then got
thrown off the airplane a couple of years later. I flew the B-737-200 for a
year then got back on the B-727. That lasted for a couple more years until
USAir decided that they couldn’t make any money flying an airplane with three
engines and three pilots. I took a bid on the B-737-300/400 and flew it up to
retirement. The 90’s had its ups and downs at USAir, but the events a couple of
a few years ago were devastating. Now we are barely hanging on. Another merger
has been announced. Here it goes again. Life could have been better, BUT life could also
have been significantly worse. I still liked the job, but learned to focus on the life in the
cockpit and forgot everything that was going on outside.
On Monday, December 12, 2005, I made my last flight as an airline pilot. Flight 1210 BNA-CLT. My wife
and son were with me for that final journey. I was met by the fire trucks for the traditional send-off and was
met by many well wishers. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful career.
Along the way, I have made some wonderful friendships and
had some great times. I have also had many funny experiences which has been the
driving force behind this website. I have heard many hilarious tales told in
the various crew lounges and driving along at altitude. I finally realized that
it might be a fun experience to gather everybody’s stories and display them in a
format that everyone with internet access could enjoy. I hope you have fun
reading about some of the funny events that everyone in the industry has
experienced. Keep in mind that what is going to make this website work is for a
lot of you to take the time to write down some of your personal stories and send
them in.
I hope you enjoy.
John North – Webmaster
USAirways B-737-300/400 Captain - Retired
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