Just as an aside....since John Tulla mentioned the 727.....for the young guys here.....a memory or two....
Imagine that wonderful 727 world....climbing at 340/.83, cruise at .84 or .85 or whatever was needed to pass the opposition, descend at 350 til 15 miles....(or if really needed climb/cruise and descend at 380/.88)........3 of us in the cockpit, First Class scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast....
And....a great union, respected by the company, a scope clause, no FOQA, good CRM between the 3 of us up front (though we didn't know what CRM meant).....and a CEO who could have taken his seat in the cockpit and fitted in well
That was the world Ron and his kind built (Captains and the finest of men such as Ball, Bailey, Maloney, Fischer, Clark, Clarke, Whittell, James, Edwards, Glenn, Shaw, Fuller, Goodall, Winch, Fox, Hickey, Morey, Munro, Greenwood, Laurie, Felstead, Collins, Roche).....it didn't quite have to go...and it could, in appropriate ways , come back......
Our choice....what a memorial to those who went before to ensure the best bits of real airmanship stay in our cockpits, our unions, our self-view, our training agendas......our world. I am in the golden years now and the shadows grow long....but young pilots could take this baton if they wished....rather than bleating about how rough life can be.
Safe flying