FEATURES

PHOTO: KJELL OSKAR GRANLUND

Boeing 747 Freight Dogs on the Silk Road

by Kjell Oskar Granlund

The central European plain is bathed in the pale glow of a full moon. Cities and towns are islands of light connected by rivers of amber. Ahead we see a large illuminated island followed by a sea of darkness. On the far shore is another shiny island fed by multiple golden waterways.

On the flightdeck of this modern-day Silk Road ‘caravan’, we know we are passing the Swiss city of Zürich. The sea of darkness ahead is far from a flat body of water—the highest Alpine peak in the vicinity, Mont Blanc, reaches 15,782ft (4,810m) into the sky. And the ‘island’ on the far shore is Milan [Milano], the first stop on our journey along the Silk Road of the 21^st century.

At the invitation of Air Atlanta Icelandic, we join a Boeing 747-200BSF ‘Classic’ operating a scheduled cargo flight on behalf of MASkargo between Amsterdam and Tashkent.

PHOTO: ANDREAS ROHDE

Capital Service with Northwestern Air

by Andreas Rohde

Headquartered in Fort Smith, at the southern border of Canada’s Northwest Territories, Northwestern Air is the exclusive hometown airline of the former capital of the territories.

PHOTO: MARK L BERRY

Cutting My Winter Teeth

by Mark L Berry

There’s no clear-cut path to a major airline job—but I had my ideas, which were pointing me in the direction of ice and snow. My best shot at cutting my aviation winter teeth was in the Northeast where I grew up. I was lucky enough to be hired by Command Airways as a first officer on the Shorts 330. Flying among the big birds was my drug of choice, and every trip into JFK or LaGuardia was my own personal adrenaline rush. But one day I got more than I bargained for...

Going into LaGuardia one day, my friend Captain Tony Fine convinced one of our new flight attendants to jump up and down in the cabin, but you'll have to read the article to find out more—and to enjoy Kumaran's cartoon.

The fun part of the job was offset by constantly preparing for emergencies or the

unexpected. Even preparing for emergencies doesn’t always guarantee a successful outcome.

In addition to flying for Command Airways, Tony operated his own flight school.

He was teaching in a two-seat single engine airplane when the engine quit during initial climb-out after takeoff. He and his student crashed into trees on the airport boundary. The student was OK, but Tony’s head struck the instrument panel so hard that he lost his eyesight. It was an airplane certified before the FAA made shoulder harnesses mandatory, so it didn’t have any. Tony was an exceptional pilot. As safe as flying is, we all know that there is risk in everything, even taking a shower. I still choose to fly airplanes and have fun doing so. Every flight is a conscious decision.

Tony and I still keep in touch. He’s done some experimental research with a company developing artificial sight through projecting sensory images on the skin. His computer converts text to voice. Through Tony, I’ve developed a love for audio books. Since he's been blind, Tony has jet skied and been on a motorcycle, and he's preparing to write his own memoir.

My companion song 'The Box the Twin Otter Came In', with music composed and performed by CTS, can be heard here:

PHOTO: AMERICAN AIRLINES

The Charismatic Coronado

by Urs Weidmann

‘After American Airlines’s Smith decided to order the Convair 600 jet, he called on Naish, chatted briefly about fishing and baseball, then suddenly blurted: “Hey, my guys tell me this 600 is a pretty good airplane.” Naish agreed. Said Smith: “We want 25. How much will it be?” Naish told him $100 million. “O.K.,” said C. R.—and walked out.’

Thus—according to TIME magazine of November 17, 1958—was the first order placed for the world’s fastest airliner—the General Dynamics/Convair 990 Coronado, which first flew 50 years ago, on January 24.

Pan Am’s Flying Boat Pilots

by William B Nash

I was hired by Pan Am during the flying boat era and was fortunate to fly with many of the experienced, ‘old-timer’ pilots. Cockpit techniques were not standardized then, and each of these older pilots had developed his own style and likes and dislikes which we, as junior pilots, had to learn and abide by when we flew with a particular captain. Naturally, we learned a great variety of techniques. We kept small notebooks to remind us what technique went with what captain. I often wondered if we perhaps became more experienced than our captains, because we learned all of their tricks. They knew only their own.

PLUS

UA & CO Fly United

by Michael Manning

Dreams Unfolding: Boeing 787s at Everett

Take Control with Airline Apps

by Christopher Pittman

The Interview

by Richard Drury

DEPARTMENTS

Both Sides: The Decider

by Clayton Taylor

Coach Flyer: Hong Kong Express

by Ken Donohue

Debrief

Stan Solomon offers a varied selection of anecdotes from the Airways.

Mailbag

Our global forum for our readers’ opinions, feedback, and contributions.

News from the Airways

Colorfully illustrated highlights of the major news developments from North America and around the world, including fleet changes, new airlines, and new paint schemes.

Reviews

'JET AGE: The Comet, the 707, and the Race to Shrink the World' (by Chris Sterling) & AeroPresentation's HD-DVD 'SAS Boeing 737' (by Roger Thiedeman).

Veteran & Vintage: Budapest-Ferihegy Terminal 1

by Andreas Rohde

View from the Cockpit

by Christian Philipp

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