AA flying the flag
 

At LHR today waiting to head back North I saw an AA 777 open the Flightdeck window and fly the stars and stripes.

Is this normal AA policy (only seen on Royal Flight aircraft by me before) and do any other airlines do similar?

I can't imagine it to be company policy to hang the stars and stripes out of the window (i have never seen it first hand or in any photograph), it was probably a special occassion of some sort...have you found out any details about the flight?

It was about 15:25 on Mon 4th, so if it was on schedule it may have been Flight AA57 from Miami or possibly AA67 from Chicago running late.

I was watching from T1 Gate 5.

After exiting the runway and while waiting for another A/C to clear the taxiway the Captain's window was opened and the Stars and Stripes were stuck out. It looked like the flag was clipped to the window or supported in some manner as the staff remained upright as the A/C continued taxiing.

Not a drama just curious as in quite a few years of hanging around airports I have not witnessed this before.

Could it a carry over from American railroading of flying a flag on the front end to indicate a second section following?:O

No doubt, another Captain America at the controls. Was he, as all the Bushies do, wearing an American flag emblem on his uniform lapel as well?

Did he appear to be claiming LHR for the US? If so, you probably should have said something at the time. Don't tell me you just stood there and WATCHED...

Dave

The Capt who held the flag while taxying was the guy in ''Airplane''...had to be!

<<Did he appear to be claiming LHR for the US? If so, you probably should have said something at the time. Don't tell me you just stood there and WATCHED...>>......he was in fact
surrendering LHR and the boroughs of Hanworth and Feltham to become sovereign US territory. And could they take Hampshire too?- anything to get us out of this French/German small farmer subsidy system called the EEC!

Well said Notso Fantastic!

Strewth- not many people say that! I must be getting soft in my old age!

A little background is in order. American Airlines is based in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metro area in the state of Texas, coincidentally the home state of President Bush. The pilots of American nearly all belong to the Arrogant Pilots Association, or APA, and must be forgiven for their boorish behavior because they are far and away superior to all other pilots. This, of course, was the reason why most of the recently acquired TWA pilots, who flew for the company which originated transaltlantic flying from the states nearly 60 years ago and were quite content having the flag painted on the empennage of the aircraft, were deservedly placed on the bottom of the American seniority list, barred from the 777 effectively forever, and subsequently either bought off or furloughed -- 86% at the conclusion of the present round of furloughs.

Now we all know that there is a learning curve to these things, and the members of the Arrogant Pilots Association have only been operating into their TWA-acquired LHR assets for a decade or so and may not yet know that LHR is not a suburb of Dallas, in the great state of Texas, home of their friend, President Bush.

However, change is coming! The Highest and Most Exalted and Most Arrogant pilot of the Arrogant Pilots Association, 777I Captain Ed White, has recognized the wisdom of blending the combined wisdom of even the TWA pilots into American's superior pilot culture, and has seen to it that a handful of the 15 year TWA captains due to be furloughed will be offered RJ jobs at American's regional affiliates where they can be purified and learn of the greatness of Dallas and all its suburbs throughout the US. Cleansed, those who are young enough will eventually be recalled to the mother company, and warmly embraced by all the other Arrogant Pilots, and LHR can once again return to its vaunted status as a proud and more quietly distinguished suburb of Dallas.

Is this going to involve US "peacekeepers" being deployed to Middlesex? Personally, I'd prefer a UN mandate this time...

If I need to start working on yard signs (for instance, "No Blood for Cricket," or "US Troops Out Of Hounslow") please let me know.

Dave :ok:

TWA originated transatlantic flying from the states?

I guess they taught Pan Am how

TWA also entered the international market. At the end of World War II, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the organization that distributed routes for U.S. airlines, decided to allow other airlines to share in Pan American's monopoly of international routes.

http://www.centennialofflight.gov

Knew a fellow some years ago who was a DC3 co-pilot for AA at one time.
He mentioned that his primary duty was....to position the flag out the window after each and every landing, when on the taxiway, rain or shine.

Sounds like a FOD risk...mind you the potentially suspect attitude might make the brain a FOD risk as well

But TeeWee was the first transatlantic carrier to feature inflight movies aboard its "Intercontinental Starstream" B707-331s.