PART ONE - ROOM WITH A VIEW – BOEING DREAMLINER

There’s simply no help for it. This Update is going to have to be a two-parter. There’s just too much to tell and rather than try to keep it to a minimum and leave out stuff I want to include, I’ve decided to split it out. Part Two will come out next week so be sure to watch for it. The name of this Update refers to something very specific to the Dreamliner, so you’ll be sure to want to read Part Two next week to see what it means.

I also found it necessary to write my Ask The Captain column in two parts, the first of which should come out on June 6th. Part two will run a week later.

This was a very exciting and eventful week for me. Boeing invited me to come to Seattle to participate in their Media Summit for their new airplane, the B-787 Dreamliner, due to go into production within the next couple of months. I had no preconceived notions about the airplane and was wowed by several things, not only by the airplane but by the people of Boeing who made me and the other journalists feel welcome and well-cared for.

The in-depth knowledge of the Boeing people responsible for this tour was incredible. I didn’t ask a single question that wasn’t answered immediately and in detail right on the spot, and, if you must know, I asked far more questions than anyone else there. It’s not terribly surprising that a pilot would have some questions that wouldn’t occur to non-pilots, about such things as improvements in fuel burn, air conditioning and pressurization systems, new cockpit technology, etc. Besides which, I always ask a lot of questions. It’s just my nature. Like a kid who never quite made it out of that stage. I don’t consider it a bad thing, and the folks at Boeing certainly seemed to welcome my questions.

My first day in Seattle for this event was Monday, May 22nd. All the invited journalists were to meet in the lobby of the W Hotel, where Boeing put us up, around 6:00 PM, but I arranged to meet with one of my readers, Courtney Riecan, beforehand as she lives in Seattle. Courtney now has 4.8 hours under her belt since she decided to follow a career path similar to mine and is on her way to becoming a pilot. Getting flight time in Seattle is always a challenge due to the frequent overcast and rain, and she has already faced a few disappointments with canceled lessons, but she’s incredibly excited and so very much like me it’s a little scary, like watching a much younger version of me. (Heavy sigh.)

At the very beginning of “The World At My Feet” I wrote about my first flight when I was eleven. It was only several minutes long from San Diego to Long Beach where we had some relatives. One member of that family, my cousin Jeff, who was nine at the time that story took place, now works for Boeing, as it turns out, although it’s just a coincidence and nothing to do with my invitation. When I told him I was coming up, he and I agreed we should meet.

So Jeff arranged to come over to my hotel as well. He was a very cute kid but as an adult he is one very handsome guy. You can see what I mean as I posted his photo in the new Dreamliner Album. I added a second photo of Jeff and his beautiful wife Kristy later to the Cap’n Meryl & Friends Album. More about the new photo additions in a little bit.

I’d been with Courtney about an hour when Jeff arrived, and just after that Courtney’s brother Cameron arrived to pick her up. He was visiting her from New York and of course went along on one of her flight lessons. You’ll find his photo in the Cap’n Meryl & Friends Album.

Now, back to this whole Boeing media thing. I had no idea whether to expect a large or small group. Boeing decided to keep it quite small and manageable, and there were just nine journalists from eight countries. It surprised me that I was the only American there. Journalists from the both NY Times and Wall St. Journal were invited but couldn’t make it. The countries represented besides the United States were Japan, Australia, China, Morocco, Mexico, Korea (journalist plus interpreter) and Germany. Quite the international gathering.

I am frequently in touch with Boeing’s 777 PR man Chuck Cadena, and when, at his suggestion, I was invited by the 787 group to come up, I jumped at the chance. You’ll find Chuck on the B-787 Album cover with me and another photo of him inside the Album. He and I had never met face-to-face so he arranged to come to my hotel the second day of the tour during the free hour or two after the tour ended and before dinner began. He later joined us for dinner at The Melting Pot for fondue.

Chuck showed up at the hotel laden with souvenirs from the record-breaking long distance flight of the B-777 LR (Longer Range) which he insists I would have been invited to join except we didn’t know each other in time. To try and make up for it somewhat, he brought me a number of items, some of which had been available only to people aboard that plane, including a beautiful commemorative blanket which Al The Web Guy will hang as soon as he gets the parts he ordered to do it right. Chuck also brought me a souvenir cap, key chain, post-card, calendar, just all sorts of stuff. He’s been an invaluable resource for me and my link to others at Boeing when I’ve asked for technical information when writing some of my “Ask The Captain” columns for usatoday.com.

Well, here we are at about a thousand words and I didn’t even get started yet. I don’t like it when my Updates get too lengthy, so I’m going to stop right here and pick up the actual Tour part next week. In the meantime, you’ll want to go to Dream Liner Album and see the new B-787 Dreamliner Album. Remember, the name of the Update, “Room With a View,” will be explained next week.

The following link will take you directly to the Last Uploads in the Cap’n Meryl & Friends Album, where I’ve added seven new photos including Courtney, her brother Cameron and my cousin Jeff and his wife Kristy: Last Uploads

“The World At My Feet” and “Flights of Whimsy”
marketing test was a success and is now a
permanent offer in our Gift Ideas area at
fromthecockpit.com. Just $25 for both books,
shipped anywhere in the world for free for a
savings of $12.85.
Click here:
Gift Ideas

And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed!
Cap'n Meryl

http://www.flyingfearless.com
http://www.fromthecockpit.com

Shark Bait

This is the week Al The Web Guy, Coco the
Pomeranian and I were all supposed to pile into
the car and take a road trip from Denver to San
Diego. However, when Al came down with a serious
staph infection in his knee, it was decided that
I should fly out for a short visit and postpone
the road trip until Al The Web Guy is over his
infection. He’s definitely on the mend, but
still not over it completely. We will reschedule
when he’s better.

I flew out to help celebrate my parents’ 64th
wedding anniversary and Mother’s Day. Married 64
years? It sounds impossible and I can hardly
believe it’s been that long. My three brothers
and their wives were there along with some other
relatives and friends.

My parents are in their eighties and my Mom is
using a walker at the moment. She broke her foot
several weeks ago and has one of those “boots” on
her foot to keep it stable. No kidding, I had to
jog to keep up with her as she zoomed around with
that thing. Now she tells me she’s enrolling in
a Spanish class in a few months.

My Dad and I had a long talk about times past. I
sat on my bed in my own room in the house I grew
up in, but he likes to stand and stand he did,
for almost two hours straight without a break
while we talked.

Some cousins, including Dr. Mike
(anesthesiologist) from Las Vegas, were at the
anniversary dinner. You may already know Mike as
the photographer for the Animals and Fish album
at www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery. During
dinner, he asked my brothers, their wives and me
if we would be interested in joining a small
group for a behind-the-scenes tour of Sea World
the next day and we accepted. It’s been many
decades since my brothers and I have done
anything together, other than meeting at various
family reunions and celebrations over the years.

It’s funny how flying has permeated so much of my
life. Our first stop with our Sea World guide
was at the sea turtles area, and I immediately
thought of the sea turtles often present at dusk
just in front of the Sheraton Hotel on Waikiki
Beach. You don’t need to be in the water to see
them as they swim right up to the sea wall.
Every time I’m in Honolulu for the night, I do
four things: Go to the beach to swim, eat ice
cream, go back to the beach at dusk to see the
sunset and sea turtles, and eat more ice cream.
(There are two Baskin Robbins right at the beach
and I feel obligated to visit them both.)

When our Sea World guide, Pete, talked about
whales and their migration from Alaska to Baja
California, I thought of seeing them from our
living room window in the house I grew up in,
where my parents still live. I also thought
about the time I saw them in their breeding
ground at Scammons Lagoon in Baja California when
I was flying a commuter flight in Mexico. I
recounted this experience in “The World At My
Feet” in the chapter called “Buzzard? What
Buzzard?”

When we got to the dolphins, my mind instantly
flashed back to the day I auditioned to be a
“Seamaid” at Sea World in the early seventies.
The dolphin trainer was too young to have been
around when “Charlie Tuna’s Underwater Theater”
was still in existence, but she knew about it and
the “Seamaids” who had performed there. I wrote
about this experience in the chapter called
“Wanted: Dolphin Rider.” Although I was called
back after the audition, college and flying
occupied so much of my time I had to decline the
job, but I still had the thrill of having a swim
with the dolphins as part of my interview. I
don’t know what the dolphins thought, but it was
certainly a memorable experience for me.

My brothers and I competed for witty remarks
throughout the tour, but it was almost impossible
to get a rise out of our guide, Pete, who was
young and a little too serious. His only smile
was when we were in an underground area looking
at the bat-rays and I suggested they rename the
facility the “Bat Cave.” That he liked.

In the aquarium, we were visiting the Giant
Octopus while Pete explained there had been some
mysterious fish disappearances in this facility.
Sea World, wanting to discover who was making off
with the fish from their aquarium at night,
installed a video camera for after-hours. They
suspected an inside job.

Well, they were right, but it wasn’t what they
thought. It wasn’t an employee making off with
their exotic fish. Instead, the videotape
revealed it was the octopus, sneaking over the
partition into the neighboring tanks for a
midnight snack. When the wall was raised so she
couldn’t climb over, she reached a tentacle or
two over the side and snagged herself some fish
that way.

They finally put in an even more secure partition
that was presumably even higher and had a lock on
it. I always refer to an octopus as an
“octopussycat,” which of course would make this
octopussycat burglar. (Okay, that’s a stretch
but I don’t have a lot to work with here.)

The name of this Update stems from the following
photo, so have a look.
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=33&pos=11


There are lots of new additions to the photo
gallery in general this week, including one in
the Cap’n Meryl & Friends album of reader Jim
Boyes about to jump off a cliff in San Diego
(strapped to a hang glider). There is also a new
addition to the “Sky Ladies” album of a pretty
young lady named Shelby. She was afraid to fly
not very long ago. Now she’s enamored of flying,
has gotten proficient on a flight simulator her
Mom gave her last Christmas, and has decided she
wants to be a pilot. Go figure.

There is now a brand new album called “Sea World,
San Diego.” The easiest way to see all the
newest photos is to click here, and be sure to
click on the individual photos to see the
captions.
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=lastup&cat=0
The new photos end on page 3 when you get to the
picture of Shelby.

A Baby Named Meryl

I’ll get to the meaning of the title shortly, but
I’d like to cover a few other items first.

first, we have partnered
with a company which produces beautiful
hand-carved model airplanes. www.Warplanes.com You can also find their
link in the right-hand margin at
www.fromthecockpit.com as well as in our Gift
Ideas area.

Also, I wanted to mention a friend of ours, Don
Foster in Phoenix, who owns an autoresponder
program called ARPros. We use Don’s program to
distribute both this Update and our Flying
Fearless messages, which some of my Update
readers receive as well. Don’s always there for
us when Al The Web Guy needs assistance. He even
mentioned us on his new site at:
http://www.arpros.com/new/index.php We didn’t
know Don before but he’s become such a valuable
asset to our projects we consider him a friend.
If any of you have the need for such a program,
we highly recommend his services.

This is the week Al The Web Guy and I were
supposed to hit the road and drive from Denver to
San Diego with Coco the Pomeranian.

Last Saturday, I was out all day. I came home in
the evening to find Al sitting with his hand over
his kneecap. “Come have a look at this,” he
said, concern in his voice. “I think I have
water on the knee.”

Now, I’ve never had water on the knee but I
remember a kid or two in high school who had it
and said it was excruciating. Al The Web Guy was
concerned and certainly mystified but not in a
great deal of pain.

I went online and did a search about water on the
knee, discovering it’s almost always the result
of a previous injury. Al hadn’t had any knee
injuries and I confirmed that with him.

He wouldn’t go to the Emergency Room, but agreed
to see a doctor first thing Monday morning. That
doctor said it looked like gout, did a blood
test, and sent Al The Web Guy home with some
anti-inflammatory medicine.

The next day the doctor’s office called, said the
blood test was negative, and told Al The Web Guy
to make an appointment with an orthopedist,
thinking it might be an arthritic condition. So
Al The Web Guy saw the orthopedist the next day,
Wednesday, and that doctor sent him right to the
Infectious Diseases area of a different hospital.

They took one look, told Al The Web Guy he could
be in serious trouble, and started him on
intravenous antibiotics immediately. He was told
to report every morning at 9:00 AM to the
hospital for intravenous medication until further
notice. So bye-bye road trip for now and please
take this lesson to heart next time you have an
unexplained malady.

The new plan is for me to fly out on Friday,
attend my parents’ 64th wedding anniversary
dinner that night, celebrate Mother’s Day there
and come on home again. As soon as Al The Web
Guy is fully recovered and we can arrange it,
we’ll have our road trip.

In the meantime, Boeing has been nice enough to
invite me to a media event regarding their new
B-787 Dreamliner, so off to Seattle I go May 22nd
and 23rd. What a privilege to be their guest.
I’m sure I’ll be able to think of something to
write about with regard to that experience.

Now, about this Update’s title. So who had a
baby named Meryl? I’m very glad you asked
because the answer is somewhat intriguing, or at
least I think so.

Out of the wild blue yonder, so to speak, I
received an email message from a pilot at another
major airline, one I’d never met before. His
name is Kent Wien. For those of you who’ve read
“The World At My Feet,” you may recall I flew for
an airline called “Wien Air Alaska.”

Wien, pronounced “ween,” is a family name. My
favorite captain to fly with there was Merrill
Wien, and I made contact with him several months
ago after having last spoken with him in 1984,
the year Wien went out of business. It turns out
his neighbor is Richard Bach, author of the very
famous book, “Jonathan Livingston Seagull.” Mr.
Bach and his wife bought my book at Denver
Airport and apparently mentioned it to Merrill
Wien, who asked to be put in touch with me.

I knew Kent’s sister, Kim, a flight attendant for
Wien back then and for another carrier now, and I
had met Kurt Wien, but not Kent. All three are
Merrill Wien’s children. Kent and Kurt are now
pilots for the same major airline. I’ve never
met a nicer family than the Wiens. I loved
flying with Captain Merrill because he treated me
as a professional and did not make a big deal out
of my being a woman. Remember, in the early
eighties there were very few females flying for
the airlines and I was one of only two at Wien.
Later they hired two or three more, but we were
still the exception.

In any case, when Kent Wien had a daughter in
February, she was named Meryl. After me? Well,
no, of course not. She was named after Kent’s
father Merrill. But still, I was strangely
tickled by it and Kent commented to me in his
note, “Oh, and I'm sure that your name was in my
mind when we chose it for my daughter, but yes,
you're right, it is paying homage to my dad.”
I’m not sure why this is so pleasing to me, but
it is. If anyone ever names their child after me
for real I’ll probably go right to pieces. Be
sure to check out Kent’s site at
www.kentwien.com. He’s done some really exciting
videos about flying and there’s other content
worth checking out as well.