Another story of paths crossing....

When I was a kid growing up in New York City I was very lucky to have really great people in my neighborhood who gave me all kinds of fun opportunities.  One man who lived down the block from me had a four-seat airplane and took me for a ride when I was 13.  He let me fly the plane and I was hooked on flying for life!  I went on to become an airline pilot for almost 40 years.

But because this is a story about crossing paths, there is more to the story.  Another neighbor was a cameraman for Fox Movietone News.  Whenever you would go to the movies back then there was a 10-to-15-minute film played before the main movie about current news around the world.  Early on in my youth he got me interested in photography. He had a dark room, and he showed me all the things in how to develop and print pictures and slides.  My mother set aside a place in our basement so I could have my own dark room.  In high school we had a wonderful film club and darkroom with 5X7 and 8X10 sheet film cameras. 

My neighbor hired me to assist him by being a “camera caddy” to carry film and cameras and load the film using a black changing bag.  I loved it!  He took me to all kinds of events like baseball games, football games and various news interviews where I would help with the equipment.

I know this is a bit long, but I need to explain what happened one night.  It was November of 1962.  I had obtained my private pilots license and was working on my instrument and commercial rating.  I had just turned 17.  That night the phone rang, and my neighbor called and asked if I could help him with the cameras and go with him to JFK, which was then called Idlewild, where a plane had just crashed in the fog.  Eastern Air Lines Flight 512, a Douglas DC-7B, N815D, crashed during an attempted go-around following an instrument approach to runway 4R at New York International Airport, at 21:45, on November 30, 1962.  Of the 51 persons aboard, 21 passengers, 3 crew members and an additional crew member occupying the jump seat did not survive. Flight 512, regularly scheduled from Charlotte, North Carolina, non-stop to New York International Airport, entered a fog condition near the threshold of runway 4R. A go-around was initiated; however, the aircraft struck the ground with a slightly nose-high attitude and was virtually destroyed by impact and subsequent fire.  I saw the burned bodies, something I will never forget.

Ten years later, I’m in the right seat as co-pilot of a TWA Boeing 727 working a two-leg flight from New York to Saint Louis via Indianapolis.  The captain flew the first leg, and I was flying the second leg from Indy to St. Louis.  There were thunderstorms around Indy and as we were pushing back from the gate, I could see boomers all around.  I used the planes radar to get a better idea of the storms.  As we taxied toward the departing runway I discussed with the captain my idea about delaying the takeoff until the storm that was approaching the airport passes by.  He agreed with me, and we pulled over into a hardstand and shut down the engines and just used the APU until the storm went by.  I made a PA announcement telling the passengers we would delay the takeoff for a few minutes until the storm went by.  As I was making the announcement a USAir DC-9 passed us by and took off into the storm.  A few minutes later the flight attendant knocked on the cockpit door and said a passenger wanted to talk to us.  I invited him in.  Here is where the paths crossed.  Ten years before, he was one of the surviving passengers in the Eastern Airlines crash at JFK that I had also been to.  He thanked us profusely for not taking off during the thunderstorm out of safety precaution.

I have another path crossing tale that I will post here at a later time.

Be safe!
Have fun simming.

Lou