THANKSGIVING WEEK

Link to this week's column at USAToday.com/travel:

This week's column USA Today.com

I hope you had as nice a Thanksgiving as Al The
Web Guy and I did. We celebrated with friends at
our home in rural Colorado. Being a lousy cook is
such an advantage, especially during the holidays.
Nobody expects (or wants) me to do a thing, at
least with regard to food preparation. Friends
brought the turkey and stuffing and Al The Web Guy
made everything else. My contribution was to stay
the heck out of the kitchen, which I was more than
happy to do.

Being in a rather lazy mode this week, I decided
to round up some bits and pieces I've wanted to
mention, but each week my Update seems to run
long. I've decided to devote this issue to all
those loose ends.

First of all, in case you are not aware of it, if
you ever miss a Weekly Update or want to read some
back issues, you can go to www.fromthecockpit.com
and click on "Blog" in the left-hand column. All
my Weekly Updates are archived on my Blog (short
for "web-log"). Note that on the Blog page, if
you click on a date, you'll need to scroll all the
way through the page to see each issue for that
month.

Some readers have asked about the term "ezine" and
its meaning. I often refer to this Weekly Update
as either an online newsletter or an ezine, which
is short for "electronic magazine" and usually
(but not always) pronounced to rhyme with the
"zine" in "magazine."

On another note, readers who go back a ways may
remember a series of children's books about a
female pilot and her adventures around the world.
"Violet the Pilot in Hawaii" is the third and
just-released book in the "Violet the Pilot" book
series. This series is for young children and
more information can be found at
www.violetthepilot.com.
These books are similar in form to comic-books but
with sturdier covers and pages and richly
illustrated. Bettina Jenkins Bathe, fellow pilot
from Canada, is the author of the series and gives
$1.00 from each sale to the Canadian Red Cross in
Calgary, Alberta.

Many of my readers are business travelers. If any
of you subscribe to American Express's "Executive
Travel" magazine, look on page 22 of the December
issue for my first article. They hired me as a
writer a few months ago for their new "From The
Cockpit" series (hmmm-wonder where that title came
from?) and this is my first time in print with
them. Signing a writing contract with another
major company (in addition to USA Today, I mean)
is really exciting. The editors told me they had
a similar column years ago, but it just sort of
fizzled out. They seem to think this one will do
better. Although it's not a question and answer
format like "Ask The Captain" at usatoday.com, the
subject matter will be similar.

Speaking of "Ask The Captain," last week I wrote
about the B-777 LR (Longer Range) distance record
in my Weekly Update. I wrote a column about it as
well (see current link at the top) and have added
a few more pictures to the Boeing Album in my
Photo Gallery since last week if you care to have
a peek. The extra pictures were taken on board by
Chuck Cadena, my PR contact at Boeing for this
piece.

Boeing Pictures

My friend and fellow pilot Kelli King recently
checked out in the Brasilia for a commuter
airline. Kelli is the one who arranged for me to
speak at the regional meeting of the 99's in
Colorado Springs in October. You can meet her in
the "Sky Ladies" album of my Photo Gallery and see
the same look of delight on her face I feel when I
fly. I also moved another friend's picture to
this album-pilot Anne Whonic. It was previously
in the "Cap'n Meryl and Friends" album but I
decided it was more appropriate here:

"Sky Ladies"

Some of my readers may remember that a few months
ago I attended a speakers' conference in Las
Vegas. After two days of sitting next to the same
guy, we discovered we were both airline pilots.
His name is James Green and he flies for Delta.
If you haven't "met" him previously, you can find
him here in the "Cap'n Meryl and Friends" album:
James Green

I've read his book and agreed willingly to help
him with a specific campaign he is doing to
promote it. If you follow his link in the
paragraph below, you'll see there is a truly
amazing array of bonuses that go along with
purchasing his book on November 30th in
particular. If you've read and enjoyed any of the
"Chicken Soup for the Soul" books, I think you'll
enjoy James' writings as well. Please note I
receive no monetary or other benefit for
publishing the following paragraph. I just like
James as a friend and want to help him in any way
I can. If you even think you might be interested
in reading his book, please do yourself a favor
and do it specifically on November 30th to receive
all the bonuses.

From James' publicist:
Have you ever asked yourself, "If I could go back
and change anything in my life, what would I do
differently?" James Green, in his book, "If I Only
Knew Then What I Know Now…: Your
Once-in-a-lifetime Chance to Get It Right," has
collected gentle yet powerful stories from many
people who talk about how to get it "right" and
how to create a life without regrets. James put
together a package of unique bonus gifts from
renowned experts such as Jack Canfield and Mark
Victor Hansen (co-creators of Chicken Soup for the
Soul) available for you when you order a copy of
his book for $13.57 on November 30th. Please go to

http://www.iftheresonethingivelearned.com/something-wonderful.html
(or copy-paste this link into your browser) to
find out about all the details.

I've also put autographed copies of my book "The
World At My Feet" on sale until Christmas in the
form of free shipping. Total price is $17.95.
Ships within a day or two.
Click here to order:
Gift Ideas
For my newest readers and as a reminder again to others, my newest book "Flights of Whimsy - Quips'N' Quotes" will be out soon.
The retail price will be $11.95 plus shipping but until Christmas you can order it for just $9.95 and I'll throw in shipping for free. My printer recently informed me my book will be in my hands by December 15th/16th. This is a month later than the original estimate.
I will ship all orders out immediately upon
receipt so you should still have them in time for Christmas.

And with that,

Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed!
Cap'n Meryl
www.fromthecockpit.com
www.flyingfearless.com
www.fromthecockpit.com/profile.htm
(keynote speaker information

IF IT’S THURSDAY AFTERNOON, THIS MUST BE LONDON!

FROM CAP’N MERYL

Link to this week’s column at USAToday.com/travel:

USA Today Column

Note: Many, many thanks to those of you who
posted reviews at Amazon.com and
BarnesandNoble.com for “The World At My Feet.” I
appreciate your efforts very much.
Several readers of my “Ask The Captain” column,
along with several readers of this Weekly Update,
sent me links regarding Boeing’s new B-777 LR
(Longer Range) aircraft which smashed an older
distance record, also set by Boeing. This flight
was from Hong Kong to London going the long way,
flying eastward over the Pacific Ocean, the United
States and over the Atlantic Ocean. There were
two sunrises along the way, the first over the
Pacific and the second over the Atlantic. You
can read about the flight here:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2005-11-10-boeing-record_x.htm
I have often turned to both Boeing and Airbus
directly when I’ve had technical questions while
researching my columns, and both companies have
always been extremely responsive to my requests.
It wasn’t terribly difficult to request and
receive a telephone interview with the captain of
this record-setting flight, also a female. It
seemed especially appropriate since I fly the same
type of airplane—just a different model.
I was put into direct contact with Chuck Cadena,
Boeing’s 777 PR man. He was on the flight as well
and I wound up talking to him for the better part
of an hour, getting his own thoughts on the
flight. “It was one of the biggest highlights of
my life, to be part of this historic flight,” was
how he phrased it.
Talk about confusing, though! They took off at
10:30 PM Wednesday night (November 9th) from Hong
Kong, passed over Japan Thursday morning, crossed
the International Dateline (which put them 24
hours earlier), passed over the west coast of the
United States on Wednesday night, crossed the
Atlantic on Thursday morning and landed in London
Thursday afternoon.
The B-777 I fly has 90,000 pounds of thrust per
engine and a range of 7,000 nautical miles (just
over 8,000 statute). The B-777 LR (Longer Range)
produces 115, 0000 pounds of thrust per engine and
has an official range of 9,420 nautical miles
(10,874 statute) although this record-setting
flight actually flew more than 13,800 statute
miles (!) with its light load of just 35 people
total, including eight pilots.
Trust me on this—115,000 pounds of thrust is a
huge amount for one engine. The DC-10’s I used to
fly produced 40,000 pounds of thrust per engine
and I thought that was a lot (it was at the time).
Although only two sets of pilots were actually
required, there were four sets for this flight.
Pilots from GE (manufacturer of the engines),
Singapore Airlines and Pakistan International
Airlines also helped do the flying. These two
airlines will be the first to accept delivery of
the new B-777 LR model. The sleep/fly shifts for
the four sets of pilots were coordinated by
Boeing’s own Human Factors guy, known around the
plant as “Dr. Sleepgood.”
The chief pilot for Boeing’s 777 LR program is
Suzanne Darcy-Henneman. You can read about her
and three of the other pilots here.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/247393_pilotbios09.html
I wanted to know what they all did the rest of the
time when they weren’t in the cockpit. I know I
would have been too excited to sleep much or maybe
even at all. They got some rest either in a
passenger seat or in the crew rest areas which are
located in the top forward part of the fuselage,
but most of the flight was apparently spent
talking to the media folks on board, to the
General Electrics and Boeing reps and executives
who came along and to each other.
Incidentally, the crew rest areas for pilots on
board the airplanes I fly are either bunks
immediately aft of the cockpit, or first class
seats (or business seats, depending upon the
configuration of the aircraft), which are
specified for crew use. There is no upper area in
the planes I fly.
Captain Suzanna explained to me that this
particular airplane, which is set up for tours, is
referred to as a “boutique airplane” with some
areas left open so prospective buyers can more
easily see the possibilities. She referred to
“mood lighting” and “starry skies.”
Have a look at the new Boeing Album I’ve set up on
page 2 of my Photo Gallery at fromthecockpit.com.
Look carefully at the interior shots and notice
the ceiling. I thought Chuck was kidding when he
informed me the “starry skies” Captain Suzanna
referred to can be programmed to reflect the sky
in any part of the world.
The first airplane is going to Pakistan
International Airlines and the ceiling will most
likely reflect their night sky. You’ll notice the
First Class area is empty so prospective buyers
can see the total area available. Then they can
arrange the seats in any configuration they want.
Here’s a direct link to my new Boeing Album.
Boeing Album
I’m always curious about food arrangements. The
flight was catered, of course, and they had just
one lone flight attendant on board to do the
serving, but apparently she got quite a bit of
help from some of the Boeing reps who went along
on the flight.
According to Chuck, even after more than 22 hours
of flight time he didn’t want the flight to end.
He told me this was the most exciting event he’s
ever been a part of, or would ever likely be a
part of again. When I asked him what the most
exciting part was for him, he said it was the
briefing everyone on board got soon after takeoff
which told them the particulars of the flight—the
route, speed, what records were being broken, etc.
He also talked about the champagne toasts made by
the passengers at the halfway point, just east of
Los Angeles.
Although they were flight-planned basically from
Hong Kong to Midway, then to Mendocino, CA (just
north of San Francisco), New York, then London,
they took an unplanned jog from Mendicino down to
Los Angeles to take advantage of a strong
jetstream. That put their actual flown mileage
over 12,000 nautical miles, which is over 13,800
statue miles!
I asked Captain Suzanna if they had any headwinds,
which would have been unusual but not unheard of
in this direction of flight, and she said they
didn’t. She recalled a maximum tailwind maximum
of around 157 knots, which is 180 or so mph on the
tail. Not bad!
The most amusing part for me, hearing both Captain
Suzanna and Chuck telling me first-hand about
their experience was that, even after flying for
this long, the flight was assigned holding before
being cleared into Heathrow. Can you believe it?
“Rules is rules,” I guess, and in aviation, unless
there is some legitimate urgency, it’s first-come,
first-serve. The London controllers are said to
have apologized profusely, but it couldn’t be
helped. The weather was good, but blustery,
according to Suzanna.
Captain John Cashman of Boeing was at the controls
for the landing along with the Captain Asif Reza,
Chief of Flight Operations for Pakistan
International Airlines. Captain Cashman quipped
to the arrival controllers, “You know, we’ve been
flying for so long at this point what’s a few
extra minutes, anyway?”
I asked about any weather problems. The only one
was after this flight terminated and the plane was
flown back to Boeing Field in Seattle. The
visibility was so low both there and at SeaTac
they nearly had to divert to Moses Lake in the
eastern part of the state. Although the airplane
is capable of landing in extreme low visibility
conditions, because Boeing’s pilots are test
pilots and not airline pilots, they don’t normally
need the qualifications to land in really low
visibility and don’t maintain their currency for
it.
When flying commercially into SeaTac and landing
to the south, we overfly Boeing Field. Here’s a
link to my Seattle-Tokyo-Honolulu Album, page 2.
The Boeing Field shot is the third to the last
photo on this page (page numbers in the lower
right-hand corner). The arrival ends of Runways
16L and 16R (16 Left and Right) at SeaTac are only
faintly visible here, but there are other shots of
the approach which show arriving into SeaTac as
well.

Boeing field
Captain Suzanna called this “the flight of a
career” and I can certainly understand why. When
I asked her how she would sum up the mission, her
answer was she really looks for just two things on
any test flight to call it a success: The “thump”
when the gear comes up and the “squeak” the tires
make upon landing. Now, honestly, doesn’t that
just sound like something I might say myself? I
laughed out loud with her when she described it
this way.
I’m putting together an “Ask The Captain” column
about my talk with Captain Suzanna and Chuck
Cadena (PR). It should be published at
usatoday.com in my column on November 28th and
will have additional information about this
flight. Chuck left for the Dubai Air Show without
first sending me his own photos, so I’m hoping to
add photo of him and possibly some other shots as
soon as he returns in a week or so. I was
surprised and pleased when he called me from Dubai
at 1:30 AM (just after noon my time Saturday
afternoon) while I was working on this Update.
He’s really charged up about this new plane and
wanted to tell me a little about the air show.
Dubai? Hey, didn’t I just talk to this guy in
Seattle two days ago?
And I thought I got around!
Closing Notes:
For my newest readers and as a reminder again to
others, don’t forget my new book “Flights of
Whimsy – Quips ‘N’ Quotes” will be out soon. The
retail price will be $11.95 plus shipping but
until Christmas you can order it for just $9.95
and I’ll throw in shipping for free. Printer now
says I should have in early December and I will
ship immediately.
Click here to order:
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Gift_Ideas.html

I’ve also put autographed copies of my book “The
World At My Feet” on sale until Christmas in the
form of free shipping. Total price is $17.95.
Ships within a day or two.
Click here to order:
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Gift_Ideas.html

And with that,

Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed!
Cap’n Meryl
www.fromthecockpit.com
www.flyingfearless.com
www.fromthecockpit.com/profile.htm
(keynote speaker information)

THE GREAT FLOOD

FROM CAP’N MERYL

Link to this week’s column at USAToday.com/travel:
USA Today column



Note: I have two radio interviews this week, both
by phone. The first one is already finished as of
Monday morning (Nov. 14th). You may be able to
find it archived at http://www.wrif.com/ ,
Detroit’s #1 radio station 101.1 FM. My interview
schedule may be found at:
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Events.htm

The second interview will be with financial expert
Steve Crowley on his syndicated show “American
Scene” and is scheduled for just past 9:00 AM this
Thursday, November 17th at 11:00 AM Eastern Time.
You can listen live online or, if you miss it, you
can listen to the archived show. The site is
http://www.moneychannel.tv and they report 2
MILLION listeners per day on over 160 radio
stations nationwide.

Among his other credentials, Steve was the Money
Editor at Good Morning America at one time. You
can read more about him and his producer Evan Nine
(the producer who called me) here:
http://www.moneychannel.tv/about_us.htm
I was surprised when I was invited as a guest for
this primarily financial show, but it turns out
Steve Crowley is a pilot himself and “can’t wait”
to do this interview, according to his producer.
Interviews with hosts who are themselves pilots
are always a lot of fun and I’m really looking
forward to it.
Another tidbit for you is that I’m hoping to speak
with Suzanna Darcy-Hennemann soon. She is chief
pilot for the 777-200LR program and project leader
for Boeing’s recent long-distance record-breaking
flight. You can read about her here:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/247393_pilotbios09.html
and about Boeing’s record-breaking airplane here:
http://www.777.newairplane.com
I just spoke with Boeing’s communications and PR
guy, who was on the flight, and he was so excited
the words just came pouring out. He’s sending me
some photos of this historic Hong Kong to London
flight which I’ll post as soon as possible in a
brand new Album in my Photo Gallery at
www.fromthecockpit.com. Talking with him gave me
some good insight into the flight and I’ll write
an “Ask The Captain” column about it as soon as I
can speak with Captain Suzanna. I’ll write some
other comments in next week’s Weekly Update as
well about my conversations with both Captain
Suzanna and Chuck.
Strange as it may sound, although I know many
other female pilots, I personally know only a few
female captains of large jets and I’m excited
about the prospect of “meeting” Captain Suzanna
and talking with her about this historic flight.
The name of this week’s Update “The Flood” stems
from the outpouring of support I received from my
thousands of readers after I alluded to some
“personal issues” in my last issue. Thanks so
much to the almost unbelievable number of you who
took the trouble to write to me expressing
sympathy and asking if you could help. Although
there isn’t much you can do directly to affect my
current situation, which I’m still not at liberty
to disclose, I can tell you what you might do to
give me a boost personally if you care to do so,
and that is to go to amazon.com and/or
barnesandnoble.com and post a review if you have
in fact read “The World At My Feet.”
You’ll notice something peculiar in these reviews:
They’re mostly five stars, which is the highest
rating. But you’ll also see several one-star
reviews which, I’m sorry to say, were written by
some of my colleagues who appear to not be
handling my public image very well. The first
one-star review you come to was written by someone
whom I considered a friend (!)
In fact, Amazon.com removed a couple dozen reviews
which were libelous, attacking me both personally
and professionally. Even the ones they left are
questionable and if you’ve read the book, you’ll
be able to tell that many of these “reviewers” did
not bother to do so. I’m obviously not the only
one who has experienced professional jealousy—just
human nature, unfortunately.
Here is one very telling review from a reader who
obviously picked up on the situation. She gave
“The World At My Feet” five stars:
“As I am reading some of these reviews, I am
trying to figure out what kind of person could
possibly give this book 1 star. You'll notice most
everyone gives either 5 stars or 1 star. That
doesn't even make sense! I don't know if these are
jealous authors, pilots or x-boyfriends trying to
bring Ms.Getline's rating down or what. I LOVED
this book. It was funny, shocking, inspiring,
educational and just a blast to read. When you
finish the book, you feel like you can go out and
conquer any dream or ambition you have! I've
recommended this book to a lot of people and
everyone I know who has read it thought it was
fabulous! One reviewer on here said he hated the
book even the second time he read it. That strikes
me as odd that you would read a book you disliked
a second time. Deep down inside he LOVES this book
too. Please read it and decide for yourself. I
know you'll like it!!!”
You’ll see at the end of this Update how you can
still buy autographed copies of “The World At My
Feet” with free shipping until Christmas. The
book is obviously available through Amazon.com as
well at a cheaper price, but without the autograph
(as it comes from a distributor rather than from
me personally).
Here is my book page at Amazon.com if you’re
interested in posting a review.

Amazon
Same deal at www.barnesandnoble.com. Here is the
review page there:

Barnes & Noble
Before I sign off for this week, I want to mention
that Al The Web Guy and I may soon be opening up a
new Album in my Photo Gallery for aviation photos
submitted by my readers. Since we are both
overloaded already with projects, there are no
guarantees your photos will be posted or when, but
we’re ready to start taking a look at some
submissions. Those photos submitted in the past
were all saved and will also be considered. We’ll
probably limit new postings to around five or so
per week for now, so with all that in mind feel
free to submit your jpeg photos to
info@fromthecockpit.com for consideration.
For my newest readers and as a reminder again to
others, don’t forget my new book “Flights of
Whimsy – Quips ‘N’ Quotes” will be out soon. The
retail price will be $11.95 plus shipping but
until Christmas you can order it for just $9.95
and I’ll throw in shipping for free. Should ship
by mid-November or so.
Click here to order:
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Gift_Ideas.html

I’ve also put autographed copies of my book “The
World At My Feet” on sale until Christmas in the
form of free shipping. Total price is $17.95.
Ships within a day or two.
Click here to order:
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Gift_Ideas.html


And with that,

Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed!
Cap’n Meryl
www.fromthecockpit.com
www.flyingfearless.com
www.fromthecockpit.com/profile.htm
(keynote speaker information)

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

FROM CAP'N MERYL
Link to this week's column at USAToday.com/travel:
Usa Today column


Notice anything DIFFERENT? Al The Web Guy has been
very busy giving us a new look. If you're just
joining us, trust me, it's better. If you've been
around awhile, we hope you like it. I love it!

Note: Just as this Update was about to go out I
got booked for a large radio show in the Detroit
area, and I know I have readers there. We're
taping next Monday, November 14th but I don't know
yet when show will air although it could be the
same day, so I wanted to let you know about it
now. If interested, you can go to Events Events
When I receive the time and date the show will
air, I'll post it there but as of right now I
don't know when I'll have that information. The
host is himself a private pilot, and those are
always really fun interviews. This one is slated
for somewhere around 30 minutes which is a lot of
air time. Some interviews last just five minutes
and I don't enjoy them nearly as much as the
longer ones.

Now, time to address something that, frankly, I've
been avoiding for awhile. Many of my readers who
go back several months (or more) with me have
written asking why I'm not writing about current
flights in this ezine right now. Some have even
expressed anxiety that I might have a medical
issue. I'm reasonably healthy but there is a
personal situation going on in my life at the
moment which dictates I not address what I
normally write about in this publication.
Unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to discuss it
for now or I would.

That's okay, though. A little mystery and intrigue
are good for us once in awhile. Eventually the
situation will be resolved and then I should be
able to write at least a little something about
what has happened and hopefully I'll be able to
resume writing about what I want to write about. I
hope you'll stay tuned because even though my
ezine doesn't have the exact content I want for
now, the story behind this shift in my subject
matter is developing into an interesting one in
and of itself.

My intent here is not to frustrate you but to let
you know you need not worry about my well-being if
you have in fact been wondering and/or concerned.
So many of my readers have written expressing
concern about my health thought it was time to say
something, even if I can't say much. The situation
is also intensely frustrating to me and even more
so as I can't discuss it publicly at the moment.

That is why I've turned to writing about other
things of interest to me in my life which are only
indirectly related to aviation career and, whether
it's writing or speaking, whatever I do always has
aviation at its core. I have come to know many of
my readers now through email (and even a few
personal meetings) and it astonishes me how many
of my readers would like to write one or more
books and how many already have. For those of you
who want to write a book but think you can't or
don't have time to, actually, you do. You just
don't know it or believe it yet.

I read this method AFTER I wrote my first book
"The World At My Feet." It teaches you how to
write a book in just fourteen days. It sounds
ridiculous, but I can assure you this is a sane,
organized, methodical way of going about it which
helps preclude that famous thief of time known as
"writer's block." Use this method and you can
eliminate that one from your list of
procrastination excuses. I believe in this method
strongly enough to recommend it, so if you have
any interest, click here: Write A Book

On another subject, since I have so many new
readers each week, I like to occasionally mention
my friend Captain Lim of Malaysia Airlines, whose
site Ask Captain Lim continues to grow in
popularity. You can have a look here to see his
latest FAQ’s: FAQ 40 with 25 new questions

Regarding this week's title "Catch Me If You Can,"
hopefully many of you have seen the movie and are
familiar with the story. It was on HBO for a long
run some time ago and was on network TV over the
weekend.

Before there was the movie, there was the book
which dates back more than twenty years. If you're
unfamiliar with it, the story is about a teenage
boy who looks much older and runs around the world
impersonating a Pan Am pilot, a doctor, a lawyer,
a college professor and recruiter of airline
stewardesses (when they were still "stewardesses"
and quite glamorous) for Pan Am. When I was flying
B-727's in Alaska for a regional carrier in the
early 1980's, this book was at the height of its
popularity and we talked endlessly about this
character (Frank Abagnale, Jr.) and how he did it.
His character is played by Leonardo di Caprio in
the movie.

My favorite line from the story is when the FBI
agent (played by Tom Hanks) finally gets the
answer about how Frank was able to cheat on the
bar exam. He didn't cheat; he studied for two
weeks and passed it!

Al The Web Guy and I went (at my insistence) to
see the movie at a theater when it first came out
a few years ago, and I included mention of the
author in "The World At My Feet" as this man made
a profound impression on me. When it came time for
me to seek endorsements for my book, I found his
office and called asking how to go about asking
him to read and review my book. His secretary told
me it would be "impossible" as he had far too many
requests, far too little time and didn't endorse
books due to his heavy speaking and work schedule.
Impossible? I didn't think so.

I asked her if it would change her mind if I told
her that he was in MY book. That worked, she gave
me his private email address and he did in fact
endorse my book right on the front cover. The note
I wrote to him was entitled: To a Pan Am "captain"
from an ACTUAL airline captain. I felt confident
that would get his attention and it did. I went on
in the body of the note to tell him he was the
subject of discussion in airline cockpits for
months, how I thought he'd be interested to hear
about it, and he did in fact answer my note
immediately.

I explained to him how I looked up to him not
because he led a criminal life (he wrote millions
of dollars' worth of bad checks) but because he
was such a creative genius and if there is
anything I love and respect and want to possess
myself, it's creativity and originality. My
speaking coach always asks why anybody would want
to live their life like a copy when we're all born
to be originals. I agree entirely with that line
of thinking.

Frank (the main character in the story) and I
exchanged several notes and in one of them he told
me he was invited to be the keynote speaker at a
Pan Am retirement party and wasn't THAT ironic
after faking being a pilot for them. When the
movie was on TV again, I watched it and popped him
a note during one of the commercial breaks just to
say hello. He always answers my notes but it
sometimes takes a few days so we'll see if he does
this time or not. It's been several months since
we last communicated. He now earns millions per
year as a consultant to Fortune 500 companies
regarding fraud protection.

For my newest readers and as a reminder again to
others, don't forget my new book "Flights of
Whimsy Quips 'N' Quotes" will be out soon. The
retail price will be $11.95 plus shipping but
until Christmas you can order it for just $9.95
and I'll throw in shipping for free. Should ship
by mid-November or so.

Click here to order: Gift Ideas I’ve also put
autographed copies of my book "The World At My
Feet" on sale until Christmas in the form of free
shipping. Total price is $17.95. Ships within a
day or two. Click here to order: Autographed Book
And with that, Until Next Time, Maintain Airspeed!
Cap'n Meryl http://www.fromthecockpit.com
http://www.flyingfearless.com
Keynote Speaker http://fromthecockpit.com/profile.htm (keynote speaker information)

MOONSTRUCK

FROM CAP’N MERYL

Link to this week’s column at USAToday.com/travel:
USA Today column

There are things we pilots witness that passengers
never get to see the way we do. I was thinking
about this one evening a few nights ago as I was
gazing from my bedroom window into the eastern
sky, just in time to watch the moon come up. It
struck me how very slowly it appeared to move. It
dawned on me that I hadn’t watched a moonrise from
an earthbound vantage point in a very long time.

We see moonrises all the time when we fly,
especially on long-haul routes from west to east
such as flights from Asia to the U.S. Many of
these flights depart in the evening and we
experience a very short night as the sun sets
behind us in the west and we race to catch it
coming up again in the east.

The difference between watching a moonrise (or
sunrise) from the ground and watching it from the
cockpit is really quite spectacular. Obviously,
passengers sometimes see moonrises from airplanes
but it’s always a side view without the speeding
up effect we get while hurtling eastward.

My favorite moonrise is one where it’s full and
turning different colors as it first peeps over
the horizon. This isn’t especially different from
watching it from the ground except it’s much, much
faster. First it’s blood-red, then pinkish, then
yellow, then stark, stark white and so bright
sometimes it’s difficult to look at directly.

In 1980, before I was with a major airline I
became the youngest pilot (and first woman) to
ever get checked out on the DC-10. I did this
under private contract with the airline that
eventually hired me and wrote about the experience
in my first book, “The World At My Feet.” There
was another pilot getting his captain’s checkout
at the same time. We were on our check ride in
the middle of the night somewhere over the plains
of Colorado. These days, the same check ride
would be accomplished in a simulator, but back
then it was necessary to get checked out in a real
DC-10.

While I was waiting my turn to fly from the left
seat, a second pilot was getting checked out. He
was doing steep turns (45 degrees of bank instead
of the normal maximum of 30 degrees) and was
concentrating in order to maintain his altitude.
At one point he shouted, “Someone turn out that _
_ _ _ _ _ _ light!”

There were five of us in the cockpit including me,
the copilot/instructor, flight engineer, the pilot
getting checked out and an FAA examiner. We
looked at each other in amusement but didn’t say
anything; that light he wanted turned off was the
moon. It was full and almost bright enough to
require sunglasses or, in this case, moonglasses.

The first time I ever flew from New York’s La
Guardia to Miami was as captain on the B-727 in
the early nineties. The entire aura of the flight
was very different from anything I’d ever flown
before with lots of highly animated passengers
(I’m trying to be polite here). I don’t remember
if there was a particular reason this flight’s
passengers were so agitated—I just remember they
were and that the flight attendants seemed to
dread this particular crowd.

We knew there was to be a full eclipse of the moon
that night and I made a brief announcement to the
passengers about it. Apparently nobody was
listening. Later, when we were still over an hour
away from landing in Miami, the eclipse was full
and took on an unearthly (or is it unmoonly?) red
glow. It was spectacular. I called the flight
attendants up one at a time to the cockpit to have
a look and they were astonished at the sight of
the red moon. The cabin was still very rowdy and
I asked them to dim the lights all the way and I
would make an announcement about the eclipse. The
First Flight Attendant’s off-handed remark was
something along the lines of, “Maybe that’ll calm
‘em down back there.” I didn’t take the remark
seriously.

However, the combination of the lights being
dimmed and the site of that moon had a most
unexpected effect on the passengers. Everyone
just calmed down. I mean, really calmed down.
According to the flight attendants, there was
barely a peep out of anyone for the rest of the
flight whereas prior to this the passengers had
been very irritable and demanding of attention.

All I wanted to do was share a site that many of
us might never have seen before or see again—a
perfect view of a total eclipse and in this case,
the resulting “red moon” unobstructed by either
clouds or pollution. The result was the
passengers along the left side of the airplane had
their faces plastered against the windows with the
other passengers pleading with them to move aside
so they could see, too.

When people deplaned my crew and I stood at the
door and it was though someone had switched
passengers on us. These were docile, smiling,
calm people. It was a 180 degree mood swing from
when they boarded and an unexpected but gratifying
end to that flight.

As we walked down the terminal, we stopped to look
out the window at the eclipse as the moon starting
becoming visible again, and all the way down the
long corridor at Miami Airport we could see our
passengers doing the same—pointing it out to the
people who had come to meet their flight (prior to
9/11 when anyone could go to the gates).

Sunrises are also speeded up from our cockpit
vantage point and they can be spectacular as well,
but after the dark of night the bright sunlight
can sometimes be somewhat irritating. In contrast
to the light of the sun, the light of the moon or
the stars on a moonless night promote a very
soothing and gentle feel to those of us up front.
And there is nothing more soothing than light on
a vast ocean reflected from the heavens above.

I have nothing else really to tell you about this
week other than I have a 30 minute radio interview
coming up. You can listen online anywhere or on
the radio if you happen to be in the Cincinnati
area. The interview is this Friday at 11:00 AM
Eastern Time on WLW 700 AM or www.700wlw.com--The
Mike McConnell show.

Before I sign off, I want to let new subscribers
know that my new book “Flights of Whimsy – Quips
‘N’ Quotes” will be out soon. I’ve never
mentioned it before but a sketch artist joined me
on this project and put in several cartoons to go
with the quotes. The whole thing came out very
nicely. The retail price will be $11.95 plus
shipping but until Christmas you can order it for
just $9.95 and I’ll throw in shipping for free.
Should ship by mid-November. Click here to order:
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Gift_Ideas.html

I’ve also put autographed copies of my book “The
World At My Feet” on sale until Christmas in the
form of free shipping. Total price is $17.95.
Ships within a day or two.
Click here to order:
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Gift_Ideas.html


And with that,

Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed!
Cap’n Meryl
www.fromthecockpit.com
www.flyingfearless.com
www.fromthecockpit.com/profile.htm
(keynote speaker information)