In my first company of employment as a charter pilot, I had the pleasure of flying a captain into Brissy to fly one of the last Ansett DC-9's out. I parked on the Ansett apron at the old Brisbane aerodrome and we walked from the Cherokee to the DC-9 and up the back ramp, down the aisle to the cockpit. Security was of no concern. I sat in the left seat and it was a big deal to an impressionable kid. The captain was reminiscent that it was the end of the last pilots' aircraft, the importance of which was lost on me in my youthful exuberance.
Looking back from a rapidly advancing age of automation and deskilling, aircraft flown almost exclusively on autopilot, air traffic control practices that put aircraft on rails in the sky and an ever widening gulf between the experiences of general aviation and the application to large airline operations, the DC-9 (and the F-27) represented all the reasons I chose flying for a career. It's a different kid that takes up flying for a career these days.
Time to listen to Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides, Now".
We're losing something from aviation with all the automation and regulations. It's like eating fast food at a plastic dining table. It's just not the same as the individuality expressed in a home cooked meal and a wooden table. Too late to reverse the trend, even if we wanted to, but it's nice to reminisce.
Last edited by Lodown; 2nd February 2009 at 17:14.