Flying USA – September 2019

68 | SEPTEMBER 2019 FLYINGMAG.COM

JUMPSEAT FLYING Opinion

A STOWAWAY CAT AND THE

SOUNDS OF SILENCE

AN AIRLINE GUY FLIES TO SUN ’N FUN

By Les Abend

A

fter moving full time

to northern Florida,

attending Sun ’n Fun in

Lakeland was an easy prop-

osition. My Connecticut

friends were making the

traditional trek from the

Northeast, which made

the event even more desir-

able. They are a motley

crew with diverse experi-

ence levels from aerobatics

to corporate jets, with me

being the only airline pilot.

The camaraderie includes

standard verbal abuse,

our primary method to

indicate genuine affection

for each other.

As my departure date

drew nearer, I debated the

options of a two-hour drive

versus a 50-minute f light.

Having my own car allowed

for more f lexibility, but the

fact I had never checked

the box of experiencing a

Sun ’n Fun arrival added

more weight to the decision.

Almost exactly 40 years

ago, I was based in Lakeland

as a Beech 99 copilot with

Chautauqua Airlines in the

days regional airlines were

called “commuters.”

The airline was my first

real, professional pilot

employment after graduat-

ing from Purdue University

only a couple of months

prior. At our bread-and-

butter stop in Orlando,

copilots were assigned the

task of leading passengers

out to the airplane from

the gate area because the

ramp was oftentimes a lab-

yrinth of jets and whirling

propellers. We were also

responsible for loading car-

ry-on bags in the belly pod,

calculating weight and bal-

ance data, and sometimes

f lying the airplane. For

whatever reason, the mem-

ory of a particular blunder

with the commuter airline

always seems to surface.

Before departing on the

last leg of the evening from

Orlando to Lakeland, a

deplaning passenger had

taken me aside, asking for

reassurance that her cat

occupying a pet carrier in

the rear baggage compart-

ment of the Beech 99 would

be available for pickup via

the baggage carousel. I

told her that I would per-

sonally inform the ground

crew. After pointing out the

cat carrier in the aft cargo

compartment to the bag-

gage loader, I strode into

the terminal to retrieve our

Lakeland passengers. Not

untypical, we had none.

The author after a silent arrival at Lakeland.