Flying with George

[Kip Powick]

Flying with George

Airline Memories

by

DK “Kip” Powick

One more landing and our three day pairing would be over. George and I were cruising through the atmosphere at 33,000 feet between Winnipeg and Toronto. It had been an enjoyable three days, albeit a pretty quiet.

George was a rather unusual person, not much of a talker and appeared, on the outside, to be a gruff, unapproachable individual who did his job well but seemed to go out of his way to maintain an unusual status, that of a recluse. The first time I flew with him I felt that it was going to be a very uncomfortable few days away but as I got to know him I realized his exterior mannerisms were all just a façade and that inside was a warm and understanding individual who had a heart of gold and wanted his FOs to act as individuals, his subtle way of grooming the young flyers as future Captains. When his FO was the PF he would give free reign to the individual in hopes that one could learn by doing and he would only intercede if it looked like flight safety was going to be compromised. Although many FOs shied away from being matched with George, some of us really enjoyed his unusual and subtle instructional technique. During my time flying with him I learned more about techniques, applicable to the T-Rex, than I ever gleaned from any other B737 Captain. In short, his abruptness and mannerisms seemed to put a lot of people off but I really enjoyed sharing the flight deck with him and, especially when, on occasion, he demonstrated an uncanny sense of humour.

We were approaching Thunder Bay when one of the cheery FA’s bounced through the cockpit door and announced that amongst our load there were about a dozen high school students who were flying to Ottawa via Toronto for a interschool track meet and she was wondering if we would entertain the idea of allowing them to come up to the cockpit , in pairs, for a look-see at the pointy end.

George grimaced, looked over at me and said, “Your leg.” It wasn’t exactly a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer but I thought, “what the hell” let the kids come up and see us at work. The FA left and I passed a water bottle over to George.

“What’s this for ? I’m not thirsty”.

“Well, you are the Captain and I thought you might want to splash some on your face and make it appear that you are sweating your ass off flying this machine through the air…probably impress the kids.”

George fixed me with a steely stare, a barely perceptible smile momentarily crossed his face and he handed back the bottle.

The kids came up in pairs and I gave them the quick little tour and answered the normal questions they asked and it wasn’t long until we were down to the last two students. I gave my normal spiel while George maintained his stoic pose, that being one of an unmoving and silent Buddha starring straight, out the windscreen, and then I asked the two teenagers if there were any questions. The student behind me said, “Yes sir, uh...I was wondering if it is true that two Christian pilots are not allowed to fly in the same cockpit?”

My mind froze, moved quickly to the “what kind of question is this” category , and promptly drew a blank. To stall for time and hopefully come up with an lucid explanation I answered the question by asking a question while looking for help from the statue sitting across from me.

“That’s an unusual question”, I answered, and then asked, “Why do you ask?”

“Well we were told in church that if the end of the world came, God would take all the Christians to heaven and if there were two Christians in the cockpit and they were taken, then there would be nobody left that could land the plane.”

Silence permeated the cockpit as I grappled for a suitable answer and out of the corner of my eye I saw George slowly turn toward the student, look him in the eyes and mutter, “If the end of the world came there would be no place to land so who gives a sh!t who is in the cockpit?”

My gag reflex kicked in as I tried not to burst out in laughter and was saved by the FA who came through the door and told the kids their time was up and that they had to return to their seats. Both students exited the cockpit without a word.

George looked over at me, a brief smile crossed his chiseled face, and quietly mumbled, “I think I’ll get the latest sequence for Toronto.”

Copyright. 2006 CopperTree. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, or redistributed.

[60N30W]

That was wonderful story Kip, made me laugh.

Thanks.

[boestar]

Beautiful...

B