The Wings Stayed On!: Flightless Wings

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

This may make you laugh... or cry? But things have changed:

3 comments:

Julien said...: The last sentence of the voice-over comment sums up the whole concept pretty nicely: "Nos femmes aillées qui permettent aux hommes de voler" (Our winged ladies who make it possible for our men to fly).

I find the tone of this short film quite modern, keeping in mind that it was produced over 60 years ago. It is not condescending and clearly portrays women as doing men's jobs just as competently as men when given the chance.

It would be interesting to know how many of these ladies pursued an aviation or technical career once the war was over, or passed on their experience to their children.; Jul 22, 2008 7:51:00 AM
aluwings said...: Good point. You can certainly see the seeds of the next generation or two where women would be more likely to take on those jobs full time - including flying the planes.

My-wife-the-pilot once wrote a paper on the WWII Ferry Command squadrons (comprised of women) in Britain and the US. Does anyone know if Canada had such a group of aviatrix?; Jul 22, 2008 2:39:00 PM
Rhonda said...: My grandmother was a ferry pilot. I don't know if she joined in England and then later came to Canada, or if she joined in Canada.; Jul 23, 2008 11:48:00 PM

What"s this about?

An eclectic series of articles based on my experiences as a commercial pilot. Sometimes behind-the-scenes tales; sometimes more technical descriptions of Jet Transport Aircraft - and the people who fly them. While the stories are based upon actual experiences and real people, I use composite characters and made-up names*. If they seem familiar, they are. They're the people you live and work with every day. The world is full of interesting people - if we only knew!

The title of this blog comes from my first observation after test-flying my home-built aircraft: "The wings stayed on!" And later I realized that life is often like that. We are continually faced with new adventures. And though we study and train and prepare as much as we can, finally we have to launch and put all this preparation to the test. And unexpected things still happen. As the bumper sticker says, Life Happens. And we deal with it - hopefully with a good dose of humour and hope. And if the "wings stayed on!" well at least that's the main thing. And everything else is just details.

My stories are usually drawn from looking back over my career, which thankfully has been pretty dull. Trust me. When flying a commercial airliner, boring is good. You wouldn't like exciting... So don't expect many stories about engines exploding, and wheels falling off, and cabins catching fire. Though that kind of stuff goes on, thankfully, it hasn't been my experience. My stories are the more mundane things, the little things that inhabit real life.

And while mundane is the reality of modern airline flying, still it's an amazing feat, a dramatic and dynamic accomplishment that we shouldn't take for granted. Perhaps day-in, day-out our world-wide airline industry represents our civilizations' most complex achievement. And though it has become mundane we should never forget that the real drama lies in the times when these bigger disasters are too close for comfort. The times when some small factors could produce seriously different outcomes.

Sometimes all the calm around you is an illusion -- a little like the movie Jurassic Park where the investors are touring the not-quite-ready-for-opening facility, while the technicians thrash away at command central, trying to keep everything together - trying to keep up the facade that it's all under control. But if it is, it's not by much.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Like everyone in the airline industry who's blogging, I'm hoping to write a book, and I'm practicing on you folks. I'm always trying to hone my story-telling skills so if you have any comments please leave them. Also, please respect the copyright thing.

Thanks.

Aluwings