Plane Conversations

When I tell people that I work in aviation, the almost universal response is, “That sounds exciting!”  Yes, it does sound exciting and, many days, I wish that it were actually as exciting as it sounds.

Maybe I watch too many movies, but, even now, after nearly 20 years in the industry, when I think of flying, I think of John Wayne in “Flying Leathernecks”, George Peppard in “The Blue Max”, and Jimmy Stewart in “The Spirit of St. Louis” – brave, rugged men braving the dangers of early aviation.  They were cowboys in the sky, really.  And, just as the Wild West lives only in memory now, so the Wild Blue Yonder is moving the same direction.

In an opinion piece for the New York Times on 16 December 2009, Arnold Reiner notes,

“Decades of technological enhancements and automation have made flying undeniably much safer but also fostered a subtle disconnect between pilots and the planes they fly. Designed to reduce crew workload and enhance safety, today’s highly automated aircraft can leave pilots so detached from flying that they become almost like passengers on their own flights. That’s apparently what happened on Northwest Flight 188.”

Reiner goes on to describe the changes in piloting from the 1960s when he was a co-pilot in a Pan Am Boeing 707 to the 1980s when he was a captain on the Airbus A310.  In the 1960s, cockpit controls and systems were automated, but still required some monitoring.  Trans-oceanic voyages required World War II long-range radio technologies and, sometimes, even manual navigation using the stars.  In his book Fate is the Hunter (one of my personal favorites), Ernest K. Gann describes this whole process is beautiful detail.  In the early days, pilots interacted with their aircraft.  They monitored them, adjusted them and felt the movement of the big airships.  Today’s airliner pilots, in the words of a friend of mine, “take the aircraft up to 32,000 feet and put it in park” until they get to their destinations.  The pilots don’t get the feel of the aircraft anymore – these “fly by wire” aircraft are just a step above a video game.  The cowboys have ridden off into the sunset.

As aircraft have grown faster and more efficient, they have become more automated.  General Chuck Yeager and Bob Hoover pushed the envelopes of what aircraft could do.  Their incredible flying helped aircraft designers design better, safer, faster and more stable aircraft.  Their designs are sleek and sexy, but hardly romantic.  Compare the F-22 Raptor with her gee-whiz technology and menacing frame and the P-51 Mustang with her propeller and rounded curves:

The raptor is a breathtakingly sexy aircraft, but she just doesn’t have the romance of the P-51.

And it’s not just the change in aircraft.  Regulation today is far more restrictive than it was even 20 years ago.  That’s not a bad thing, necessarily, but, let’s face it, the pilots in “The Right Stuff” made a few moves that wouldn’t be allowed today.  There is much less room for the cowboy antics of early pilots, but, since there are more aircraft in the skies now, the regulations are necessary for the increased traffic. As a result, flying is safer than ever before.

Times change and we adapt or die.  We can adapt, but still keep some of the nostalgia of the early days of aviation alive.  If you’re lucky enough to have heard some stories from these aviation pioneers, or, even better, if you are one, share your stories with us here. Otherwise, you could take a trip to an aviation museum, an airshow or your movie store.  You might sink into the couch, popcorn in hand, and give a little respect for the early pioneers of aviation by watching any of the films I mentioned above or maybe “Dark Blue World”, “The Battle of Britain”, “One Six Right”, “The Aviator” or “Memphis Belle.”  The good old days may be gone, but God forbid they should ever be forgotten.

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